News and Miscellany

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 16, 1876

News and Miscellany.

—Local newspapers published in the various towns of Colorado and Wyoming indicate that the Black Hills mining fever is raging high in that section of country, and appears to be affecting more or less the unemployed population of the whole West. Expeditions to the new land of gold are constantly being fitted out from St. Louis, Sedalia, Kansas City, Omaha, Denver, Cheyenne, Sioux City, St. Paul, etc. The mild winter has served to swell the throng of enthusiasts, to whom the idea that every man may dig out his own gold in dust and nuggets is a tempting, gilded picture. Many of the western papers fan the excitement by publishing statements purporting to be from successful miners who are taking out gold at a rapid rate. Evidently there is another side to the subject, which is not presented so fully, for there are private accounts of discouraged and disgusted miners who are begging their way homeward. Doubtless there are exceptional instances where a fortune is suddenly gained, but, on the average, more money would be made by steady, honest effort at home than in this hazardous venture. It is said that not less than a thousand men are now waiting in the single city of Cheyenne for transportation to the gold region. At Custer City and Hill City, the principal camping points in the eastern section of the Black Hills region, provisions are exceedingly high; and it is considered doubtful whether the supplies there are in any event sufficient to prevent great suffering among those now in camp and those on their way thither.

—Among the gifts made by Mr. James Lick for public purposes was one of $150,000 for the erection of free public baths for the city of San Francisco. According to the plans which have been recently submitted by the architects, the building is to be constructed of iron and glass. The interior will be divided into three compartments—the middle compartment, 160 feet by 50, for the use of men; the south compartment, 80 feet by 50, for boys; and the north one, 80 feet by 30, for women. It is proposed to supply the baths with water from the bay, and to have it warmed by the employment of the heat of the sun’s rays. To accomplish this, fine jets will ascend to the roof of the building, and fall in almost imperceptible spray into the tanks, the sun’s rays meantime passing through it and warming it before it reaches the basin. This is the plan adopted at the public baths at Liverpool, England.

—Some curious and startling facts, says the Sun, concerning the people who live on the canals are given in a recent English publication, entitled, “Our Canal Population.” It appears that on the canals and rivers in England there are not less than 22,400 men, as many women, and 72,000 children; and that 26,000 of these men and women are living as husbands and wives in an unmarried state, and have 40,000 illegitimate children. Mr. Smith says of these boatmen and their families: “Ninety-five per cent cannot read and write, ninety per cent are drunkards, sixty per cent are unmarried, but living as husbands and wives. Many of the boaters and their families have but one room, little more than one bed, and one suit of clothes, and these not much better than rags. Their cabin home is scarcely the size of an ash-box, but in this hole men and women live together, children are born, and families are ‘educated’ in vice and crime.”

—A strange story comes from Minnesota. Two citizens of St. Cloud make complaint that the County School Superintendent permits the Catholic priest to teach the Catholic catechism in the schools of district No. 1 on two afternoons of each week. At 3 P. M. on Tuesdays and Fridays the Protestant children are sent home, and the school is given up to the Catholics. One of the text books used in these schools is a reader with this title: “The Biblical History of the Old and New Testaments for the Catholic People’s Schools of the United States of North America.” Prepared by a priest of the Diocese of Basel, with the approbation of the Right Reverend Bishops of Basel, etc. Published by Benziger Brothers.” Is this a sample of the changes which our Catholic friends wish to see effected in our public school system? If so forewarned is forearmed.

—The Sultan offers amnesty to all insurgents who return to their homes within a month. The government announces that it will have all their houses and churches which were destroyed, rebuilt at its own cost, and will furnish the insurgents the means of resuming their usual vocations. The authorities on the frontier are ordered to acquaint the insurgents of the imperial decree, and afford them the necessary facilities for returning to their homes. The Vienna Presse says there are 28,000 Herzegovinian refugees in Dalmatia who are resolved to starve rather than go back to their homes. Another great battle has taken place in Herzegovina, near Vassovievich, in which the Turks were totally defeated.

—Farmers throughout the State are rejoicing in the present prospects of a bountiful harvest. The recent rains having been in most localities a great benefit to the grain, it is expected that a larger crop will be harvested during 1876 than ever before. In low places on the stiff, adobe soil, where the water could collect and stand, some injury has been done, the grain being drowned out; but in other sections the growth has been so rank and thrifty that it was necessary to cut it down lest the top should grow too tall and heavy for the roots. A large fruit crop is also anticipated.

—The latest dispatches from Spain report further disasters to the Carlist insurgents. It is stated that Don Carlos and Lizarraza, with 24,000 men without artillery or provisions, are in the mountainous districts of Amazcuas, endeavoring to reach the French frontier. Several divisions of the royal army are marching against them.

—Recent reports state that the rails shipped for China, and the workmen that went with them from England, reached their destination last week, and that the work of plate-laying was at once begun. Within a few months railway traffic will begin between Shanghai and Woosung, towns twenty miles apart.

—The crown of England is 3¾ lbs. weight. It contains 5 rubies, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 1,363 brilliant diamonds, 1,273 rose diamonds, 147 table diamonds, 4 pearl drops, and 273 other pearls. The jewels are all set in gold.

—The trial of General O. E. Babcock, President Grant’s private secretary, for conspiracy in the whisky frauds in the West, ended on the 24th ult., in his prompt acquittal by the jury.

—Last week 101 persons died in San Francisco; of this number 25 were natives of California; 16, of other parts of the United States; while 60 were foreigners.

—The United States Senate on the 21st ult., passed the bill providing for the sale of United States timber lands in California, Oregon, and the Territories.

—Parliament has promptly ratified Mr. Disraeli’s purchase of the Suez canal shares by voting the amount to be paid for them.

—Lightning conductors to the extent of 800 have been ordered for the Vatican and St. Peters in Rome.

—A very perceptible earthquake shock was felt at Detroit on Sunday, March 5.