News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 13, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 41.

International.—The report comes from Italy that all the European governments have now consented to Italy’s proposal for a conference to concert measures for the suppression of anarchy......The different German States have begun the work of expelling anarchists, and many prominent agitators have been given a fortnight’s notice to leave the country......Six Chinese officials were executed at Pekin on September 30, for alleged conspiracy against the dowager empress. The report of the emperor’s death at the hands of the dowager’s supporters is both affirmed and denied......The rebellion against the Japanese authorities in the island of Formosa is still unchecked. The rebels set fire to the government buildings on September 29, but were driven off by the troops, who burned a number of their villages......Gen. Sir Herbert Kitchener, who recently destroyed the power of the Khalifa in the Soudan, has been appointed governor of the Soudan......Edhem Pasha, the governor of Crete, has been deposed and ordered back to Constantinople. The work of disarming the Mussulmans goes on slowly. Many of the persons surrendered to the British as leaders of the riot are found to be innocent, while those responsible for the massacre are still at large......Stories of revolting cruelty practised upon the African natives come from the localities occupied by the French in West Africa......A despatch from South Africa states that a battle has been fought between German troops and the natives, in which eleven soldiers were killed. The losses of the blacks are not given......There is a meat famine in some of the provinces of Germany. Horses, dogs, and even cats are eaten by many of the poorer class......America, Germany, and England have given their consent to the return of Mataafa to the island of Samoa. This former Samoan king has been in exile for ten years; but it is expected that he will now be made king, to take the place of Malietoa, who died recently......It is reported that Dreyfus has been taken from the isle where he was held to Cayenne, where he awaits a steamer to bring him to Paris......On October 2 mobs of anti-Dreyfusites rioted in the streets of Paris with serious results. The disorders created much alarm and many were injured......At Pekin during the celebration of the ancient Festival of the Moon, drunken mobs assaulted all foreigners who appeared upon the streets. Both the Russian and British legations ordered guards of marines from their recently acquired ports to protect themselves and their countrymen. In view of these disturbances the United States war vessels Baltimore and Petrel, have been ordered to China. The leader of the rebellion in Sze Chuen province has issued a proclamation ordering the extermination of all foreigners......The Spanish and American commissioners at Paris have held several meetings, as a result of which both commissions have had to telegraph their governments for additional instructions. It is reported that the Spanish commissioners were much astonished by the demands of the Americans......England, France, Italy, and Russia have presented a collective note to the Turkish Government demanding the withdrawal of the Turkish troops in the island of Crete within a month, the evacuation to begin within two weeks.

Domestic.—The commissioners appointed to frame laws and recommend the particular form of government for the Hawaiian Islands have returned from Honolulu. Meetings will be held in Washington, beginning November 14, with the Hawaiian members of the commission, and it is expected that their work will be completed by December 1......The Delaware Indians, now located in Indian Territory, have purchased 550,000 acres of land in the State of Sonora, Mexico, and about 5,000 members of that tribe will migrate there in the near future......A lady of Wyoming, Illinois, has just awakened from a sleep of nineteen weeks’ duration, and tells a wonderful story of her travels in prehistoric lands......There has been much trouble and rioting at Pana, Illinois, and across the line in Indiana. On September 30, the striking union miners captured a train loaded with negro miners, compelled the negroes to leave the train, and put them on another train going in the opposite direction. Then they invaded the town of Washington, Indiana, and drove out fifty negro miners at the point of guns. The city officials were utterly powerless to control the mob......James R. Keene made a fortune of $1,500,000 in one week on Wall Street manipulating tobacco stocks......The plague of yellow fever in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama has not yet been brought under control......There is a strike of plasterers and hod carriers in Butte, Montana. The plasterers have been getting $7.00 per day and the hod carriers $4.50. They are now demanding more pay, less work, and less hours......An attempt is being made by avaricious New York bankers to compel the Secretary of the Treasury to issue bonds to all who subscribed for the popular loan and were not successful in obtaining bonds. It is conceded that if the suit is successful, it will be the death blow to popular loans, and that is believed to be the ultimate object of those who are bringing the suit......The transport Obdam, which left Santiago on October 2 with a large number of sick soldiers and officers on board, took fire at sea and returned to Santiago on October 4. The vessel carried a large quantity of ammunition and was in great danger of an explosion......A battle occurred between soldiers and a tribe of the Chippewas known as the Pillagers near Leech Lake, Minnesota, on October 5, in which a number of the whites and many Indians are known to have been killed. Trouble had been brewing there for several days, owing to the Indians refusing to surrender certain members of their tribe to the peace officers. Re-enforcements are being sent to the scene of the trouble.

Casualties and Calamities.—The coasts of Georgia and South Carolina were visited by a severe windstorm on October 2, which did considerable damage to shipping along the coast, and destroyed rice crops on the lowlands amounting to $100,000......Four miners were burned to death at Midvale, Penn., on October 1......Fifty Armenians were killed by Turks at Alashkerb, Armenia, on September 30......Five men were shot from ambush near Murfreesboro, Tenn., on October 2, four of whom were killed. The shooting was the result of a feud between the members of two families......A despatch from Bombay states that a ferry-boat was capsized while crossing the Indus, on October 4, and 100 of the passengers were drowned......Three Indian tribes on the Copper River, Alaska, are reported to be in great danger of starvation, owing to the complete failure of their salmon catch the present season. A cannery and fish traps at the mouth of the river are responsible for the failure of the Indians’ fish supply......Late advices from the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina state that many persons have lost their lives in the severe storm which visited that section. The damage to the cotton crop is estimated at $5,000,000.

Fires.—The Bradley Fertilizer Company’s works at Weymouth, Mass., was destroyed by fire on September 29; loss, $500,000......The city of Colorado Springs had a visitation of fire on October 1, in which many firms lost heavily. The loss is estimated at nearly a million dollars......Five children were burned to death in a fire which swept the city of Cumberland, Wisconsin, on September 29. The property loss in the city is estimated at $225,000. Forest fires are blazing through Northern Wisconsin and Colorado, destroying thousands of acres of valuable timber. In Colorado the settlers are reported to be fleeing for their lives, while in Wisconsin many charred bodies have been found in the wake of the fire, and about one hundred are reported to be missing, and thousands of domestic animals have perished. Timber fires are also raging in the Black Hills, destroying vast quantities of valuable lumber......The Grange Tobacco Warehouse, at Clarksville, Tenn., the largest in the world, was burned on October 5, resulting in a property loss of about half a million.

Cuba.—Arrangements have been completed for the formation of a force of Cuban mounted police for the province of Santiago de Cuba......Lieutenant Hobson is now engaged in the work of floating the Spanish ships Cristobal Colon and Vizcaya. He has staked his reputation on being able to perform the task, and the Navy Department has shipped him the necessary appliances......The War Department has decided to send officers to Cuba to select army posts for the American army of occupation......Over 2,000 Spanish irregular soldiers mutinied at Cabanas October 1 when the order reached them to disband and surrender their arms. They refused to do so until they had been paid, and the order was withdrawn......General Garcia has been given the position of commissioner to arrange for disbanding the Cuban army, for which services he receives $500 per month. The condition of the poor in Havana is reported to be extremely distressing, and many unable to go out and beg are dying in their houses from starvation.

The Philippines.—The declaration of independence was ratified by the insurgents at Malolos, on September 29, amid great festivities. Many foreigners attended the ceremony, but no Americans were present......The Spanish Government is seeking to obtain the consent of the United States to send troops from Manila to the Visayas Islands, to suppress the rebellion there......It is reported that Aguinaldo’s troops have captured the suburbs of Iloilo, after a conflict in which the Filipinos slaughtered men, women, and children without mercy. Over 200 persons are said to have been butchered by the forces of the rebel chief. A Madrid despatch reports a battle with the insurgents on Visayas Islands, in which the insurgents were defeated, with a loss of ninety-four......Four officers and eighty-four enlisted men have died of disease or been killed in battle since the Americans landed at Manila.

Temperance.—A plebiscite of the Dominion of Canada on the question of prohibition resulted in a majority of 18,000 for total prohibition. The majority is not nearly as large as was expected, and prohibition papers express the fear that it is too small to influence the Legislature to enact prohibition legislation......Maine’s vote for her prohibition candidate is forty per cent. larger than in 1896. In South Carolina the prohibition candidate received 33,000 votes, lacking only 5,000 votes of election......The temperance women of Anderson, Illinois, are credited with having completely demolished a saloon which was kept open on Sundays and after hours in defiance of law.

Educational.—The University of Pennsylvania has received a bequest from the late Col. J. S. Bennett amounting to $400,000, which is to be devoted to the higher education of women......A returned miner from the Klondike, who arrived at Vancouver, B.C., recently, brought several specimens of the remains of prehistoric animals which had been buried in the frozen mossy bog of his mining claim.

Porto Rico.—It is reported that Spanish transports sufficient to carry the entire Spanish army in Porto Rico have arrived at San Juan, and the American commissioners expect the evacuation to be complete within a week. The inhabitants are looking forward eagerly to the change of government. Fresh American troops will soon be sent to Porto Rico, to take the place of those now there.