News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 2, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 22.

War News.—It is reported that arrangements have now been completed for the exchange of the two newspaper men recently captured by the Spanish in Cuba. Two officers recently captured by the American blockading squadron will be exchanged for the newspaper men.—One of the scouts belonging to Admiral Sampson’s fleet has captured a Spanish gunboat, and is towing it into port.—The new Spanish ministry has declared its intention to prosecute the war till exhaustion calls a halt. Its second fleet is ready to sail, but it is not known whether its destination will be the Atlantic shores of North America or the Philippine Islands. Spain has recently received from railway grants $48,250,000, which will be used in the prosecution of the war. The Spanish populace welcomed the commander of the Montserrat at Corunna, on May 22, with demonstrations of the wildest enthusiasm, on account of his having run the blockade of Cuba and escaped again to his home port.—A report from Paris states that France is indignant because the cables from Cuba have been cut, and will ask the powers to protest against it.—Señor Polo y Bernabe, recent Spanish minister to the United States, whose presence in Canada was giving Washington officials much uneasiness, has sailed for Spain, leaving his charge d’affaires to carry on whatever work he had inaugurated.—Two United States cruisers picked up the cable at Santiago de Cuba, on May 18, and succeeded in cutting it while under fire from the batteries on shore. The fire was returned by the cruisers.—The cruiser Charleston and the monitor Monterey have been ordered from San Francisco to the Philippines. It is expected that the Monterey will have to be towed the entire distance of nearly 7,000 miles, on account of her small coal capacity.—Re-enforcements for the Philippines have been arriving at San Francisco during the week from Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. The transports City of Sydney, City of Peking, and Australia have been loaded with troops for the Philippines, and will start at once, convoyed by the cruiser Charleston from Honolulu.—A despatch from Admiral Dewey states that he is still maintaining the blockade of Manila, and has made arrangements for the transfer of foreigners to Cavite in case of an uprising of the Spanish soldiers, who have threatened to seize the stores because they have not been paid or provisioned.—A detachment of Cuban volunteers sailed from Florida for Cuba on May 18 with a large consignment of supplies, ammunition, rifles, and light artillery for the insurgents.—The great naval battle which has been expected for many days in West Indian waters has not yet occurred, and the whereabouts of the Spanish fleet, if known, are not divulged.

Casualties and Calamities.—The continued rise in the price of bread in Germany is causing renewed agitation among the Liberals and Socialists, who are blaming the government for the present conditions. The present price of bread is fifty per cent. above the price at which it sold in January last, and fears of famine are expressed, especially in the south of Germany.—Six men were drowned at Springdale, Pennsylvania, on May 19, while attempting to cross the Alleghany River on a raft. The raft was swamped by the swift current, and only four of the ten it carried reached the shore alive.—A great fire broke out in the Zollern mine, at Dortmund, Prussia, on May 22, and it is believed that the forty-five imprisoned miners have perished.—About 3,000 people took part in a riot at Bhowanipoor, India, on May 22, and for three hours the police were powerless to disperse them.—The first regiment of Missouri infantry were in a railroad wreck between Chattanooga and Chickamauga, Tennessee, on May 21. One of the volunteers was killed, and a number so seriously injured that they are expected to die.—A succession of avalanches swept down from Valdez glacier, in the Alaska mountains, on April 30 and May 1 and 2, completely covering a number of tents and burying their occupants. Sixty men and women were dug out of the mass of snow and ice, several of whom afterwards died from their injuries; three were taken out dead, and it is believed that several lost their lives whose bodies were not recovered.—Four men were crushed to death in a cavern at the Hematite ore mines near Mayorsville, Pennsylvania, on May 21.—A tornado passed through the northwestern part of Arkansas on May 19, destroying a large amount of property and causing considerable loss of life.

European Affairs.—The queen regent of Spain having personally appealed to the pope to command the clergy in Spain to abstain from all Carlist agitation, the pope, on May 22, replied to the queen that he would compel the observance of the strictest neutrality. This response is considered to be a severe rebuke to the Spanish Government, which has been deaf to the councils of the pope.—Señor Puigcerver, minister of finance, a member of the new Spanish cabinet, has refused to adopt the income tax, by which it was expected to raise a large sum for the prosecution of the war. This is believed to portend another cabinet crisis for Spain.—The Spanish cruiser Isabel II., while at anchor in San Juan, Porto Rico, on May 22, fired on the British steamer Roth, which had arrived at that port after the bombardment. The Spanish claim that the shot was fired by mistake, but the British claim that it was the intention of the Spaniards to cripple the vessel so that it could not leave, as it was loaded with coal.—Switzerland, by a direct vote of the people, has decided to purchase the railroads throughout the republic, and have them operated by the government.

Cuba.—Hunger is beginning to be felt in Havana, while eggs are selling at ten cents each, and milk from twenty to twenty-five cents per glass. The size of a loaf of bread has been reduced one-half, and all the available food supplies are under military control. A special despatch states that the Cubans are fighting their way to the coast to join American landing parties. President Bartolome Masso has issued a proclamation to the people of Cuba expressing gratitude to the United States for assistance in the present war, declaring that the only object of the rebellion is to establish a just and stable government, and calling upon Spaniards and Autonomists to join the cause of liberty.

Inventions.—Experiments are being made in the Russian army with tall observation towers, which may be readily unjointed and distributed among the men on the march. In their drills with these towers squads of sixty men can erect complete structures in twenty minutes.—A Chicago inventor has produced an aerial camera which is capable of photographing objects at great distances. It is sent up into the air attached to a balloon, adjusted at a certain angle, and operated from the ground. The Secretary of War at Washington is investigating the device with a view to using it in the war in Cuba.

Rebellions.—A critical state of affairs exists in the Samoan Islands, where another native war seems inevitable. The rebels have raised their flag in defiance of Malietoa’s government, and runners are carrying the war message from camp to camp. A German war ship is on her way to the islands, and an American vessel is also expected to visit the group.—By the defeat of the Venezuela rebel leader, General Hernandez, the rebellion has been practically put down. Many were killed in the engagement, which resulted in the defeat of the rebels.

—The public and press of Russia are manifesting great interest in the future of the Philippine Islands, and much hostility is manifest toward any scheme by which the United States, England, Germany, individually or jointly, are to have possession of the islands. Some of the newspapers are urging the government to obtain from Spain a lease of some of the Philippines, that Russia may have a base of supplies and a pretext for intervention.

—The French Government has ordered a copy made of the famous picture “The Battle of Yorktown,” which now adorns the National Gallery at Versailles, and it will be sent to the embassy at Washington. The picture shows the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to General Washington, and its presentation at this time is regarded as a delicate compliment.

—A despatch from Vienna states that it is learned that the friendly advances made by Great Britain to Japan have borne fruit, and that an Anglo-Japanese understanding has been reached, comprehending all eventualities which may occur in the East, as well as the consequences of the present war between the United States and Spain.

—The Jewish rabbis of Baltimore, Maryland, have united in an effort to secure a better attendance at synagog and temple by agreeing not to solemnize marriages between those who do not attend service at some Jewish house of worship, and not to officiate at funerals of those who fail to go to synagog.

—The second trial of M. Emile Zola for criminal libel against certain officers of the French army who conducted the Esterhazy court-martial, was begun in Versailles, France, on May 23.

—Edward Bellamy, author of “Looking Backward,” died at his home in Chicopee Falls, Mass., on May 22.

—United States Minister Angell has entered a protest with the Turkish Government against the action of the Turkish authorities in refusing to grant passports to Americans to travel in the interior. It is reported that these passports are withheld only from American and British subjects.

—The pall-bearers at the funeral of William E. Gladstone were the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Earl of Kimberly, the Earl of Rosebery, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Arthur Balfour, and Sir William Vernon Harcourt.

—The Russian Government has notified Great Britain that she has withdrawn the embargo recently placed upon foreigners wishing to visit Talien-wan, and it will no longer be necessary for foreigners to carry passports vised by Russian consuls.