p. 14 | News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 17, 1898

News and Notes

FOREIGN.

—Reports from Bombay show the continued increase of deaths from the bubonic plague in that city, 927 having succumbed to the disease during last week.

—Eight of the men who drifted to sea on floating ice off the coast of Newfoundland on February 3 have been rescued, and hopes are entertained for the safety of the others.

—Mr. John Thomas Morton, of London, has freely donated to the three denominations, Moravians, Waldenses, and Albigenses, the munificent sum of £500,000, or $2,435,000.

—The new parliament buildings at Victoria, B. C., which were opened on February 10, are said to be the finest public edifices on the Pacific Coast, and were erected at a cost of $1,000,000.

—The recurring boundary dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica is said to be again approaching an unbearable point. It is hoped that the mediation of the United States will avert hostilities.

—A force belonging to the Niger Coast Protectorate (Africa) has been massacred in the interior, where they were operating against the Ediba tribes. A force of the Royal Niger constabulary has been despatched to the scene.

—General Balfour, speaking for the English Government on February 4, stated that Great Britain had not withdrawn from the firm stand which she had taken in regard to matters in the Orient, nor “yielded any of her just claims.”

—The French Government has declared its foreign policy in relation to China to be to work hand in hand with the other powers for the peaceful development of the country, and against any such cataclysm as the disruption of the empire.

—French aeronauts have discovered that frequently the bottom of the sea can be plainly discerned from a balloon. This fact has been made use of for the recovery of three torpedo-boats which had been lost near Toulon, and balloons will hereafter be used in the study of the sea bottom.

—Advices from Constantinople state that earthquake shocks continue to be felt at Balikiser, Asia Minor, and its vicinity. About 4,000 people have been rendered homeless, 3,600 houses, 30 mosques, and 15 khans have been more or less destroyed, and 120 persons have been killed or injured.

—A report from Nicaragua states that the revolution in that country is assuming a serious phase. The revolutionists took possession of the city of San Juan del Sur, but a severe bombardment by the government troops resulted in their dislodgment. The rebels retreated to the interior of the country.

—A despatch from St. Petersburg states that the failure of the harvest has caused terrible distress among the peasantry of the interior provinces of Russia, especially in central and southwestern Russia. In some places the peasants are feeding their half-starved cattle on the thatches of their roofs.

—The entire body of Canadian mounted police has been ordered to hold itself in readiness for an immediate summons to police duty in the Klondike mining regions. The reason for this move is not made known, but it is supposed to be due to the recent misunderstanding in regard to the boundary question.

—Reports from the Orient dated January 15 state that China is mobilizing her forces. It is said that 40,000 troops will be assembled in Tien-Tsin, and the celestials will go through the form of protecting the capital. It is not anticipated that China intends going to war, but is making this military show to allay the fears of her own people.

—President Jose Maria Reina Barrios, of Guatemala, was assassinated by a German Socialist on the evening of February 8. The vice-president has assumed the presidency, and the report adds that all is quiet in the capital. It is also reported that Prospero Morales, the leader of the late rebellion in Guatemala, has declared himself president.

—Austria and Germany have both signified to the sultan that they are not in harmony with the other European powers in advocating that Prince George of Greece be given the governorship of Crete. Emperor William will, if necessary, withdraw his war ship from Crete as an expression of his disapproval of the action of the other powers.

—It is reported that China has refused to borrow either of England or Russia, on account of the opposition of each of those governments to the other in the matter of the contemplated loan. Without it she will be unable to meet her payment to Japan of war indemnity, but hopes to secure consent of the Japanese Government to an extension of the time specified for the payment. Germany has seized more territory as reprisal for the killing of a German marine by Chinese near Kiaochau.

—Missionaries in the Telugu, India, mission field report that the failure of the monsoons, or fall rains, has made famine for the present year in that district certain. The missionaries fear that the terrible experiences that the central and northwest provinces have passed through, will be repeated in Ongole, Kanigiri, Udayagiri, Sattanapalli, Podili, Markapur, Kavali, and Atmakur, while other stations will be more or less affected.

—Very disquieting reports are emanating from the territory now held by the Turkish troops in Thessaly. It is stated that the Turks, after severe fighting with the peasants, have occupied and burned four villages in the Agrapha district. Eight thousand Turkish troops were engaged in the conflicts. In the neighborhood of Palaekastron the Turks were repulsed, and a panic prevails among the inhabitants of the neutral zone. The Turks have not evacuated Thessaly, as they have been recommended by the concert of Europe to do, but instead have established themselves in comfortable winter quarters in the homes of the Thessalian peasants. The present winter is exceptionally severe in Thessaly, and homeless thousands have been forced to take refuge in caves or find other rough shelter.

DOMESTIC.

—Six firemen were instantly killed during the burning of a five-story building in Boston on February 5, by the collapse of the roof.

—The Navy Department has ordered the appropriation of $40,000 for the construction of a special revenue cutter to ply upon the waters of the Yukon.

—The House, on February 5, passed a bill appropriating $4,144,912 for fortifications and coast defenses. This is over $5,000,000 less than the appropriation of last year.

—The Administration in providing for the prevention of further lawlessness in Alaska, has ordered four companies of soldiers to proceed north at once, two companies to be stationed at Dyea and two at Skaguay.

—A very rich vein of gold-bearing quartz has been discovered near Colville, Washington, which it is said assays as high as $25,000 to the ton. A rush of prospectors from other mining camps followed the announcement of the strike.

—A gigantic cracker trust was formed on February 4 by a combination of all the biscuit and cracker companies between Maine and the Rocky Mountains. It will be known as the National Biscuit Company, and is capitalized at $25,000,000.

—A temperance saloon and reading-room has been opened in San Francisco, which it is hoped will accomplish much good in the temperance cause. Similar institutions have been established in other large cities, resulting in great good.

—A company of American capitalists, with a capitalization of $5,000,000, has secured from the government of Honduras complete control for a period of twenty-five years over the export and import trade in cattle and other live stock in that country.

—Two thousand students of the Rush Medical College of Chicago, the College of Dental Surgery, and the Marquette School engaged in a desperate conflict with the police on February 8, in which a number were injured and twenty-five placed under arrest.

—The expedition which the government is sending to Alaska for the relief of the miners, sailed from Portland, Oregon, on February 5, taking with them 200 tons of provisions, which they will endeavor to take over the pass and down the Yukon before spring.

—A Spiritualist, of Medina, N. Y., who was an acquaintance of the late George W. Pullman, claims to have received a direct communication from the dead millionaire in which he expresses his regret for the unfair way in which he dealt with his former employees.

—The cruiser Montgomery is now engaged in paying visits to various Cuban ports, and has been cordially received. The Maine still anchors at Havana, and the cruiser Brooklyn has also been ordered to cruise in the West Indies, but will not call at Cuba.

—Pacific Coast gamblers have followed the lead of the trusts, and organized a gamblers’ syndicate, which is to operate in all the principal cities of the Pacific Coast and through the mining towns of Alaska and British Columbia, as well as the Alaskan ports of entry.

—A bill has been introduced into the Ohio Legislature, which, if it becomes a law, will require all contemplating matrimony to pass a medical examination. Persons having dipsomania, any form of insanity, hereditary tuberculosis or consumption, are barred from marriage by the bill.

—A call has been issued for the “First regular annual United Labor and Labor Reform Convention,” to be held in St. Louis on May 2, 1898, to adopt measures for securing closer union between advocates of labor reform and to establish a system for “resisting the encroachments of the judiciary upon the liberties of our speech, and to abolish government by injunction.”

—The Secretary of War has ordered the organization of an exploring expedition which is to proceed to the entrance of the Copper River mining region, and thence journey overland to Circle City, for the purpose of ascertaining if a feasible route can be found for a winter or summer road to the interior of Alaska for mail and supplies.

—The American minister to Russia has been raised to the rank of ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, thus making the United States mission at St. Petersburg an embassy. This action was taken in view of a similar action recently taken by the Russian Government in regard to her representative at Washington.

—The city officials of Toledo, Ohio, have enacted the strictest kind of a Sunday law. Saloons are closed all day Sunday, likewise theaters, news stands, candy stores, and cigar stores. Milk dealers were ordered to serve no milk on Sunday, and druggists were threatened with arrest if they sold anything on that day without a written prescription from a physician.

—The delicate situation now existing between the United States and Spain has been exceedingly intensified by the publication of a letter said to have been written by the Spanish minister at Washington to a Spanish agent, in which terms are used which are not at all complimentary to the President and the American Government. In consequence of the publication of this letter the Spanish minister, Dupuy de Lome, has telegraphed his resignation to the Spanish premier. A report from Washington states that the minister has been recalled by his government.