NEWS AND NOTES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 27, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 34.

FOREIGN.

—The oldest living Primitive Methodist is Mrs. Betty Webster, of Aysgarth, England, who is now in her 107th year.

—The China steamer Gaelic ran aground in the Shimonoseki Straits on August 16, and was taken off two days later. A large part of her cargo will be lost.

—Gen. Bronsart von Schellendorff, German minister of war, has been relieved from office on account of failure to agree with the emperor on the question of military trial reform.

—A mysterious epidemic has broken out among the cattle on the island of Jamaica. Veterinary experts are unable so far to check the disease, or even to ascertain the cause.

—Li Hung Chang took passage on the steamer St. Paul for New York, on August 22. He will be received by President Cleveland at the residence of Wm. G. Whitney, in New York.

—The Japanese are about to erect a statue of Buddha, 120 feet high, to commemorate their victories over the Chinese. It will be constructed from metal captured during the war.

—Bolivia, which heretofore has been in every sense an inland nation, is now to have a seacoast, a treaty having been effected by which she gets a strip of country through to the open sea.

—The Italian court has decided that Spain has the first right to the purchase of the armed cruiser Garibaldi, recently completed at Genoa. This vessel is considered the most perfect cruiser afloat.

—During a royal yacht race at Southsea, on August 18, Emperor William’s yacht Meteor collided with Baron Zedtwitz’s yacht Isolde. The latter was completely wrecked, and the baron himself was killed.

—The English Government has requested Cecil Rhodes to appear in England next January to testify before the committee of inquiry in the matter of conducting the affairs of the British South African Company.

—Reports from Athens state that the Turkish troops have massacred eighty old men, women, and children in the villages of Trambuno and Komino, Macedonia, the remainder of the inhabitants having escaped to the mountains.

—The Russian Government has ordered from a Philadelphia firm material for a complete locomotive plant to be used in manufacturing locomotives for the great Siberian railway. All the engineers and foremen will be Americans.

—Dr. Paton, a missionary to the New Hebrides, reports that since evangelistic work was commenced in that field, 14,000 natives have been converted to Christianity, 200 of whom are now engaged as native teachers of the word.

—It is stated that Oscar Wilde will soon be given his freedom on condition that he leave England. This will be an occasion of rejoicing for the people of that country, but no other portion of the known world will find cause for jubilation when the event transpires.

—Recently the whole population of Rocco Pietra, Italy, left the Catholic Church, and 200 of them worshiped at a neighboring evangelical church mission. The people along the Adriatic coast are being stirred and awakened by the work of the evangelists.

—Advices from Berlin state that the German Government proposes an almost prohibitive duty on American oil. This step is to be taken in view of the great combination of oil trusts, in which the American Standard Oil Company figures so conspicuously.

—The Matabeles have chosen a new god (or rather a goddess, as this one is a woman) to replace the one recently shot by an American cowboy. She has already instigated many murders of whites, and the British Government has offered a reward for her capture.

—The French consul and the Russian naval commander at Crete have received orders to protect all Cretan Christians. On August 14 the insurgents fought a battle with the Turkish soldiers, and drove them into the city of Herkalion, capturing four cannon and a considerable store of arms and ammunition.

—Dr. Nansen’s ship, the Fram, in which he hoped to drift over the north pole, arrived at Tromsoe, Norway, on August 20, having been in the polar sea a little over three years. The vessel reached latitude 86 degrees and 15 minutes north, or one minute farther north than Nansen himself penetrated after abandoning the Fram.

—To Spain’s trouble in Cuba and among her restless, tax-ridden people at home, is now added another cause for anxiety, in the shape of a threatened rebellion in the Philippine Islands.

—It is claimed that one of the Moody and Sankey hymns, which has been sung by the Christians of Armenia, is responsible for some of the Turkish hatred. When the Armenians sang, “Onward, Christian soldier, marching as to war,” the Turks interpreted it that they were preparing for a crusade.

—There is prospect of a war between Bulgaria and Turkey. The Turkish soldiers have been occupying disputed territory, and Bulgaria demands the appointment of a commission to adjust the difficulty, declaring that her troops will proceed at once to occupy the territory unless the commission is appointed.

—The emperor of China has conferred upon Dr. Atterbury, of the Presbyterian China Mission, the imperial order of the Double Dragon. This mark of special distinction is a recognition of services rendered by the American physician in connection with the work of the Red Cross Society during the Chino-Japanese war.

—A Cuban train conveying passengers and Spanish soldiers was captured and destroyed by the insurgents on August 16. Six of the Spanish guard were killed and twenty-one wounded, before reinforcements arrived from headquarters. It is stated that the fast steamer Unique has been sold to the Cuban insurgents, and will be used as a blockade runner. The steamer Three Friends, which had been seized as a suspected filibusterer, was released on August 19, for lack of evidence. Since last reports were received, a large steamer has sailed from Philadelphia for Cuba, carrying 56,000 pounds of stick dynamite, one dozen field guns of heavy caliber, and thousands of rifles, with ammunition and medical supplies. It is stated that a revolution in Porto Rico is now thoroughly organized, and that 50,000 men are ready to take the field against Spain as soon as they shall receive the order from Gerardo Forrest, who is the prime mover in the revolution.

DOMESTIC.

—A party of thirteen missionaries will leave San Francisco on August 26 for China and Japan.

—A fire at Watertown, S. D., on August 20, burned to death Mr. Felbach and his three daughters.

—On August 18 a cage in the St. Lawrence mine, at Butte, Montana, fell 1,200 feet, killing three men.

—A number of oil tanks were destroyed by fire near Lima, Ohio, on August 15. The loss will reach $75,000.

—The American ship Willie Rosenfeldt foundered off the Brazilian coast, and fourteen of her men are missing.

—The American schooner Gehring was seized at Halifax, N. S., and confiscated for fishing inside the three-mile limit.

—Owing to political differences, Hoke Smith, Secretary of the Interior, has resigned from President Cleveland’s cabinet.

—The Lowell Observatory will soon be located near the City of Mexico, to observe the position of Mars during the winter.

—A fire truck and a trolley car collided at Buffalo, N. Y., on August 16, instantly killing one man and severely injuring six others.

—New York bank presidents are making preparations for the importation of many million dollars worth of gold from foreign countries.

—Travelers in Montana have discovered a new Yosemite, which in grandeur of scenery is said to surpass anything in the Old or New World.

—A raft of logs containing 5,500,000 feet of timber put to sea from Astoria, Oregon, on August 20, and will be towed by a steamship to San Francisco.

—A cloudburst in a New Mexican mining camp, on August 19, drowned two men and a large number of cattle, and swept away twenty-six houses.

—The joint Fur Seal Commission sent out by the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, has begun its work of investigation in the icy waters of the Bering Sea.

—Monsignor Martinelli has been appointed by the pope as papal legate to the United States, in place of Cardinal Satolli. He will arrive here during September.

—A ball game between colored teams at Poplar Grove, Arkansas, on August 17, was turned into a shooting match, in which six of the players were shot, two fatally.

—A flying machine constructed on the kite principle was sent up from Portland, Maine, on August 20, bearing a dummy weighing 150 pounds. At the height of 600 feet the retaining rope broke, and the ship settled gracefully to the earth. This is declared by an expert aeronaut to be the greatest step yet taken toward solving the problem of aerial navigation.

—A curious disease has broken out among the cattle in Brookfield, Illinois. The disease affects the pupil of the eye, and causes the cattle to go suddenly and hopelessly blind.

—On August 20, Baron Russell, of Killowen, lord chief justice of England, delivered a stirring address on international arbitration before the American Bar Association, which is now convened at Saratoga, N. Y.

—The University of California has just added to its faculty an instructor in algebra who is totally blind. His accomplishments in the field of mathematics are looked upon with wonder by expert mathematicians.

—An electric cloudburst at Bera, Arkansas, on August 15, struck a church where a protracted meeting was being held, killing one minister, and fatally wounding two others. A number of the congregation were also considerably injured.

—A boiler explosion in a harvest field at Allensville, Kentucky, on August 17, resulted in the killing of four men. On the same day three men were killed and sixteen injured by an explosion of dynamite at New Holland, Pennsylvania.

—Recent excavations in a mound near Pittsburg, Pa., brought to light a number of interesting specimens, among which were some implements which are believed to be not less than 1,000 years old, and a large number of skeletons of gigantic stature.

—Four youthful bandits boarded a stock train near Charlotte, Mich., on August 16, and compelled the stock men to deliver up all valuables in their possession. The robbers, ranging in age from 18 to 22 years, were captured the next day, and safely lodged in jail.

—Mexico is about to enter a claim for $22,000,000 damages against the United States, on account of the drying up of the Rio Grande River during certain portions of the year, when the farmers of New Mexico and Colorado are using the water for irrigation purposes.

—A lady who donated an expensive watch to the $100,000 missionary fund recently raised at Old Orchard, Maine, for Christian Alliance work, has entered suit for its return, claiming that the gift was made under hypnotic influence exercised by the speaker who solicited the contributions.

—The new U. S. cruiser Brooklyn was launched at Philadelphia, August 22. She will be put over the official course on August 24, preparatory to making her trial trip. The Brooklyn is guaranteed to make twenty knots an hour, and for every quarter knot above that speed the government will pay a bonus of $50,000.

—By the detention of the steamer Three Friends, at Mayport, on August 15, seventy Cuban filibusters were prevented from taking their departure from the United States. On the same day the steamer Commodore cleared from Charleston, S. C., with ninety bundles of rifles and 200 cases of ammunition. The revenue cutter Colfax attempted to overhaul her, but was unsuccessful.

—An extensive business is being carried on in New Orleans and along the lower Mississippi River in kidnapping negroes and selling them to Guatemalan railroad contractors. Their treatment is described as appalling, and venomous snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and the dreaded fevers of the localities through which the railroads are being built, are carrying them off at a rapid rate.

—A destructive cyclone struck the town of Augustine, Alabama, on August 13, killing fifteen people, twenty-four horses and mules, and making a complete destruction of the corn and cotton crops in that vicinity. The same day Pittsburg, Pa., was visited by a destructive storm and flood, in which six persons lost their lives. The damage along the track of the flood is estimated at from $75,000 to $100,000.

—Miss Mary Abigail Dodge (Gail Hamilton), one of America’s best known writers, died at her home at Hamilton, Mass., of paralysis, on August 17. Miss Dodge, who was a cousin of Mrs. James G. Blaine, published her first book, “Country Living and Country Thinking,” in 1862, and since that time has published nearly two dozen books, besides contributing frequently to the best magazines of the country. Her last work was the “Life of James G. Blaine.”