NEWS AND NOTES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 20, 1898

FOREIGN

—General Munoz, the newly-appointed captain-general of Porto Rico, died immediately after his arrival at his post.

—The German troops in Demer araland, South Africa, have had a pitched battle with the rebellious Hottentots and defeated them.

—A Japanese coal and transport steamer was wrecked off the Pescadores on December 24. The vessel had eighty men on board, and only five of these were rescued.

—Advices from Montevideo, Uruguay, state that Señor Cuestas, president ad interim, has issued a proclamation declaring himself dictator, and that a revolution is impending.

—The French steamer Louis, plying between Cardiff and Marseilles, foundered about twenty-five miles from the latter place on January 1. Her cargo and crew of fifteen men were lost.

—The Khalifa, leader of the dervishes, has sent his women and treasure far to the southward, and is advancing northward with his forces, presumably against the Anglo-Egyptian expedition.

—Reports from Klondike state that a number of miners have succeeded in finding the mother lode, and have traced it twelve miles, from one mountain to another, under streams and placer claims.

—The French Government denies the seizure of the island of Hai-Nan, belonging to China; but two of her war vessels are stationed there, and the belief in an early occupation of the island is general.

—The last survivor of the battle of Waterloo has just died in an Irish workhouse, having reached the age of 115 years. He was thirty-three at the time of the battle, in which he was severely wounded.

—At the Creston mine in Minas Pretas, Mexico, eight miners were thrown out of an ascending cage, and fell to the bottom of the shaft, 500 feet below. Five were killed outright, and the remainder suffered serious injuries.

—It is reported that the capital of Amboyna, one of the Molucca Islands, has been completely demolished by an earthquake in which fifty persons were killed and two hundred injured. A private despatch places the number of killed at 300.

—Masonry in Peru has been declared non-existent by the Grand Master Mason of New York State, on account of a recent edict by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Peru banishing the Bible from their altars and references to it from their constitution and rituals.

—The English forces in India under General Blood are now engaged in punishing the Bunerwals for joining the Swatis in their attack on Malacand Pass. He has captured two passes to their territory without serious resistance. The Afridis are reported to have deserted Khyber Pass.

—It is rumored that the British are planning a military surprise in the Soudan before the opening of Parliament. Large quantities of ammunition, food, and supplies are being hurried to the front, and it is thought that the government designs to effect the occupation of Khartoum very soon in order to offset its disadvantageous position in India. The French expedition under Marchand is also heading for that city, and international diplomats predict trouble should the French occupy this important key to inner Africa before the English can reach it.

—A British surveying party consisting of 150 men under Captain Burns has been massacred on the border of Beloochistan. The captain escaped and reports that the whole Kej Valley is in a turmoil and that the troops of the Khan are holding one British military post and have looted another.

—President Diaz of Mexico states that the present prosperity of that country is due largely to the presence and aid of residents from the United States. His remarks seemed to have special reference to the work of Protestant missionaries whose services have been warmly praised by some of the Mexican journals.

—It is proposed in the immediate future to construct a trunk railway line from Peking to Canton, China, a distance of 1,500 miles, a line from Shanghai to the Yangtze Valley, 2,500 miles, and another line running west from Canton 1,500 miles. For money to build these roads China will look to outside capitalists.

—The bubonic plague is still rampant in India. A recent report from Bombay will give some idea of its continued ravages there. Statistics for forty-eight hours show 142 new cases and 105 deaths. It is feared that a general exodus will soon take place from that city and that business will have to be abandoned.

—Professor Schenk, of the Vienna University, has made the announcement to the world that he has discovered the secret of sex and the prenatal treatment necessary to produce the sex desired in the unborn child. The discovery has been placed under the seal of the Vienna Imperial Academy of Sciences, where it will be tested and the results of the test published.

—The French Government has received information that its post on the Kongo River at Yakole has been attacked by the savage Bondjos, and the entire garrison massacred, together with fifteen native men and four women. After the slaughter was over the Bondjos roasted and ate their victims, and then carried away with them large quantities of booty and 30,000 cartridges.

—The Japanese Government is now under the control of a new ministry, at the head of which stands Marquis Ito, with Baron Nissi as minister of foreign affairs. The military party in the empire strongly approves Japan’s asserting herself in the present crisis, and the activity at the dock-yards is unabated. The press of Japan is constantly discussing an Anglo-Japanese alliance.

—According to advices from London, Russia, Japan, and England have decided upon a course of national influence in Corea which will give each of the nations named an equal footing with the others. The English officer who was recently notified, through the influence of Russia, of his dismissal from the supervision of the Corean customs, has been re-instated; while Russia and Japan will each have a subordinate officer in the customs service of Corea. England agrees to Russia securing an open port on the Pacific, provided the commercial rights of England are not hampered in any way.

—On January 11 a Havana mob, directed by officers of the Spanish volunteer forces in that city, attacked and demolished the offices of the leading liberal papers. The action of the mob created great excitement throughout the city, and cries of, “Down with autonomy,” and, “Down with the United States,” urged on the mob in its riotous demonstrations. American residents in the city fled to the American Consulate for protection, and a strong guard of troops was thrown around that building. Despatches from the Consul-General to the State Department at Washington caused the Secretary of the Navy to issue orders to the White Squadron to hold itself in readiness for an emergency, while the battleship Maine, now stationed at Key West, is held in momentary readiness for a summons to Havana.

DOMESTIC

—Captain James Allen, of the U. S. Signal Corps, has perfected a telephone-telegraph apparatus for use on battle-fields, by which it will be possible for a general to direct the movements of his army from any portion of the field by word of mouth. The apparatus is simple, convenient, comparatively inexpensive, and perfect in its workings, and is the result of experimentation covering the past five years. This will mark another advanced step in the great military preparation of the present day.

—The first session of the sixth conference of the Foreign Mission Boards of the United States and Canada was held in the Methodist Building, New York, on January 11.

—An assembly of 180 representatives of the M. E. Church met at Washington, D. C., on January 7, for the purpose of affecting a union of forces between the branches of the church, North and South.

—On January 7 a bill was introduced in the Senate providing for the construction of a telegraphic cable from this country to Hawaii, Japan, and Australia, and authorizing a survey by the Secretary of the Navy to ascertain the most feasible route.

—Bradstreet’s trade reports for the first week of the new year say, “The year opens with a tone of quiet confidence in nearly all branches of business, a resumption of work by many thousands of industrial employees, a largely reduced volume of business failures as compared with corresponding periods in preceding years, and a general outlook certainly not inferior to any previous year at this time.”

—W. H. Theodore Durrant was hanged at San Quentin, California, on January 7, for the murder of Blanche Lamont in the Emmanuel Baptist Church of San Francisco. His conviction for this murder and the accusation against him of the murder of Minnie Williams in the same edifice, together with the long, sensational trial and the repeated postponements of execution, made him one of the most noted criminals of the present century.

—A terrible tornado swept through the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas, on the night of January 12, scattering in every direction the debris of the strongest buildings in the place. Business blocks, mansions, hotels, and cottages were razed to the ground and torn into splinters. Thirty-six dead bodies have been recovered from the ruins, and it is believed that the remains of many more who perished will never be found, as many of the demolished structures were consumed by the fire which followed the storm. It is believed that the death list will be increased as communications are re-established with other towns in the path of the tornado.