News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 3, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 35.

FOREIGN.

—Bolivia’s new president assumed the duties of his office on August 23 with good prospects for a long-continued peace.

—The French fishing vessel Monotte was sunk in a collision with an Italian ship, on August 20, and fourteen of her crew were drowned.

—The Matabele rebellion is at an end, the principal chiefs having surrendered, and Cecil Rhodes having promised some of the reforms asked for by the natives.

—The Spitzbergen exploring party report having discovered a mountain in the southern part of the island, nearly 5,000 feet in height, which is composed almost entirely of marble.

—The British steamer Moldava struck an iceberg in mid ocean on August 19, and went to the bottom almost immediately. The crew took to the lifeboats, and were rescued by the Circassia.

—It is feared that Italy and Brazil may take up arms against each other in the near future, on account of attacks and insults upon Italian residents in Rio Janeiro and other places in Brazil. An Italian squadron sailed for Rio Janeiro on August 28.

—Re-enforcements for the Spanish army in Cuba embarked at Barcelona, on August 23, after several serious encounters between the police and the inhabitants of that place. The demonstrations by the female portion of the people were with difficulty suppressed.

—The steamer Laurada succeeded in landing on the Cuban coast recently the largest filibustering expedition which has yet reached that place. It consisted of 200 men, 53,000 pounds of dynamite, eleven field guns, seven Gatling guns, four cannon, and a large quantity of ammunition.

—The Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society is contemplating the establishment of leper asylums in India, expecting to receive government aid in this work. It is said that lepers can be seen almost everywhere in that country, and the care of them has become a very grave question.

—It is reported that Prof. Andree has abandoned his aeronautical expedition to the north pole for the present year. He has been waiting for a favorable wind on which to be wafted poleward, but as none such have blown over his proposed starting-point, he must wait for another year and another midnight sun.

—Captain General Weyler has forbidden Consul General Lee to visit the Americans who are confined in Spanish prisons on the island, and has ordered his arrest in case he shall attempt to gain admission to the prisons. The prisoners are huddled into a small, foul-smelling room, and a most execrable class of food is doled out to them.

—American explorers on the site of ancient Babylon claim to have discovered evidences that this historic city is built over the ruins of another city of much greater age. They also claim to have discovered inscribed tablets and inscriptions on vases which will carry written history back 2,500 years farther than anything previously known.

—The National Armenian Relief Committee, whose offices are at 59 Wall Street, New York, reports that Miss Barton, who has charge of the relief work in Armenia, is now in Germany taking a much-needed rest, preparatory to taking up again the arduous work, which the cold winter will make necessary, among the starving and persecuted Armenians.

—M. Bazin, a French inventor, has constructed a novel sea-going craft. It is termed a roller steamboat, the object of its construction being to increase speed by reducing the friction of the water. The hull is a sort of platform supported over the water by six large hollow revolving lenticular-shaped wheels, and is driven by a propeller. Thus the boat rolls over the water instead of plowing through it. It is expected that this contrivance will increase the speed of ocean travel by one-half.

—On the death of Hamid bin Thwain bin Said, sultan of Zanzibar, on August 25, Said Khalib bin Bargash, at the head of 3,400 followers, took possession of the throne. Zanzibar is an English protectorate, and Admiral Rawson ordered the would-be sultan to surrender. Upon his refusal so to do, the palace of the sultan was bombarded. At the end of forty minutes it was reduced to a heap of rubbish, and many of its defenders slain. Said Khalib took refuge with the German consul, and Said Hamoud was escorted to the throne by the English admiral. It is believed that England will take permanent possession of Zanzibar, and thus abolish the last stronghold of the slave trade.

—On August 30 the Armenian insurgents of Constantinople captured the Ottoman bank. A riot was at once precipitated and 2,000 of the Armenians were killed. The Cretans on August 24 had a pitched battle with the Turks and defeated them with heavy loss, capturing much ammunition and supplies. The Turkish Government has now definitely accepted the proposals of the powers for the governing of Crete.

DOMESTIC.

—Ontonagon, Mich., a city of about 2,000 population, was almost completely destroyed by fire on August 25. The loss is estimated at $1,500,000.

—David R. Francis, of Missouri, has been appointed Secretary of the Interior, vice Hoke Smith, whose resignation goes into effect on September 1.

—The Spang Steel and Iron Company’s works at Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, have shut down indefinitely, throwing 700 men out of employment.

—It is rumored that sailors and longshoremen are planning an international strike for better wages, better conditions, and a guarantee of protection.

—The Stoneman Hotel, in Yosemite Valley, was burned to the ground on the night of August 24. It was built by the state in 1888, at a cost of $50,000.

—Boston was photographed on August 25 from an altitude of 1,800 feet, the camera being attached to a team of eight tailless kites, the invention of W. A. Eddy.

—A cave has been discovered near Madison, Wisconsin, which it is believed explorations will prove to be a successful rival to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.

—A heavy wind accompanied by rain and lightning visited Ohio on August 23. In the Bowling Green oil field alone the damage is estimated at over $100,000.

—Extensive forest fires are raging in Oregon along the Columbia River. Millions of feet of timber have been burned, and many cattle have succumbed to the heat and flames.

—The organization of a military balloon corps of the United States army has been intrusted to Capt. W. H. Glassford, who has spent a number of years abroad studying aerial navigation.

—A Chinese Christian minister recently brought to this country thirty Chinese boys, ranging in ages from twelve to sixteen years, to be educated in the Christian schools of this country.

—The great forty-inch lenses for the Yerkes telescope at Chicago have been completed, and will be shipped to their destination as soon as the building is finished which is to contain this greatest of all telescopes.

—On the evening of August 23, a trolley car on a down grade at Frederick City, Maryland, became ungovernable, and after an exciting run of about two miles, jumped the track, seriously injuring forty of the passengers.

—Rev. Lorenzo Waugh, the founder of the Band of Hope work, celebrated on August 29 his eighty-ninth birthday anniversary. He is hale and hearty, and hopes to be able to devote many more years to the work of temperance reform.

—United States Minister Terrell has notified the Turkish Government that the latter’s answer to the demand of the United States for indemnity on account of the burning of the American missions at Kharput and Marash, is not satisfactory.

—A passenger train and two freight trains collided at Canea, Pennsylvania, on August 24, resulting in the serious injury of twenty-five persons, five of whom may die, and the destruction of three passenger coaches and eighteen freight cars.

—Major William McKinley issued to the people of the United States, on August 26, his formal letter of acceptance of the trust imposed in him by the representatives of the Republican party, in calling him to the presidency on the platform of that party.

—Li Hung Chang arrived in New York on the American liner St. Louis, August 28, amid the flying of bunting, the booming of cannon, and the tooting and screeching of steam whistles. The following day he was given a reception by President Cleveland at the residence of ex-Secretary W. C. Whitney.

—The two young Chinese ladies who entered Ann Arbor four years ago, have completed the medical course at that institution, and are now on their way to China to carry the Bible and medical assistance into the homes of their heathen sisters. The customs of China do not permit a woman to consult a male physician, and these young Christian physicians expect, therefore, to administer to their suffering sisters the help which for ages has been denied them. China has one physician to each 2,500,000 of her population.

—An ancient burying ground has been discovered near Oakland, California, in which are found skeletons of a supposedly prehistoric race of people, whose skulls indicate a low degree of intelligence, being very low above the eyes and retreating far back across the crown of the head. Scientists manifest much interest in the discovery.

—An Oklahoma stage was held up on August 24 and the passengers robbed. One of the passengers, a lady schoolteacher from Philadelphia, on refusing to deliver her money, was shot by the leader of the gang, Bill Doolin, outlaw and multi-murderer. The following day the band of outlaws was overtaken by a posse, and Doolin’s body was literally riddled with Winchester bullets, while the remainder of the ruffians made good their escape.

—On Tuesday, August 25, there started from San Francisco a bicycle relay race to New York City, under the auspices of the San Francisco Examiner and the New York Journal, the participants carrying a letter from the postmaster of San Francisco to the postmaster of New York, and also a U. S. army despatch to Gen. Nelson A. Miles, of New York. The race will be a race against time, and will be continued day and night until the destination is reached and the packet delivered.