News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 1, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 35.

Aftermath of the War

More than one thousand of the troops in Porto Rico are on the sick list. There is absolutely no recuperation properties in the climate......The native Porto Ricans show a disposition to persecute the Spanish inhabitants for wrongs which they have suffered at the hands of the Spaniards, and several riots have occurred. On August 20, natives burned the town of Cota, and the Spanish residents fled for their lives. They are appealing to the Americans for protection......General Miles has embarked for home, and the Spanish governor-general intends to leave for Spain in a few days. The departure of the Spanish troops and the military occupation of the Americans will be under subordinate officers......The work of embarking the Spanish prisoners at Santiago is still going on. Many are dying in the camp outside the city from fever and diseases usually prevalent in military camps......The Spanish cabinet has appointed the officers who will act for it in arranging and carrying out the evacuation of Cuba and Porto Rico......On account of the continued attacks of the Cuban insurgents upon the Spanish in Cuba, the Spanish minister of war has authorized General Blanco to resume an offensive attitude toward the insurgents......The sale of liquor in Santiago is strictly prohibited, and the general health of the city is improving. Towns in the surrendered territory are being garrisoned by American troops......General Gomez is now within a few miles of Santiago and has just learned of the declaration of peace. He will at once confer with General Lawton regarding the disbanding of the insurgent forces......The cable at Manila, which was cut by Admiral Dewey after the destruction of the Spanish fleet, has been repaired, and the city is now in connection with the rest of the world......General Merritt has assumed his duties as military governor of Manila, and the situation growing out of the half-hostile attitude of the insurgents is improving. Aguinaldo has ordered his men to lay aside their arms and plant rice for future war necessities. Merchantmen are leaving Hongkong daily for Manila, and a great rush of trade is expected......The United States transport Arizona, with Brigadier-General King, Major-General Merriam, and 1,300 troops on board, sailed for Honolulu on August 21. It is expected that the final destination of these soldiers will be Manila, as well as the 314 officers and men who sailed a few days earlier on the transport Alliance......On August 12 the flag of Hawaii was lowered from the government buildings of Honolulu, and the flag of the United States of America was raised in its place. The ceremony was followed by the formal taking over of the islands by the representative appointed by the American Government, and the swearing in of officials......The native Philippinos report that the religious orders among them are instigating opposition against American supremacy. The natives have promised to disarm and disband promptly if assured that the islands will be made an American or British colony......Great distress exists in Havana among the poor, and bands of emaciated men and women throng the streets begging for food, while the conditions in the interior are said to be much worse. Vessels loaded with provision are arriving and discharging their cargoes, but as yet little if any of this has reached interior towns......The first vessel carrying Spanish soldiers from Santiago to Spain arrived at its destination on August 24, and reports forty deaths during the voyage.

International

A despatch from Rome states that the Vatican will immediately open negotiations with the United States for the appointment of a new hierarchy in the Spanish colonies which come into the United States......On August 22 the joint high commission, appointed by Canada and the United States to settle all difficulties between the two countries, held its first session......Jamaica is preparing a plebiscite to the British Parliament, requesting permission to endeavor to arrange for annexation to the United States......Serious rioting has occurred over the French concessions in the suburbs of Shanghai, in which fifteen of the natives were killed and twenty-nine wounded......The rebellion in Southern China still continues, and corpses of slaughtered rebels daily float down by the city of Wu Chau. One hundred were killed in an attack on the city of Tai-Wong-Kong, and rebel prisoners are executed daily......The German steamer Hamburg and the English schooner Catherine collided in the Channel during a fog on August 21. Nearly all the Catherine's crew were drowned......Prospero Morales, the real leader of the Guatemalan rebellion, was captured recently in a cave where he had been hiding, and died soon after from the effects of hunger and exposure......The queen of Denmark, one of the most remarkable politicians of her day, has completely lost her reason, and has fallen into a state of senile dotage......Russia has ordered four more powerful war vessels, two of which will be built in Germany and two in the United States......Holland has just established compulsory military service for all Dutch citizens. The only persons exempt are priests, ministers, and divinity students......England now has a force of 25,000 men in the Soudan, and is preparing to at once deal a final blow to the forces of Mahdism......The British Government has begun the work of condemning all the private real estate in the village of Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, preparatory to utilizing the entire town site as a naval station and fortress, which will be the Gibraltar of the Pacific......Count Cassini, Russian ambassador to the United States, has been transferred to the Russian embassy at London, on account of his knowledge of Chinese affairs and the assistance which he can give Russia in the present Eastern crisis......The expedition of Theodore Lerner, which started in May last to search for Herr Andree, has returned to Hammerfest. No trace was found of the lost aeronaut......The Russian Government is planning to plant in China colonies of men who have had military training, in order to form an available fighting contingent when the necessity arises......Sir Henry Strong, chief justice of Canada, has been appointed sole arbitrator of the claims of the United States against Chile......The government of Morocco is manifesting considerable fear over the intentions of Germany and Italy with relation to that country and the demands which are being made upon her......Mt. Vesuvius is still in a state of eruption, and four streams of lava are flowing down the mountain-side at the rate of 400 yards an hour.

Casualties and Calamities

Rev. J. B. Fletcher, a Congregationalist minister, was shot down in the pulpit, at Mailey, Ga., recently, where he was engaged in organizing a church......A terrible thunderstorm swept over the Danish peninsula on August 23. Fifty-two buildings were destroyed by lightning and six persons were killed......Four persons were killed in a railroad collision near Sharon, Mass., on the night of August 21......By a cave-in at a tunnel on the Panhandle Railroad at Carnegie, Pa., on August 23, seven men lost their lives......The French cruiser Laperouse has been wrecked on the island of Madagascar. Her crew escaped without loss......Six children were drowned by a cloud-burst at Sawmill Run, Pa., on August 19......Six persons lost their lives by the burning of two hotels at Hot Springs, Arkansas, on August 20......Five boys, all members of one family, living near Minneapolis, were burned to death while sleeping in a haymow, the barn having been struck by lightning......The collapse of a portion of a new building at Philadelphia, on August 18, resulted in the death of four men. Six others were injured by the flying débris......Thirty-one Russian prisoners died on a convict ship recently while being transported to Tomsk, Siberia. The cause was suffocation and overcrowding......A furious storm visited New York State on August 24, damaging property to the amount of $300,000......The crops in a number of districts in Russia are reported to be a total failure, and famine is expected in those provinces. The same districts had no crops last year......A report comes from Vienna to the effect that 300 miners were drowned by the flooding of the Kasimir coal mines at Nience, Silesia, on August 21.

National

The number of pensioners now on the pension list aggregates 1,040,356. Over 63,000 original claims were granted during the past year......A special board appointed by the Navy Department has taken up the work of disposing of the large fleet of auxiliary war vessels accumulated during the war. This fleet includes 38 cruisers, 15 colliers, 7 supply ships, 11 steamers, 25 tugs, and a number of other vessels......Bids have been opened by the government for building sixteen torpedo-boat destroyers, and twelve torpedo-boats. The cost for the entire twenty-eight vessels will be $16,900,000......The War Department has decided to muster out of the service the following regiments: Second New York, Fifth Maryland, First Maine, First Illinois, Fifty-second Iowa, and the first regiment of immunes at Galveston......Seventy vessels of the West Indies squadron have been ordered to rendezvous at Fortress Monroe. This will be the largest fleet of American war ships ever assembled in an American port......The ports of the United States have been declared open to the vessels of Spain......A battery of United States artillery has sailed for Alaska and will be stationed well up the Yukon River......The Ordnance Bureau of the Navy Department has opened bids for $360,000 worth of steel shells for the large guns of the fleet. This supply is to be ready in time for service if the peace negotiations should fail......The Navy Department is perfecting plans for building a number of the largest-size battleships and cruisers of high speed, and will ask Congress to make appropriation for building the same.

Religious Intelligence

The archbishop of Quito, in Ecuador, has issued an order of excommunication to all who would buy, receive, or possess any heretical Bibles. In accordance with this order, Bibles in numbers were burned on a prominent street corner in that city......Ogden, Utah, now has a “divine healer,” who professes to cure all kinds of diseases, and hundreds are flocking to his rooms for treatment......The papal secretary of state is seeking, through Mgr. Martinelli and archbishop Ireland, a modification of the conditions of peace so that the Catholic interests in Spanish territory ceded to the United States will not suffer too much......Emperor William has invited representatives of all evangelical churches abroad, including those in the United States, to attend the ceremony of dedicating the Church of the Redeemer at Jerusalem, on October 31......Recent advices from Rome state that the pope is in a critical condition. Thinking tires him and prayers confuse him; and the affairs of the church are in the hands of Rampolla, the secretary of state. On account of this condition of affairs, Catholics are discussing the advisability of electing a vice pope.

Domestic

The political parties of California have held their conventions and nominated their candidates for governor. James G. Maguire is the choice of the Democratic and Populist conventions, and Henry T. Gage is the Republican nominee.