News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 22, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 38.

International.—Manuel Estrada Cabrera has been elected to the presidency of the republic of Guatemala for the next six years......Attacks upon foreign missionaries are becoming more frequent in China. On July 28 a party of missionaries were attacked in their house-boat on the Yuen River. The boat was smashed and burned, but the missionaries escaped on a Chinese gunboat......Conflicting reports are continually coming from the Orient in regard to the success or suppression of the rebellion in central China. It seems, however, that the rebellion is still alive, and is being joined by thousands of the literati, who are bitterly opposed to the present dynasty......The massacre of several hundred of the inhabitants of Crete (who are called Christians merely to distinguish them from the Mohammedans) has injected a new and irritating element into European affairs. The number of killed is variously estimated at from 400 to 800. All reports indicate that the Turkish troops did nothing to prevent the massacre, and some charge them with actual participation. The foreign admirals stationed at Candia have sent an identical note to their respective governments asking that the Turkish troops in Crete be deported and that the Bashi Bazouks be disarmed and expelled. On September 13 the British admiral in Cretan waters demanded that the leaders of the massacre be delivered within forty-eight hours and that the Mussulman troops be disarmed. Italy will send two regiments to assist in the international occupation of Crete......The Turkish Government has issued the following notice: “Entrance into Palestine is formally prohibited to foreign Israelites, and, consequently, the imperial Ottoman authorities have received orders to prevent the landing of immigrant Jews in that province.” This decree seems to be aimed at the carrying out of the ideas of the Zionist movement, the return of the Jews......England had no sooner learned of the great victory of General Sir Herbert Kitchener in the Soudan than she was made aware of the fact that a French expedition under Marchand, which had been marching north from near the head-waters of the Nile, had arrived at Fashoda, south of Khartoum, and captured the place. Fashoda is directly in the path of the English expedition, and its occupation by the French threatens the long-cherished plan of England in regard to a continuous empire from the Mediterranean to Cape Town. The English press is advocating the expulsion of Marchand’s expedition, while the French press asserts that Marchand’s brilliant achievement shall not be thrown away. This seems a more serious question than that which arose over the claims of these two powers in the vicinity of Benin......Elizabeth, empress of Austria, was stabbed by an Italian anarchist, at Geneva, Switzerland, on September 10, and died within two hours. This cowardly and utterly unprovoked attack has stirred all Europe, and there is a demand for strong measures to be taken against the anarchists. It is stated that the governments are planning a concerted move against them, and that wholesale arrests have been decided upon in France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany......The Turkish Government has refused to withdraw or disarm the Turkish troops in Crete, and lays the blame for the massacre in Candia upon the British. The Port also protests against the threatened bombardment of Candia by the international fleet. The Mussulman authorities in that city have arrested twenty of the leaders in the massacre, and the Bashi Bazouks have consented to disarm upon condition that their arms are turned over to the Turkish Government......Diplomatic relations have been broken off between Italy and Colombia, on account of the latter government refusing to recognize the British minister there as the representative of Italy during the absence of the Italian minister......Anti-Italian riots are taking place in different parts of Austria, as a result of the murder of the Austrian empress by an Italian anarchist......The Dreyfus agitation in France shows no signs of subsiding, and it is the opinion of many high in the councils of the government that France is nearing the gravest crisis experienced since the birth of the third republic......The recent efforts of a portion of the inhabitants of the island of Jamaica to bring about annexation to the United States have now been turned toward annexation to Canada, and there seems to be a good prospect of the success of the movement.

Domestic.—The three generals appointed to investigate the conditions of the army camp hospitals have reported that the conditions of these hospitals were very unsatisfactory; that they lacked the proper necessities of hospitals, were badly located, and provided with an insufficient number of attendants......The transport Missouri arrived at Montauk Point, from Santiago, on September 10, bringing 261 soldiers from the hospitals there. Thirteen of the men died on the voyage......The President has decided to appoint a committee of eight to investigate the conduct of the various departments of the army against which complaints have been made......The steamship City of Rome sailed from Portsmouth, N. H., on September 12, bound for Santander, Spain, with 1,700 Spanish prisoners captured after the destruction of Cervera’s fleet. The vessel carried Admiral Cervera, with his full staff of officers......The revenue cutter Bear, which had been sent into Arctic waters to rescue the imprisoned whalers, returned to St. Michael, Alaska, on August 25, with 116 of the rescued sailors......It is reported that the contracts for building the three new battle-ships have been awarded one to each of the following firms: Cramps, Philadelphia; Newport News, Virginia; and the Union Iron Works, San Francisco. These are to have a speed of eighteen and one-quarter knots......A little over 96,000 of the volunteers have been mustered out of the service, but it is the intention of the government to muster out no more for the present.

Casualties and Calamities.—Advices from Australia state that terrible storms have been raging along the coast, wrecking a number of vessels, and damaging property on shore as well. A number of lives have been lost both on sea and land......A disastrous storm recently swept through the central provinces of Japan, doing much damage to property, and destroying, it is reported, 500 lives......A report from Guatemala states that at the election which closed there on September 7, 300 persons were killed. A riot was started by followers of Prospero Morales, the dead revolutionist, and the soldiers fired upon the mobs. The acting president, Cabrera, was elected by a large majority......One thousand disappointed miners are camped on the shores of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, waiting for an opportunity to return to civilization......The island of St. Vincent, 100 miles west of Barbadoes, has experienced the most destructive cyclone ever known there. It is estimated that 300 lives have been lost in that island. The bodies of the dead have been buried in trenches. Kingston, the capital of St. Vincent, is reported totally destroyed. The same storm visited St. Lucia and Guadaloupe, destroying twelve lives in the former island and nineteen in the latter. It is also reported that 200 persons were injured in Barbadoes, and 40,000 rendered homeless.

Spanish Affairs.—The war between Spain and the United States has cost the former country over $400,000,000, besides the loss of Cuba and Porto Rico, and possibly the Philippines......On September 13 the chamber of deputies adopted the American-Spanish protocol by a vote of 151 to 48. Stormy scenes have been witnessed in the sessions of the Cortes during the week, while serious charges were being made against government officials, the generals of the army, and Admiral Cervera. A cabinet crisis is imminent......The stormy scenes in the Spanish Cortes were brought to an end on September 14 by a decree from the queen regent closing the session. The Cortes will be next convoked to ratify the final treaty of peace with the United States. The government feared complications would arise on account of the publicity which a continuance of the session would give to the acts of the Spanish generals.

Fires.—The city of New Westminster, B. C., experienced a disastrous fire on the morning of September 11, which burned a number of blocks in the business part of the town. The loss is placed at from one million to three million dollars. The fire is believed to have been started by convicts recently released......Jerome, Arizona, one of the largest copper camps in the world, was destroyed by fire on September 11. Eleven bodies were taken from the ruins, and it is believed that as many as fifteen others perished. The loss is placed at $500,000......The town of Wrangel, Alaska, was visited by a fire on September 5, which burned up the larger part of the Indian quarter. The famed totem poles of these Indians, which give their family history, and which the Indians of to-day have not the skill to reproduce, were totally destroyed.

Cuba and Porto Rico.—The two evacuation commissions at Havana and Porto Rico have entered upon their work of laying plans for the evacuation of those islands by the Spanish troops. The sessions of the committees in both places are being held behind closed doors, and the date when the actual work of evacuating the islands will begin is not known......During the month the death rate in Santiago de Cuba has been reduced two-thirds through the energetic work of the American military governor in instituting sanitary regulations and compelling more cleanly habits on the part of the people.

‘The Philippines.—The condition of affairs in these islands is still unsettled. The insurgents have received supplies of arms and ammunition, have captured all the Spanish posts in the island of Luzon, and are inciting a revival of the rebellion in the other islands. They are strengthening their position around Manila, ostensibly for the purpose of being prepared to meet the Spanish if the Americans should evacuate the islands. The insurgents have been ordered by the American commander at Manila to evacuate the suburbs of that city, and have partially obeyed.