SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 4, 1877

SECULAR NEWS.

—The San Francisco Police Court fines collected in December amount to $4,412.

—Half a mile of snow-shed on the C. P. R. R., one mile east of Summit Valley was burned, December 29.

—During the last week there were 161 deaths in San Francisco. Of these 29 were cases of small-pox.

DELHI, January 1.—Queen Victoria was to-day proclaimed Empress here and throughout India with great ceremony.

—The convent of the Sisters of Providence of St. Elizabeth, near Joliet, P. Q., was burned on the evening of Dec. 26. One hundred persons were in the building when it burned, but fortunately all but thirteen escaped. These were burned beyond recognition.

—As proof that the Hebrew language is again becoming a live language in Europe, the Jewish Messenger states that several new Hebrew works have been published and that in Lemberg, Pesth, Cracow, Lyck and Vienna, Hebrew newspapers and magazines have been started and “show a vigorous life.”

SALEM (Or.), December 26.—The State Penitentiary was burglarized last night. The thief entered the guard-room and officer’s quarters and stole several watches, some money and clothing, and made good his escape. The thief is supposed to be a recently liberated convict. The audacity of the robber is without parallel.

—A dispatch from Salt Lake City, Dec. 30, states that there have been several snow-slides in Little Cottonwood Canyon within the last few days, which carried away several hundred feet of snow-sheds over the railroad. A snow-slide occurred above Alta, which buried in their cabin two Frenchmen, named Charles Hautani and Louis Labrie. Their bodies were brought to Alta to-day.

—There is a great deal of talk about the hardness of the times; but for certain purposes money seems to be readily available. The receipts of the various places of amusement in New York city, on Thanksgiving-day and evening, amounted to $66,785.75. The tidal wave of economy evidently hasn’t reached the theatres as yet.

—Four hundred employees of the bureau of Engraving and Printing have been discharged—nearly one-half the force of the entire bureau. About two-thirds of them were women, many of them being press girls who have been employed by the printer individually. These discharges are due to the recent action of the Government in giving the work of printing revenue stamps to the Bank Note Companies instead of to the Engraving and Printing Bureau.

—A terrible accident occurred at Ashtabula near Cleveland, Ohio, on the Lake Shore Railroad, Dec. 29. A train bound west went through an iron bridge down 70 feet into the river. Of the 165 passengers aboard less than 60 are known to be saved. The bridge was 157 feet long, and at the time of the accident was considered perfectly safe. The falling train and bridge broke the ice and many who were not killed by the fall or burned with the cars were drowned, and some were frozen. Mr. Bliss, the celebrated singer and evangelist, his wife and two children, are among the lost.

—The Japanese Minister at Washington presented to the President a letter addressed to him by the Mikado, of which the following is a translation: “To His Excellency the President of the United States, General Ulysses S. Grant—Great and Good Friend! Now that the great Exposition in honor of the 100th year of your Excellency’s National Government has been eminently successful, I write to congratulate you and the people over whom you preside. From my subjects in the United States, I have heard nothing except words of kindness in regard to the manner in which they have been treated; and I believe the recent intercourse between our countries will have a tendency to strengthen the friendship already existing. I would here express the sincere hope, that the incoming century will not only witness the continued progress and prosperity of your nation in all branches of industry, but also prove an era of peace. This will be handed to you in person by my Minister, residing near your Government, who has been directed to emphasize my very friendly congratulations.—MUTSUHITO. Tokio, the 1st day of the 10th month of the 9th year of Meiji.”