SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Sep 13, 1877

SECULAR NEWS.

—Colored teachers are being put in charge of the colored schools in St. Louis, greatly to the satisfaction of everybody.

—The steamer Montreal was burned near Swanton, Vt., on the night of September 3d. Loss, $25,000; insurance, $12,000.

—Brigham Young's will was read in the presence of all his widows September 3d. The estate is valued at $2,000,000.

—The great statesman, Louis Adolphe Thiers, ex-president of the republic of France, died very suddenly, September 3, at St. Germain.

—It is stated that the army-worm has appeared in large numbers in De Soto county, Miss.; Fayette county, Tenn., and Lee county, Ark., and much damage to the cotton crop is feared.

—A small bug has made its appearance in Los Angeles county, and is destroying the pumpkin vines by the wholesale. The insects are green in color, and literally cover the ground.

—Among the suicides in France, reported last year, twenty-nine were of children, nine were fifteen years of age; six were fourteen; nine, thirteen; one, twelve; two, eleven; one, ten, and one, nine.

—September 3, while some workmen were making an excavation in Cincinnati, the walls of a building were undermined and it fell with a tremendous crash, burying a number of people in the ruins.

—An exchange says: “In sinking an artesian well in Humboldt county, a current of gas was struck at a depth of 120 feet, which when ignited, sent a jet of flame 36 feet into the air, and burned brightly for many hours.”

—The work of replacing the bridge over the Missouri, is already begun. The expense will be about $50,000. The interruption to freight by the accident is estimated to amount to about one day between New York and San Francisco. It will require two months to permanently repair damages.

—The imports of specie at the port of New York for the week ending August 18, were $350,141 and the exports $226,555. Thus far in the year the outward movement has declined not far from 50 per cent as compared with 1876. The imports, however, show an increase of over 50 per cent.

—A disastrous fire occurred, September 3, in the city of New York. At about 10 A. M., an extensive piano factory was discovered to be on fire. Owing to the light material and the large quantities of varnish and paint contained in the building, the flames gained such a rapid headway as to render futile any attempt to save the structure. The fire swept to the south side of the street, communicating with a barrel factory, soap factory, and charcoal factory, north of Thirty-fifth street, and a block of frame houses on Tenth avenue. All the buildings named were in operation, and contained full complements of employees, some of whom perished in the flames. The factories and other buildings were reduced to ruins in about three-quarters of an hour. A steam fire-engine was burned, the firemen being unable to get it out, in consequence of the intense heat. The walls of the brick buildings fell from time to time with a heavy crash. The great scarcity of water rendered the efforts of the firemen to prevent the spread of the flames unsuccessful. The entire block bounded by Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth streets, and Tenth and Eleventh avenues were laid waste. Many tenement houses on the four sides of the block were destroyed. Sparks were carried by the wind to the canvas of a gospel tent near the corner of Twelfth avenue, and it was destroyed also. Hundreds of families are rendered homeless. The total loss is estimated to be $350,000; insurance, $190,000.