News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 17, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 37.

FOREIGN.

—It is rumored that Ahmed Ben Mussa, grand vizier of Morocco, has been poisoned.

—In Auckland, N. Z., permission has been granted for scientific temperance instruction in the state school.

—Sixteen Greek officers have been condemned to death for taking part in the Cretan rebellion, and several others are under trial.

—A Cape Town, South Africa, despatch says that Major Watts, who had Makoni, a Matabele chief, summarily executed, has been arrested pending an inquiry into the circumstances of the affair.

—A Constantinople despatch says orders have been received there from Russian ports to stop further consignments of Armenian refugees, as Russia is overstocked and declines to receive any further supply.

—News comes by way of London, that in response to a mandatory note from the European powers, the sultan of Turkey has now ordered an irade (a decree) to be published demanding a summary cessation of the expulsion of Armenians.

—Even the members of the German Reichstag are not allowed to address a public meeting of socialists in that country. And two of them essaying to do so in France, were recently expelled from French territory. The nations of Europe are in a critical condition, not only from internal, but external, menaces.

—It is reported that the people of the Hawaiian Islands are again agitating annexation to the United States, as the only protection against being overrun by Japanese, and eventually absorbed by the Japanese Government. According to the existing treaty, the Japanese may become voters as soon as they can read and write the language of the islands, and this feat they are accomplishing quite rapidly.

—Official notice has been received in New York, stating that an expedition in aid of the Cubans had made a successful landing not far from Havana, early last week. The party had 10,000 rifles, 460,000 cartridges, one dynamite cannon with 100 shots, 2,000 pounds of dynamite, machetes, clothing, and medicines. Another despatch states that the Spanish army in Cuba had been reinforced with 4,000 soldiers.

—Spain has another rebellion on her hands; this time it is in the Philippine Islands. These uprisings are very expensive experiences, and are especially felt by such a government as that of Spain, already nearly bankrupted by the prolonged Cuban revolt. A Manila despatch reports a battle near Pampagna, island of Luzon, in which the rebels were defeated. The government is sending reinforcements nevertheless.

—It is said that the cause of the resignation of Premier Ito, of Japan, was opposition to his conservative foreign policy. He was greatly blamed for allowing Russia to get so much control in Corean matters after Japan’s great victory in setting the “Hermit Kingdom” free from Chinese domination. If the new ministry carries out the program which the Ito administration diplomatically avoided, there will probably be war with Russia.

—From our exchanges published in the far east we gather that the Standard Oil Trust will at last meet a competition worthy of its mettle. Enormous oil fields have been discovered in Sumatra; the quality is excellent, and as the oil can be easily shipped, the Dutch owners can sell at a very low rate. For the present the Sumatra oil will go chiefly to Japan, a country which took over thirty million gallons from America last year.

—Within a few months, unless some hitch occurs, will be begun the construction of the first railroad to be built in Corea. It is to run from Seoul, the capital, to its seaport, Chemulpo, distant about twenty-five miles. The concession under which the railroad is to be built and operated was granted to an American citizen, James R. Morse, and the road will be constructed with American capital and under the supervision of American engineers.

—A cyclone of extraordinary violence burst over the city of Paris in the afternoon of the 10th inst., doing great damage in the central streets. A correspondent says great trees were snapped off as if some vast scythe had passed down the street. Cellars were filled with water, buildings were damaged, one barge was sunk in the river, and another lifted clear out upon the wharf. Chimneys were blown over, carriages overturned, and some of the lighter buildings wrecked. Yet the storm lasted only one minute. More than one hundred and fifty persons were known to be injured, two of whom had died at last report, and many others were in hospitals.

—Great distress is reported among the unfortunate inhabitants of Formosa. The China Mail’s correspondent states that there are upward of 40,000 Chinese seeking refuge on the hills in and around the Hoonim district, and that there are at least 27,000 persons homeless and totally unprovided for, and this mainly on account of the measures adopted by the Japanese to quell the alleged rebellion. Appeals for subscriptions to relieve the distressed are being circulated.

—A Vancouver, B. C., despatch of the 9th inst. says: “The Vancouver council has declined a request made by the Chinese merchants to publicly recognize Li Hung Chang, owing to the present anti-Chinese agitation here. The Canadian Pacific Railway has instructed its agents from Montreal that no one will be allowed to interview the Chinese viceroy, who will be escorted direct from the train to the steamer Empress of China. On his way Li Hung Chang will pass under an immense arch, erected regardless of expense, by local Chinese merchants.”

—At a meeting held in Vienna recently, consisting of members of the various religious bodies specified, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: “The members of the Protestant, the Greek, the Anglican, and the old Catholic Churches, at their meeting to-day, protest against the arrogance of the pope, who has attempted in his last encyclical, Satis cognitum, to present himself as the principle of freedom of the church, and Roman Catholic faith, the only faith which affords salvation; and express their conviction that not the slavish subjection demanded by Rome to papal infallibility and power, but agreement in the spirit of evangelical freedom and brotherly love, will lead to the union of all Christian churches, longed for by all noble minds.”

—The powers that have for fifty-six years sustained the autonomy of the Turkish Empire seem to be getting sensible of the fact that they have some responsibility for the conduct of their ward. The intimation now is that they will dethrone the present sultan, and set up another in his place. It is said that Great Britain may take the initiative alone, if the other powers do not acquiesce in the movement. It is safe to say, however, that she will not be allowed to enjoy that privilege long. But the deposition of the sultan does not necessarily mean the immediate dismemberment of the empire, altho such a consummation appears to be not far distant. There seems to be a quite general opinion that the method of change should be left to the Turks themselves; but judging by the past, the Turks themselves will never make much improvement upon their old ways.

DOMESTIC.

—A regular street-car mail service is being inaugurated in San Francisco this week.

—The Bethlehem Iron Co.’s steel mills at Bethlehem, Pa., have been closed for want of orders, and 600 men are left idle.

—The Cambria Iron Works, at Johnstown, Pa., have been shut down for an indefinite time, leaving 2,000 men out of employment.

—There are now, according to the year-book for 1896, forty-two women regularly in the Congregational ministry; thirty-one of whom have been ordained; eleven are licentiates.

—A Butte, Montana, despatch of the 7th inst. says that another great gold discovery has been made in that state. The new discovery is on the Tobacco Root Range, and eight miles from Whitehall.

—Five hundred mechanics of various trades went out on a strike, on the 10th inst., from the large store building of Siegel, Cooper & Co., Chicago, on account of the employment of non-union marble-workers.

—The forty-sixth anniversary of the admission of California into the Union was celebrated in highly demonstrative manner by the Native Sons, at Stockton, on the 9th inst. There were minor demonstrations in various other localities.

—The timely arrival of officers at the hop fields of the Skaggs ranch, Sonoma County, Cal., on the 8th inst., prevented what threatened to be a pitched battle between Chinese and white pickers. The arrest of a few ringleaders quieted the two armies.

—The old Dashaway Association, a one-time popular and efficient open-and-above-board temperance society of San Francisco, has been disincorporated and dissolved. It was organized in 1859, in the volunteer fire department days, by a number of firemen after a spell of hard drinking. In a short time it became a power in the city, was strong in numbers, in wealth, and in talent. Dashaway Hall was a popular resort, and its weekly meetings were always occasions of bright and telling temperance talks, papers, and songs—free to the public. Under the auspices of this society, the Home for Inebriates was established. In later years, however, internal troubles grew out of the management of the hall property, which finally led to dissolution.

—An express car was run into Chicago, on the night of the 10th inst., with the contents nearly all burned out. The fire is supposed to have started from the combustion of some photographic chemicals that comprised part of the express matter. The loss to the United States Express Co. is said to be $25,000.

—Among the proceedings of the annual session of the Methodist Conference of California, at Pacific Grove, last week, was the resignation of Rev. F. A. McFaul from the ministry, because of a change of views regarding some of the doctrines of the church. Among other things he especially abandons the doctrine of the Trinity.

—Labor day, the 7th inst., was celebrated at Chicago by a procession of 30,000 men, in which nearly every trades union in the city participated. Mr. Bryan, Democratic candidate for President, delivered the principal address. At Los Angeles, Cal., there was also a great demonstration, U. S. Senator White being the leading speaker.

—The great relay bicycle run from the San Francisco Examiner office to the New York Journal office was made in thirteen days, twenty-nine minutes, and four and one-fifth seconds. As an indication of what small things will excite the human mind, even in this “enlightened nineteenth century,” it is stated that 10,000 people collected along Broadway, New York, to see the last rider finish the run—yet he was but an ordinary man riding a common “wheel.”

—As to the law promulgated by the synod of Catholic priests of the St. Louis archdiocese forbidding Catholics to sing in Protestant churches, many of the leading singers say they will not obey it. Henry S. Labarge, who has sung in the First Presbyterian Church for fourteen years; Edward and Bernard Dierkes, who for ten years have sung in the Lindell and Methodist Churches, all say they will pay no heed to the law, and they do not believe any of the singers will.

—It is estimated that the number of colored Catholics in the principal cities is as follows: Baltimore, 35,000; Charleston, 800; Chicago, 400; Covington, 140; Galveston, 550; Indian Territory, 200; Kansas City, 250; Little Rock, 100; Mobile, 2,000; Nashville, 500; Natchez, 1,700; Natchitoches, 9,000; New Orleans, 8,000; New York, 8,000; Philadelphia, 1,500; Pittsburg, 1,500; Savannah, 1,000; San Antonio, 1,000; Wilmington, 400. Thirty-one priests are now laboring, and 37 churches have been erected by the colored people.

—For the first time in forty years the priests of the archdiocese of St. Louis met last week for the purpose of revising the laws governing the actions of clergy and laity. In the promulgations resulting from the meeting is a section which states that in parishes where parochial schools have been established, Catholics shall send their children to them, or to other Catholic schools in the city. Under no circumstances shall the children be sent to the public institutions. The same section includes a clause stating that schools shall be built in every parish in the city.

—The desire to see some wonderful work done, not only leads many people into foolish error, but it often causes them financial loss. A case in point recently occurred at Fresno, Cal. A Gipsy woman induced a lady to give her $85 that she had in the house, on the assurance that the money would be found in a pillow in the house after the Gipsy was gone, and meanwhile it would work as a charm to restore some lost riches. When the Gipsy had gone the lady found she had been duped, and now claims that she was hypnotized. The Gipsy has been arrested.

—A Providence, R. I., special of the 10th inst., says: “John Atlas, who was hypnotized by Professor Watson, and buried alive five feet under the ground at the State Fair at Narragansett Park Monday afternoon, was taken from the grave to-day, and now seems to be suffering but slightly from his seventy-two hours’ sleep under ground.” The despatch further states that the men were longer in digging him out than the professor expected, and the buried man had come to before he was released, and had kicked against the box until he dislocated his right knee. When brought to the surface his pulse was beating but fifteen to the minute.