p. 462 | News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 21, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 29.

News and Notes

Progress of the War.—Mr. Higgins, of the British consulate at Havana, reports from Jamaica that the condition of the poorer classes in that city is terrible. People are dying every day in the streets from sheer starvation, and thousands of starving women are quartered in the barracks......Advices from Guantanamo, Cuba, state that the death rate in that city from starvation is fifteen daily. Thousands of Cubans on the west side of the Bay of Guantanamo are being fed by members of the American Red Cross Society......General Shafter has orders from the War Department to issue rations to the hungry people who are flocking to his camp for subsistence. Most of these are refugees from Santiago, and many are Spanish soldiers who have deserted to get food......The Spanish steamship destroyed by American gunboats off Fort Mariel, Cuba, was not the cruiser Alfonso XII., but is believed to have been a merchant ship of the same name......On July 11 the gunboats Hist, Hornet, and Wampatuck succeeded in cutting the cable connecting Santiago with Havana via Cienfuegos, Trinidad, and the United States......So great is the confidence of the government in the security of United States ports against a Spanish naval attack that the Secretary of War has ordered the removal of all submarine mines which protect the harbors of the United States against the entry of hostile ships......Adjutant-General Corbin has received from General Shafter a revised report of the casualties before Santiago on July 1, 2, and 3. It is as follows: Killed, 23 officers and 208 men; wounded, 80 officers and 1,203 men; missing, 81; total, 1,595......Gen. Nelson A. Miles has taken command of the army now in Cuba. One of his first orders was for the burning of the village of Siboney as a sanitary measure, its condition being considered inimical to the health of the troops......Yellow fever has broken out among the American soldiers who have come in contact with the refugees from the city of Santiago. As yet the disease is confined to the Quartermaster’s Department, which has had in charge the work of supplying these poor people with food......General Shafter during the week has several times demanded the surrender of Santiago, the only condition allowed being that the officers retain their side arms. The American Government, it is reported, agreed to transport the Spanish soldiers to Spain after their capitulation. On July 14 Santiago de Cuba surrendered to the American forces......General Merritt, with the third American expedition for the Philippines, arrived at Honolulu on July 5......Fighting is still going on around Manila, but the American forces have not yet taken part in the conflict. The insurgents began an attack on Isla Grande, in Subig Bay, but a German warship intervened and prevented the insurgents from taking the place. Admiral Dewey thereupon sent the Raleigh and Concord to Subig Bay, captured the fort and garrison at that place, and turned the latter over to the insurgents. The German war ship slipped her cable and left the bay on the arrival of the Americans......About seven hundred captive Spaniards from the fleet destroyed at Santiago arrived at Portsmouth, N. H., on July 10. Admiral Cervera was among the prisoners......Admiral Camara’s squadron has re-entered the Suez Canal and started for Cartagena, Spain, and Commodore Watson has been ordered to sail for Spain with a portion of the American fleet now at Santiago and capture or destroy Camara’s fleet. The authorities of the Danish West Indies have refused American war vessels the permission to take on coal from the supply which was purchased there by the United States Government at the beginning of the war.

International.—The result of the general elections in British Columbia shows nineteen seats for the opposition, fifteen for the government, and two for the independent ticket......A serious rebellion has broken out in the district of Wu Chow Fu, China. The rebels are reported to be carrying everything before them. The Black Flags and the Triad Society are believed to be concerned in the uprising, as well as the Tai-Pings, who are carrying the banners of the old Tai-Ping rebellion......Russia has warned China that if a concession is granted an English syndicate to build a railroad in northern China, Russia will be compelled to seize the province of Pichili, in which Peking is situated, as compensation......German war ships are reported to be surveying the coasts of the Philippine Islands, and landing supplies at Marwala......A Belgian expedition consisting of 1,200 men was attacked by Kongo rebels in West Africa recently, and thirty-one were killed. The lieutenant in charge of the expedition was afterward deserted by his men and met death at the hands of the Kongolese......A financial panic has been occasioned in Chile by the withdrawal and exportation of gold. In order to prevent a run on the banks, the government ordered them closed until July 12......The Turkish soldiers now occupying Thessaly are being withdrawn, in accordance with agreement upon the payment of the Greek war indemnity; but at Larissa the Turkish regiments threaten to mutiny if removed from their comfortable quarters. Mahmoud Pasha has been ordered thither to use his influence with the troops for a peaceful exit......The Guatemalan Government is preparing for a revolution, which is expected at the time of the elections. President Cabrera, who assumed office on the death of President Barrios, is a candidate for re-election, and is bitterly opposed by many......A rumor of war between Argentina and Chile, with a threat of intervention by Italy on behalf of Argentina, is the latest South American war cloud......Nicaragua and Costa Rica, which two governments recently signed articles of peace, are again on the verge of war, and are rapidly preparing for conflict......In view of representations made by officials of the United States in regard to the objects of the two Spanish officers now in Canada, the Dominion Government has ordered these men to leave Canada......In view of Colombia’s backwardness in paying the indemnity of $250,000 awarded an Italian subject by President Cleveland as arbiter of the claim, the Italian Government has notified both the United States and the Government of Colombia that she will seize the custom-house at Cartagena, Colombia, until the claim is paid.

Casualties and Calamities.—Two explosions, which killed ten men, wounded about twenty others, and wrecked two buildings, occurred at the smokeless powder plant of the Laflin-Rand Powder Works, at Pompton, New Jersey, on July 12......Eleven workmen lost their lives on July 11 in a tunnel under the bed of Lake Erie, by an explosion of gas. They were over a mile from the shore of the lake at the time the explosion occurred. Six weeks ago eight men lost their lives by a similar accident in the same tunnel......The town of Steelville, Missouri, was almost completely destroyed by a waterspout on the morning of July 8. Thirteen persons lost their lives in the rushing waters, and hardly a house is left standing......Eleven lighters which were being towed to the scene of naval operations in Cuban waters were lost in a storm off the coast of Cuba. The lighters were to be used in transferring war munitions from the transports to the shore......The steamer Regulator was wrecked in the Columbia River, near Booneville, Oregon, on July 12, a fierce gale having driven her into the rapids. All of her 160 passengers were safely landed......The passenger steamer Catalonia, of the Cunard line, with 250 passengers on board, took fire in mid-ocean on July 6. So perfect was the discipline of the crew that after four hours of hard fighting the fire was subdued. Two days later the cargo was again on fire, and was again brought under control. Another Bourgogne disaster was averted only by the courage and discipline of the crew, which stands out in marked contrast to that exhibited last week in the disaster referred to.

National.—On July 7 President McKinley signed the Newlands resolution, declaring the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands. He has appointed Senator McCullom, of Illinois, Senator Morgan, of Alabama, Representative Robert Hitt, of Illinois, President S. B. Dole, and Chief Justice Judd, of Hawaii, as commissioners to frame the laws of the annexed territory. The American members of the commission will leave for the islands on August 10......The second session of the International Mining Congress closed at Salt Lake, Utah, on July 9, after the unanimous adoption of a memorial to Congress strongly urging the establishment of a Department of Mines and Mining......The United States, England, and Germany have consented to the return of Chief Mataafa to the throne of Samoa. Mataafa had been exiled for a number of years, and Malietoa has been reigning under the joint jurisdiction of the three nations mentioned......Congress adjourned on July 8, the closing hours of the long session being marked with outbursts of patriotism interspersed with party animosity......The new popular war loan has been more of a success than any had anticipated. The amount already offered on the loan exceeds $1,250,000,000. The offers have so much exceeded the amount named in the loan that the most of the larger bids will be returned to the parties making them......On Sunday, July 10, thanksgiving services for the success of American arms were held in many churches throughout the country, in response to a proclamation by President McKinley.

Domestic Miscellany.—Parties now returning from Alaska report that 7,000 boats have gone down the Yukon this season since the opening of the river, carrying on an average four persons to the boat......At the tenth triennial national council of the Congregational Churches of the United States, held at Portland, Oregon, July 7, a recommendation was carried authorizing a convention of delegates from all Protestant churches in America, to be held at Washington, D. C., in 1900, to further the cause of a union of all Protestant churches......A report from Halifax, N. S., states that Lieutenant Peary has arrived at Sydney, C. B., on his way to the Arctic regions. He is confident of reaching the north pole, but expects to consume four years in doing so......The Clyde Line steamship Delaware caught fire on the night of July 9, while off Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey, and, although the crew were unable to quench the flames, every one of her seventy-five passengers were saved......The seventeenth International Christian Endeavor Convention, held in Nashville, Tennessee, came to an end on July 11......The first woman to die by the electric chair will be Mrs. Martha Place, of New York, who was sentenced to death on July 12 for the murder of her stepdaughter......The new Japanese cruiser Kasagi, built at the Cramp’s shipyard, was given her official trial at Portsmouth, N. H., on July 12, making a record of twenty-three knots an hour.

Fires.—A fire at Allegheny, Pa., on July 10, destroyed one entire section, including the World’s Theater building. The loss is placed at $175,000......The large plant of the Western Starch Association, near Chicago, was destroyed by fire on July 10; loss, $250,000......The Hotel St. Joseph, at St. Joseph, Michigan, was burned to the ground on July 10; loss, $130,000......The town of Soledad, California, was destroyed by fire on the night of July 11......The little town of Corning, California, was almost entirely wiped out by flames on the night of July 7. Few structures are left standing, and the estimated loss is $125,000.