SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 12, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 11.

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SECULAR.

—In a fire at Stockton, Cal., March 3, three Chinamen were burned to death.

—General Grant expresses his own conviction that he will not live thirty days.

—It is estimated that 50,000 people witnessed the inauguration of President Cleveland.

—The French ship Surrey was lost last week, with all her officers and all but six of her crew.

—T. S. Arthur, the temperance and home writer and publisher, died March 6, aged seventy-six years.

—Experiments are being made for the operation of the elevated railroads in New York City, by electricity.

—March 1, sixty persons were injured by the fall of a floor, in Naples, Italy. Twenty of them are not expected to recover.

—In a collision off Malaga, Spain, March 3, the French transport Tonquin was sunk, and twenty-four persons were drowned.

—The decrease in the public debt during February was $3,204,975. Since June 30, 1884, the decrease has been $44,926,886.

—Last week the English were again defeated at Kassala, in the Soudan, with a loss of twenty-eight officers and sixty-three privates.

—England has ordered 50,000,000 and Russia 100,000,000 cartridges from the Union Metallic Cartridge Company, Bridgeport, Conn.

—The Central and Union Pacific Railroads have put on fast freight trains, which make the trip from San Francisco to Chicago in eight days.

—Freight can be sent from Liverpool to New York and then back to London, cheaper by a dollar a ton, than by rail from Liverpool to London direct.

—The New York Observer says: "There are more murders, in proportion to the population, in the United States, than in any other country claiming to be civilized."

—At a recent fox-chase in England the fox was run till the poor thing fell dead in front of the hounds; and five horses were killed in the chase. And that is called "sport" over there.

—The mails from Australia and New Zealand to Great Britain, pass through the United States from San Francisco to New York. The passage from Sydney to London is made in thirty-eight days.

—The Albany and Susquehanna freight depot at Albany, N. Y., was burned March 1. It was 600 feet long, and well filled with freight, all of which, with fifteen loaded freight cars, was totally destroyed.

—A telegram dated March 1, says that additional severe shocks of earthquake have been felt in Granada, Loje, and Alhama, Spain. Many houses were destroyed and it is feared, that many persons were killed in the surrounding districts.

—It is incumbent on school teachers that they understand the law. The Supreme Court of California has decided that, "Teachers cannot justify a violation of law on the ground that a resolution of the Board of Education required them to do so."

—March 2, there was an ice gorge on the Delaware River, seventeen miles long, reaching from Lambertville past Trenton to Periwig, N. J.; and at the Trenton bridge of the Pennsylvania railroad, it reached about thirty feet above low water mark.

—Sunday night, March 1, an attempt was made to blow up a dam on Neshannock Creek at New Castle, Pa. The concussion shook every house for a mile around, shattering windows, breaking crockery, etc. It was just at the time of evening services in the churches, and it created a panic among the congregations. In the rush a number of persons were trampled upon and injured, but fortunately no one was killed.

—There is a serious conflict of authority in Virginia. Judge Bond of the United States Circuit Court has ordered the tax collectors to receive, in payment of taxes, certain coupons issued by the State, and Governor Cameron has ordered the tax collectors to not receive them. We do not know how it will end, but as it is the State against the United States, we incline to the opinion that the governor will have to yield.

—President Cleveland's Cabinet is composed as follows: Thos. F. Bayard, of Delaware, Secretary of State; Daniel Manning, of New York, Secretary of the Treasury; William C. Endicott, of Massachusetts, Secretary of War; William C. Whitney, of New York, Secretary of the Navy; Lucius Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior; William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, Postmaster-General; Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas, Attorney-General.

—The last Act of the House of Representatives of the Forty-eighth Congress was to concur in the Senate Bill for the retirement of General Grant; the last executive act of President Arthur was to "nominate U. S. Grant for general, commanding the armies of the United States, to be a general on the retired list of the army with the full pay of such rank"; the last act of the Senate was to confirm this appointment; and the first executive act of President Cleveland (after the appointment of his Cabinet) was to sign the Commission of U. S. Grant as general of the army.