Flood Legends and Jury Bribery
THERE has been discovered in China a curious picture, evidently of great antiquity, which is supposed to represent Noah’s ark resting on the top of Mount Ararat. As is well known, the people of almost every nation have a legend or a literature giving an account of the deluge; but a Chinese manuscript recently unearthed follows very closely the story recorded in the Bible. This shows simply that the people of this world had a common origin; that their progenitors passed thru the flood; and when scattered over the face of the earth, took the story of the deluge with them. A REPORT from Kansas City, Mo., of June 22, states that the special grand jury of that city, which had just concluded its sittings, had indicted certain employees of the street railway company for jury bribing. Their names were not made public, but warrants were issued for their arrest. But the report which the grand jury made to the public is of interest to all, as indicating the corrupting influences of the present time. It says in part: “The crime of jury bribing as practised has been carried on in the courts of this county to an extent never dreamed of by the public. It is of necessity an exceedingly secret crime. . . . Jury bribing by the — Street Railway Company has been reduced to a regular system.” Kansas City is not an exception in this regard. There are many cases decided in our courts to-day which disinterested persons practically know to have been decided, not by evidence, but by the persuasiveness of money. Yet so carefully is the work done that it is almost impossible to lay hands upon the offending party or parties. The relation of these things furnishes its own comments upon the conditions of the times in which we live. THERE are still many thousands of workmen on strike throughout the country, coal miners, machinists, butchers, waiters, and persons in various occupations. Clashes have occurred during the week in a number of places where non-union help had been employed to take the place of the strikers. In some places strikers have been enjoined; but there is growing up in their ranks a spirit of defiance to the courts which issue the injunctions. As the struggle becomes more fierce, this spirit will show itself more and more. The present situation is a school of discord, and the pupils are numerous and apt to learn. The time of trouble is rapidly drawing on, and the preparation for it is seen on every hand. A SWEEPING injunction has been issued by the circuit court of Milwaukee against the striking machinists of the Vitter Manufacturing Company. The injunction prohibits the strikers from in any way interfering with the workmen who are employed at the Vitter works, from gathering about the works in any numbers, from posting pickets, or for combining against the company in any way that would tend to injure the interests of the company. This injunction is one of the most sweeping yet issued in the struggle between labor and capital, and will arouse strenuous opposition all over the country, tending to increase the hatred of the workmen for the wealthy corporations. THE partiality of public officials toward the liquor interests has been well illustrated during the recent imprisonment of Mrs. Carrie Nation in Wichita, Kansas. Mrs. Nation had been arrested for raiding saloons and destroying saloon property, which the laws of the State have declared to be nuisances, and during her incarceration everything that could be done to make her imprisonment harsh was done by those having charge of the jail. It was openly charged that this course was taken for the purpose of driving Mrs. Nation insane. What a commentary on the boasted civilization of these days! And what a witness to the fact that the world is ripening for its punishment! THE ministers of the foreign powers in China have refused to permit the Chinese troops to return to Peking until after the foreign troops have left China. There is a disposition on the part of some of the powers to increase their indemnity demands on China. Germany wishes hers increased by about $10,000,000; Japan by about $3,000,000; and it seems probable now that China will be compelled to pay the expenses of the various legation guards. It is reported that France has secured concessions which enable her to use troops along the Tonquin-Yunnan Railway for its protection in the same way that Russia operates in Manchuria. ALTHO civil government is to be established in the Philippines on July 4, it is to present the anomaly of being under the supervision of the war department. Judge Taft is to be the civil governor of the islands. General Chaffee will have charge of those districts not yet pacified. Both will be subject to the orders of the President thru the Secretary of War. This unique arrangement is believed to have been made to obviate some of the difficulties arising on account of the recent decisions of the Supreme Court in the Porto Rico cases. TORRID weather is reported throughout the Middle East during the week. In Chicago the heat killed men and animals. Drivers tumbled from their seats; pedestrians fainted in the streets; the tenements sweltered, and horses sank down in their harness. At the stock-yards the heat was stifling, and over 300 animals were killed by it. Cars coming into the city crowded with livestock, carried many dead animals, killed by the heat. While all the Middle States suffered, Chicago had the largest number of sunstrokes. JOHN WANAMAKER recently offered to the city of Philadelphia, thru its mayor, $2,500,000 for certain franchises which the city government was about to give away to influential corporations. The mayor refused to consider Mr. Wanamaker’s offer, although the latter had deposited 10 per cent. of the amount with a responsible firm as evidence of good faith. The deal with the corporations was closed by the Mayor signing the ordinances. THE United States transport Ohio arrived in San Francisco harbor on June 20, bringing the forty-second Volunteer Regiment from the Philippines. A FRENCH engineer named Mercadier has perfected a system by which 24 messages can be sent over one wire at the same time. Twelve currents enter the wire, each impressed with a distinct vibration rate. They are then discharged into receivers, each of which responds only to vibrations of a certain rate. Thus each receiver selects its own current and its own message, and can not receive any other. EARLY on the morning of June 22 an attempt was made to blow up the First Methodist Church of Manhattan, Kansas. The pastor of this church, as mayor of the city, had carried on a vigorous campaign against the illegal sale of liquor, and had caused the arrest, fining, and imprisonment of several liquor dealers. The dynamiting of the church is believed to be the result of the pastor’s vigorous work in this line. ON June 23 tornadoes struck the towns of Lincoln, Illinois, and Middleport, Ohio, destroying many thousands of dollars’ worth of property. At about the same time severe storms occurred in other parts of the country. The increasing frequency of tornadoes, cyclones, and severe lightning storms is another proof of the fact that the old earth is wearing out and preparing for its dissolution. A CLOUD-BURST in the Tug-River section of West Virginia, on June 22, has caused a serious flood in that region. Reports are conflicting, but all agree that great damage has been done. Many miles of railroad track have been completely destroyed. The loss of life is now placed at about 75, tho definite figures can not yet be given. REPORTS from South Africa indicate that the Boer invasion of Cape Colony is serious; that the Boers have from 7,000 to 10,000 fighting men; and that they are swarming all over the eastern and middle districts of the colony. In an engagement on June 20 the British lost 10 killed and 66 captured. AS THE result of an explosion of fireworks in a store on the ground floor of a tenement building in Paterson, N. J., on June 21, 17 persons lost their lives. The fire following the explosion quickly consumed the entire building, giving little opportunity for the occupants to escape. HOSHI TORU, a member of the Japanese cabinet, and ex-minister to the United States, was assassinated at a meeting of the Yokohama City Assembly, on June 21. The assassin, who holds a high social and public position, claims to have struck the blow in the interests of his country. THE question of a European combination against the United States is still being agitated all over Europe. Of course, the result of such an agitation is more war preparation on the part of all, more jealousy, more rumors of war, more “distress of nations with perplexity.” THE United States transport Grant arrived in San Francisco harbor on June 24 with the Forty-eighth and part of the Forty-ninth regiments (colored). These commands have seen trying service in the Philippines, and have left many of their number there. ON June 24 the striking West Virginia coal miners opened fire upon a force of United States deputy marshals, and the latter were compelled to flee for their lives. The marshals were attempting to serve injunction notices upon the strikers when the trouble occurred. SAFE steamer lanes have been established across the Pacific Ocean under the plans proposed by the Navy Department a year ago. These lanes are 30 miles wide, and insure measurably safe navigation, for no obstructions have been discovered. SEVEN persons lost their lives in a tornado at Napier, Nebraska, on June 20, and several others were more or less seriously injured. During the storm the report states that hailstones fell measuring 10 inches in circumference. GENERAL CAILLES, one of the principal generals of the Filipinos, has surrendered with 650 men in northern Luzon. The surrender of this general was the signal for the release of 500 prisoners held by the Americans. THE city of Johannesburg, in the Transvaal, is reported to be nearly deserted of its white inhabitants, on account of the ravages of the war, and many of those who remain are obliged to stay on account of poverty. ADELBERT H. HAY, son of the present Secretary of State and late consul to the Transvaal, fell from the window of the New Haven House at New Haven, Conn., on the night of June 22, and was instantly killed. THERE seems to be a strong undercurrent of feeling thruout the Southern States for the disfranchisement of the negro, and prominent men of the South are laboring zealously to that end. THE halibut fishing schooner White Wings is reported lost, with all of her crew of 30 men. She is believed to have foundered off Vancouver Island in a recent storm. A PECULIAR epidemic is sweeping off thousands of horses in New York. The disease is puzzling the veterinarians, and they are unable to combat it. ONE million dollars’ worth of gold dust has arrived at Seattle, from the Alaskan mining country, and $3,000,000 more are on the way.