SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 31, 1877

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 22.

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SECULAR NEWS.

—Diaz has been elected president of Mexico.

—The harbor at Shediac, New Brunswick, is still blockaded by ice.

—During the month of April, 20,739,000 postal cards were issued.

—Prince Bismarck has been suddenly recalled by Emperor William.

—During the last week rains have been general throughout the State.

—Virginia spends over $300,000 a year for the education of the negroes.

—Seven persons were crushed to death, May 22, at Chester, Pa., while launching a steamer.

—Eighty-six persons were injured by the explosion of a balloon, May 21, at Hull, England.

—For nearly 425 years Constantinople has remained undisturbed in the possession of the Turks.

—Berlin is the fourth city in Europe and the ninth in the world in point of population; there being 1,000,309 inhabitants.

—They are having a drought in Brazil. It is feared but a small portion of the crops in the upper provinces will be saved.

—There was recently a violent hail and thunder storm in portions of New England. In some places the crops are much damaged.

—One thousand barrels of adulterated vinegar, lately received at Washington from Chicago, have been seized by order of the Board of Health.

—Thirty persons were recently drowned by the wreck of a vessel plying between Adelaide and Albany Isles, off the north-east coast of Australia.

—The Permanent Exhibition at Philadelphia was formally opened May 10, in the audience of 75,000 persons. President Hayes and ex-President Grant were present.

—The steamer Collier, of Harrisburgh, collided with the schooner Marietta Tilton, of Cross Rip, on the night of May 16. The schooner was sunk in a few minutes. Five lives were lost.

—General Grant and party arrived at Queenstown, May 27, and started for Liverpool Sunday evening.

—The rolling mill at Youngstown, Pa., was burned on the night of May 26. Loss, $100,000. Three hundred men were thrown out of employment.

—The boiler of the steamer Sidonian, exploded at sea, killing the captain and six others. It is the first accident of the kind which is known to have occurred on board an Atlantic steamship.

—The investigation of the New York Custom House shows that twenty per cent more men are employed than there is any call for, and a large proportion of them are incompetent and inefficient.

—A hurricane swept over the village of St. Hyppolite, Canada, a short time ago. The new Catholic church and several houses were blown down. Two men were killed, and two badly wounded.

—Creswell, North Carolina, was recently destroyed by fire. But little insurance was held in the town by property-holders, and the greatest distress prevails. All the mails in the postoffice were destroyed.

—About 500 brickmakers at Haverstraw, N. Y., struck for higher wages May 23. The men went from yard to yard compelling those willing to work for present rates to join them. May 24, they were caused to disperse by the militia.

—President Hayes recently unveiled the statue of Fitz Green Halleck in Central Park. In the absence of John G. Whittier, his ode written for the occasion was read by Gen. J. G. Wilson, and an address was delivered by Wm. Allen Butler.

—The heaviest bell in the United States is in the tower of the new church at Notre Dame, Ind. Its weight is 15,400 pounds. When raised only one foot from the ground it was heard a distance of twenty-four miles. This mammoth bell was cast at Le Mans, France, some years ago.

—St. Stephen, New Brunswick, was on the 14th inst. visited by a destructive fire which swept away the greater part of the business portions of the city. Five wharves were burned, the railway station, telegraph office, 46 stores, 40 dwellings and many other buildings. The total loss is estimated at $250,000.

—A terrible storm visited Marion, Ind., May 21. Houses were unroofed, trees uprooted and fences destroyed. A brick church nine miles north of Marion was destroyed, which was at the time filled with people attending services. The roof was uplifted and the walls fell in, burying the inmates. One man was killed, and ten or fifteen seriously injured.

—An official French document recently made public, which purports to give only the real estate held by, or in trust for, the ex-Empress Eugenie and her son, rates the Paris property at $1,065,000, on which there are mortgages to the extent of $240,000. Her other estates are valued at a like sum, on which an incumbrance of $200,000 exists. Other members of the Bonaparte family also hold a large amount of property in various countries. The personal property of the imperial exiles is variously estimated, varying from $5,000,000 to $15,000,000.

—The Harvard college library now has 227,650 volumes, and Yale 114,200. The Harvard library has doubled in the last 20 years, and has received several munificent presents. Charles Sumner gave it during his life, 350 maps, 1300 volumes and 20,000 pamphlets, besides leaving it his own library of 40,000 volumes at his death. Charles Francis Adams gave it in 1866, 48 English works relating to the rebellion. The library has 178 of Jared Spark's manuscripts, and the manuscript and books used by Prescott in writing “Ferdinand and Isabella.” Some of the manuscripts date back to the 12th and 13th centuries, and one to the 9th.