News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 28, 1897

FOREIGN.

—The Government of Dutch Guiana has granted a million acres of selected gold lands to an English syndicate.

—The British steamer Abana, which ran aground off Blankenese recently, was sunk by collision with another British ship on January 17.

—A riotous mob at Annino, Hungary, attacked a company of gendarmes, and in the mêlée eight of the rioters were killed and many injured.

—A telegram from Mendoza, Argentine, states that a Swiss guide, after the third attempt, has reached a summit of the Andes over 24,000 feet above the sea level.

—By a boiler explosion on board the French mail steamer Saghalien, on December 2, while off the coast of China, seventeen stokers and one engineer lost their lives.

—The British Indian ship Warren Hastings was totally wrecked off the island of Reunion on January 14. She had 1,232 men on board, including her crew, but no lives were lost.

—Two noted French aeronauts have begun preparations to sail over the north pole in a large balloon, the feat which Herr Andre attempted last year. They will start in 1898.

—One of the most recent scientific discoveries is that of a new kind of cathode ray, which it is claimed will infallibly determine in a subject whether actual death has taken place, or merely catalepsy.

—During the past year eight missionaries were murdered in the Fuhkien province of China; but since then more Chinese have become Christians than ever before in the same length of time.

—On January 17 Laibach, Austria, experienced a violent earthquake shock. On the same day some parts of California were disturbed in a similar manner, but no damage is reported in either case.

—Two American surveyors have recently discovered, high up in the mountains of Venezuela, what they claim to be one of the largest waterfalls in the world. The water falls a distance of 1,600 feet, with an average width of 300 feet.

—The emperor of China has recently issued a decree instructing the various viceroys and governors of the provinces of the empire to establish schools in all the principal cities of the country for the teaching of the English language and the western sciences.

—The pope in a recent address to a body representing the old pontifical army, expressed his firm belief in the final triumph of the Papacy, stating that he had received offers from Canada, Ireland, and elsewhere from people who were ready to come to its defense.

—The Russian Government is taking active steps to suppress the writings of Count Tolstoi, and has entered upon a crusade against his adherents. The government is considering the question of Tolstoi’s expulsion, but fears to act lest a revolution may be precipitated.

—A despatch from Manila, dated January 16, states that General Polavieja is rapidly overcoming the rebellion in the Philippines. The commander-in-chief has been captured and shot. Another cablegram states that the rebellion is rapidly increasing in other provinces.

—The Nestorians, of eastern Turkey, are fleeing into Persia by the thousands in order to escape the oppression of the “unspeakable Turk.” It is claimed that fully two-thirds of them are practically homeless, and the remainder are in imminent danger of being forced to flee from their villages.

—During the past week the following has been reported from Cuba: Insurgents boarded a train within a few miles of Havana, capturing two captains and eleven other officers, with four soldiers and the Havana chief of police. One of the captives, a Cuban, was hanged for serving in the Spanish army. Señor Delgado, the American newspaper correspondent, arrested by the Spanish, died in a hospital on January 19. A Spanish column reports the destruction of several rebel camps and the killing of twenty-seven of the occupants. Calixto Garcia besieged and bombarded Fort Guamo, but the garrison has resisted the attack. A Spanish gunboat, sent to relieve the fort, was blown up by an insurgent torpedo. Five hundred insurgents drove out the Spanish garrison of San Miguel, Havana province, looted the stores, and compelled the mayor to deliver $3,000 tax money. On the withdrawal of the insurgents the Spanish soldiers opened fire on the inhabitants, killing and wounding over one hundred. A Spanish column entered Melena del Sur, hanged the mayor, and for twenty-four hours the place was given over to the ruffianly soldiers, and many men were brutally killed while trying to protect their wives and daughters. General Rivera met the Spanish troops in Pinar del Rio and defeated them with a loss of 300. General Gomez captured the city of Santa Clara, entailing on the Spanish a loss of 900 in killed and wounded and 700 prisoners. The Cubans lost in killed and wounded 1,500.

—A Berlin despatch announces that twenty German firms of engineers and shipbuilders have formed a syndicate to contract for all the work of the military and naval equipment to which Japan will devote her war indemnity.

—Latest advices from the plague-stricken districts of India state that the bubonic scourge is assuming such proportions that people are dying hourly in the streets, and much difficulty is experienced in securing corpse-bearers to carry the bodies to the burying-grounds. All nations are making preparations to quarantine against the plague.

—A despatch from London, dated January 18, states that the pope has telegraphed his satisfaction in regard to the Anglo-American arbitration treaty. He further stated that he had hoped the Papacy would be the permanent tribunal of arbitration for all nations, but he was glad the principle had been adopted by England and America.

—Dr. Bergmann, an eminent German specialist, has been summoned to St. Petersburg to perform a surgical operation on the czar. While traveling in Japan in 1891 the czar (then czarevitch) was attacked by a young Japanese and received a severe blow on the head. The wounded surface has developed an osseous formation, which is said to have resulted in an attack of vertigo.

DOMESTIC.

—By the burning of the Buckner Orphans’ Home at Dallas, Texas, on January 15, fifteen children lost their lives.

—On January 16 one hundred Roman Catholic pilgrims left New York to visit Palestine, Egypt, and the “eternal city.”

—Simon Cooper, a colored outlaw, of Sumter, S. C., on January 7 murdered four members of the Wilson family, and was lynched the following day.

—The Constitutional Convention of Delaware has decided to recommend the abolishment of the whipping post as a means of punishment for petty offenses.

—A poll of the United States Senate reveals the fact that but sixteen of the senators favor immediate ratification of the Anglo-American arbitration treaty.

—Three negro murderers were lynched at Amite City, La., on January 20, one for killing his wife and the others for the murder of five members of one family.

—The Rawson twins, two eighteen-year-old bandits of northern New Jersey, have been incarcerated in the Hackensack Jail, awaiting trial for a long list of desperate crimes.

—During the year 1896 the losses by tornadoes in the United States broke all previous records, the total amount being $14,216,200, or $4,672,900 more than for the entire seven years preceding.

—Sam Palotka, the fiend who caused the Cahaba bridge disaster in Alabama, in which thirty-five persons met death and a score more were frightfully injured, has confessed to the horrible deed.

—A despatch from Paris states that France is now discussing the advisability of negotiating with the United States an arbitration treaty after the model of the one now waiting to be ratified by the American Senate.

—Captain Philo McGiffin, the American naval officer who commanded the Chinese flagship Chen-Yuen in the Yalu naval battle, has become violently insane as a result of injuries received in that memorable engagement.

—The government officials at Washington have made a final demand on the Peruvian Government for the settlement of a claim for $200,000, growing out of the outrage committed in 1885 upon U. S. Consul V. H. McCord.

—Albert Willis, United States Minister to Hawaii, died on January 6, the funeral services, under the direction of President Dole, being held on January 8. The remains will be brought to the United States on the steamer Australia.

—On January 17, ninety-eight Chinese laundry-men were sent to the city prison of San Francisco, because they had disregarded the law prohibiting the operating of laundries between the hours of six o’clock Saturday night and six o’clock Monday morning.

—The famous “Sunset Limited” train which left San Francisco on January 19, sustained the loss of two engineers within twelve hours, one at Oakland and the other near Bakersfield, Cal. A number of persons were seriously injured in these accidents, but no fatalities have been reported.

—Three Federal officers have recently reported finding an extensive cave in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, in which a number of “moonshine” distilleries have been operating. Three of these were destroyed by the officers, who will return and make a thorough search of this mammoth cavern.

—According to the last report of the Comptroller of the Currency, there is now in circulation in the United States $1,582,302,289, more than one-third of which is held by sixty-five New York City banks. The reason for so much money being deposited with these banks is that they are considered more safe than the banks in any other part of the country. The report shows that New York City is the cheapest money market in the world.

—Managers of express and railroad companies have given orders to their express messengers to shoot to kill in every case where robbery is clearly the intent of those interfering with the running of the train. A reward of $1,000 is offered in each case where a robber is killed, or $500 in case the robber is only wounded.

—While repairing the Hayes homestead at Port Elizabeth, N. J., on January 17, workmen discovered $25,000 in old coin and bills hidden in the eaves. On account of its age this money is worth considerable more than its face value. The house was built before the Revolutionary War, and its first occupant was known to be a miser.

—Edwin S. Cramp, the millionaire shipbuilder of Philadelphia, has announced the discovery of a new use for corn-stalks. The outer portion of the stalk is converted into coffer-dam, which will be used in packing the sides of war vessels, so that when a shot passes through, the water will cause this corn-stalk preparation to swell and fill the hole.

—J. P. Morgan, the New York capitalist, has donated to the New York Lying-in Hospital $1,000,000 for the erection of a new building, on the site of the one now used in that capacity. The society having charge of this institution was organized in 1799; and among those who helped to establish it appear the names of Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Piersall, Robert Lenox, and De Witt Clinton.

—On January 17 the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was treated to a peculiar electrical storm, which is said to have created great consternation among the superstitious. Lightning played in an unusually vivid manner, even for summer, and the thunder was very heavy. Previous to the electrical display the atmosphere became remarkably warm, and this was followed by an exceptionally heavy rainfall.

—The present strike of miners at Leadville, Colo., has reached a crisis, which, it seems, was wholly unexpected. The governor of the State has made urgent appeals to both employers and employees, and his efforts have been seconded by E. V. Debbs; but the strike is still on, and prospects for a settlement look rather gloomy. A large pumping plant has been entirely torn up, which will cause the flooding of many mines; so that if the strike should be declared off, many of the mines can not be operated for months to come.