SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 11, 1876

SECULAR NEWS.

—It is said that at no time during the past twenty years has it been so unsafe to travel in Turkey as during the present year.

—Ten thousand barrels of flour were recently sold in California to be sent to Cork, “the first large sale of the kind ever made here for that market.”

—Nearly $100,000 of silver coin has been distributed in Chicago, and there is such a call for it that the clerks in the sub-treasury weigh out the coin instead of counting it as at first.

—As might be expected in view of the near termination of his term of office, the President has vetoed the bill reducing the salary of the President of the United States from $50,000 to $25,000.

—Anna Besant, the English radical heroine, is circulating a petition to parliament praying that no further grants of money be made, under any circumstances, to the members of the royal family. It has received about 80,000 signatures.

Omaha, May 3.—A party of Black Hills miners just returned to Sioux City say there is no fodder for cattle or horses in that country, and that stock is dying off rapidly from starvation. The grass is not yet started, and in many places snow still covers the ground—to the depth of a foot in the vicinity of Custer City. This party counted the carcasses of 400 animals that had recently died of disease and starvation. Other places report numbers of miners ruined by an expedition to the Hills who have returned and are being fed and clothed by the liberality of their friends.

—All of the workmen employed in constructing the new railway tunnel near Heath, in South Wales, were buried by an explosion of powder which caused the roof to fall. Already thirteen dead bodies and a number of wounded have been found, and still the search continues.

—The House of Representatives has passed a bill for the transfer of the Indian Bureau to the War Department. This will not be regarded as a rejection of the peace policy, but a condemnation of the theft and outrage which have seemed inseparable from the present administration.

—Senator Sargent’s speech on the Chinese question made a good deal of impression on Senators, and has since been the subject of frequent reference, especially his showing their corrupting influences upon the morals of the community, and that they do not come here for citizenship; but these impressions have been largely counteracted by reports by telegraph of the violent treatment of the ignorant Chinamen.

—Turkey is unable to quell the insurrection in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She threatened to arm the Mohammedan population whereupon the three European powers have intimated to the Porte that if a massacre should follow the arming, military expeditions, composed of Austrian and Russian troops, into Turkish territory, will certainly be undertaken. Montenegro has declared war against Turkey, and 7,000 Montenegrins have joined the insurgents.

—The new educational scheme of Japan provides for eight universities, thirty-two high schools, or academies, 256 grammar schools, and 5,500 primary schools. Thirty university students are to be sent abroad every year for professional research, the government allowing them $1,800 each per year, while 150 from the intermediate schools will be sent out for special study upon allowances of $1,000. The annual cost of education in the high schools has been fixed at $7.50 per head, and lower ones at $5.

—On Saturday, May 6, Leavenworth, Kansas, was visited by the most disastrous wind-storm ever known in that vicinity. It had been raining almost incessantly for sixty hours, and as the wind-storm struck the town, rain was coming down in torrents. At a few moments after three o’clock a sharp breeze came up from the east, which continued not over a minute; then there was a dead calm, and the rainfall ceased entirely. Then began to be heard the distant roaring of the coming tornado. In a moment the wind struck, and it seemed for a time that everything above ground was doomed to destruction. There was a terrific roaring of wind, which could not be likened to anything but itself. The creaking and groaning of trembling buildings, the crash of falling walls and flying timbers, made an exhibition of the fury of the elements which those who witnessed it will never desire to see repeated. The wind-cloud was funnel-shaped, with the small end down. It moved with an oscillating motion from west to east, scattering ruin in its pathway wherever it struck the earth. The roofs were blown off and warehouses damaged. The iron roof of the Union depot was blown off; and some thirty smaller buildings were unroofed or blown down. The loss to the city and county cannot be less than $150,000, and may reach $250,000.

The heavy rains seem to have visited a vast amount of territory. Dispatches from Kansas City, dated May 6, give account of unprecedented rainfall causing immense damage and delays to railroads. The Hannibal and St. Joseph road is blocked near Cameron, and breaks in the roads are being reported from other places.

In Chicago the storm was nearly as severe as at Leavenworth. The Michigan Southern depot was unroofed and six laborers working in the vicinity were more or less hurt, one seriously. The massive steeple of Grace Church, 175 feet high, fell, and crashing through the roof, penetrated to the aisle. The choir was practicing in the church at the time, but were not injured. The spire of the Wabash-avenue Methodist Church also broke off and fell into a lot adjoining. The massive fog-bell at the crib, together with the newly erected tower, was swept into the lake and entirely destroyed. The loss will probably be over $5,000. Hacks and carriages were wrecked in the streets and abandoned. Nearly fifty vehicles were seen on the south side, after the tornado had passed, all turned over, and some of them worthless on account of damage by the storm.