News and Notes | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Aug 30, 1883

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 9, No. 33.

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News and Notes.

—Immense damage has been done to the island of Porto Rico by a flood.

—Forest fires in Maine are now raging to a greater extent than for many years.

—Considerable damage was done in the vicinity of Duluth, Minn., Aug. 20, by a hurricane.

—Count De Chamberd, the last of the elder branch of the French Bourbon, died at Frohsdorf, Aug. 24.

—It is estimated that three-fourths of the South Carolina cotton crop will be lost on account of drought.

—The Western Union Telegraph Office at Chicago was burned Aug. 21. The fire originated from a gas jet. Loss, $100,000.

—Since the passage of the Chinese Restriction Act, the Chinese population of San Francisco is said to have decreased 25 per cent.

—Mt. Vesuvius is still in a state of activity. The continuous trembling has resulted in considerable damage to buildings in the vicinity.

—The steamer Ludwig, with fifty-six people on board, from Antwerp to Montreal, is two weeks overdue, and has been given up for lost.

—Three mills of the Acadia Powder Company, at Waverly, near Halifax, N. S., were destroyed by an explosion, on the 20th. Several employés lost their lives.

—Both ends of the Northern Pacific Railroad were connected on the 22d, near Helena, M. T. The golden spike will be set on Sept. 8, by President Villard and Jay Cooke.

—Emigration to Oregon and Washington has been a little overdone. The Portland Standard advises laborers to keep away, as there are many there vainly seeking employment.

—The Alexandria correspondent of the London Times says: "If the British troops should be withdrawn from Egypt, no European family would remain in that country a week after their departure."

—Reports from twenty-five of the larger post-offices show the increase in the sale of postage stamps for the quarter ending June 30, 1883, over the corresponding quarter of last year, to be $232,457.

—The notorious Frank James is now on trial for his life, at Gallatin, Mo. His friends have sent letters to two prominent witnesses for the prosecution, threatening them should their testimony be adverse.

—A terrific rain-storm, accompanied by thunder and lightning, visited the northwest part of Ontario, on the 19th. At Listowel the water was two feet deep in the streets, and many buildings and bridges were carried away.

—The war in Tonquin, between the French and Chinese, has commenced at last. On the 17th the French made an attack, but were repulsed with some loss. On the next day, however, they gained a signal victory.

—It is said that the hardest thing the faculties of the large colleges have to contend against is the dead indifference of the bulk of the students. The majority look on all enthusiasm for study as a sort of silliness which makes its possessor a target for ridicule.

—A fire in the still depot of the Eclipse Lubricating Refinery, at Franklin, Pa., Aug. 19, destroyed nine tanks, containing several thousand barrels of oil, and a large amount of machinery. The Eclipse was the largest lubricating refinery in the world.

—There was a cloud-burst at Silver King, A. T., Aug. 20, which did much damage to mining interests. The report says that great bowlders weighing many tons were washed from the mountain-sides and hurled into the road beneath as if they had been pebbles.

—The Chilean chief at Huanuco was informed that a large body of Indians intended to sack the city, and rout the party in favor of peace, and occasion an evacuation. Whereupon the Chileans surprised 3,000 Indians, on the 22d, killing 400, and wounding 400 others.

—Since the telegraph strike has ended, it is announced that John W. Mackay and friends have bought a controlling interest in the Postal Telegraph Company, and intend to organize a gigantic opposition to the Western Union Company. The probability is that telegraph rates will soon be greatly reduced.

—It is stated that nihilism is as active and implacable as ever in Russia. An endless procession of manacled prisoners passes from Eastern Russia to Siberia. The prosecutions are conducted with such secrecy, and the suppression of news is so great, that but little can be learned of the actual state of things.

—An express train on the Rochester and Northern Division of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, was caught in a severe wind and hail-storm, near Zumbrota, Minn., Aug. 22, and lifted from the track, while running at high speed. Every car in the train was completely wrecked, the passengers being buried beneath the debris. Nearly every person was injured, and the loss of life was very great.

—The storm that raged so fearfully in southeastern Minnesota, Aug. 22, was strongest in Olmstead County. At Rochester 135 houses were demolished, and their contents destroyed. Thirty-four persons were killed, and eighty-two injured, nine of them fatally. An appeal has been made for aid for the suffering and destitute. It is estimated that 500 persons will have to be supported almost entirely by charity, for several days or weeks.

—A special dispatch from Cettinge (Montenegro) says: "A reign of terror exists in the village of Kassovo in Albania. The Arnauts are murdering Christians, and all the latter who can get away are fleeing from the country. The Turkish officials connive at outrages on Christians, and have arrested and exiled a number of priests. In the Apex district ninety-two persons have been murdered, and twenty-three villages have been abandoned."