California Land Opened to Public Entry
More than one million acres of land in the northern part of California have been opened to public entry by the Land Commissioner at Washington. One of the most terrible train wrecks of the year is that reported from Hodges, Tenn., which occurred on September 24, and in which 62 persons met death and 112 were injured more or less seriously. The only cause of the accident, so far as known, was either the carelessness or forgetfulness of one of the train crews. Day after day for a long time these two trains had been meeting at a certain point. One of the engineers ran by the regular place of meeting, and the two trains loaded with passengers came together on a curve with a terrible crash. The scene following the collision is said by eye-witnesses to have been most appalling. Both engines and all the cars, save the sleepers, were completely demolished, and human beings, dead or wounded, were almost inextricably mingled with the mass of wreckage. The great butcher’s strike inaugurated several weeks ago at Chicago has been officially declared ended. The men have lost—not only lost the strike, but in a great portion of the cases have lost their positions as well. The strike involved about 53,000 men, 26,000 of whom were in Chicago. Many of the strikers had simply struck in sympathy with the butchers, and the strike of these men has also come to an end. It is estimated that the strike has cost the workmen $5,000,000 and the packers about $7,500,000. Only a portion of the skilled workmen will be taken back by the packers, and no positions are promised to any of the unskilled workmen, nearly all their places having been filled. One of the most sorrowful incidents of the Oriental War is the great amount of sickness reported to be prevalent at Port Arthur. Reports brought out of the besieged fortress by those who have succeeded in running the blockade indicate that there are 15,000 sick and wounded in the hospitals of the fortress. The task of attending to the wants of such an army of sick is an enormous one, and there is no doubt that the sick and wounded suffer greatly from lack of proper food, as well as from the terrible bombardment to which the place is almost constantly subjected. Professor Niels Finsen, the discoverer of the so-called Finsen rays of light for the cure of lupus, and head of the Finsen Ray Institute in Copenhagen, died in that place on September 24. The work of Professor Finsen has been recognized all over the civilized world, and his discoveries are generally regarded as of inestimable service to mankind. The light ray has also effected cures of cancer. None of the apparatus was patented by Finsen, as he desired that it be used in the service of mankind. When it was decided to pay the Philippine friars for their holdings in the Philippines, arrangements were made for paying them at Manila, so that the money, or a portion of it, might remain in the islands. The friars are not satisfied with this arrangement, and have demanded that payment be made to their representatives in London. The government has now made arrangements to comply with their desires in this particular, and the representatives of the Augustinians will receive their portion, $2,000,000, in London. Nature’s storehouse of provision for human wants is still greater than the ability of man to utilize its treasures. For some years past an excellent cloth has been obtained from the fiber of the pineapple, which is represented to be superior to the cotton fabric. Now the American Consul at Rouen reports the discovery of a process for the manufacture of artificial cotton from the cellulose of the fir tree, which is flexible and well adapted to the uses to which natural cotton is put. The eastern portion of North America was visited by an exceptionally cold wave on September 22, which is reported to have done much damage to late crops. At the same time a storm of unusual violence swept over a large part of the Pacific Coast. In San Francisco and Oakland much damage was caused by the large amount of water which flooded the streets and overflowed into basements. At Wilmington, Delaware, criminals are now being punished with the lash before entering upon their terms of imprisonment. They are given a number of lashes in accordance with the enormity of their crimes. Some of them are placed in the stocks or pillory before the application of the lash. The Hungarian Minister of the Interior has rendered a decision prohibiting the preaching of the doctrines of Mormonism in that country. This decision is rendered as the result of the expulsion of certain Mormon missionaries from Hungary something over a year ago. Reports from Italy state that while there has been a cessation of the general strike, there is still a strike of 2,325 engineers and firemen, and as a result many of the trains have ceased to run. It is reported that China has yielded to the pressure of the Russian Government and has refused to ratify the treaty made between her province of Tibet and the English Government. At the annual convention of the Lawrence County, Pa., W. C. T. U., one of the principal speakers advocated that women should strike for the right of suffrage.