NEWS AND NOTES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 11, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 23.

FOREIGN.

—Late advices from the island of Crete state that disturbances still continue, and the Turkish troops are burning villages.

—France having annexed the island of Madagascar, the governments of Great Britain and the United States are inquiring into the status of their commercial and other engagements with the former government of the island.

—A Paris despatch states that the French African expedition which recently left Salaga for the Niger River was routed by the natives. Three Europeans and many natives belonging to the expedition were killed by poisoned arrows.

—The silk and tea districts of Japan have been visited by heavy frosts, a most unprecedented occurrence in the month of May, and the damage to mulberry trees and tea plants is estimated at thirty to forty per cent of their value.

—The Egyptian army (that is, a British army composed of Egyptian soldiers) had a decisive battle with Dervishes at Feirket, 1,000 of the latter being killed, including the commander, and several hundred were taken prisoners. The Egyptian loss was twenty killed and eighty wounded.

—The latest news from Cuba is to the effect that the Spaniards are dissatisfied with Captain-General Weyler’s failure to quell the insurgents, who seem to be roaming at will through the country, while the Spanish troops are mostly housed in the cities, and many of them suffering from yellow fever and other diseases.

—San Francisco has joined the now quite common protest against the extravagant and ever-increasing expenses of city government. There is the almost threadbare story of great corporations and men of extraordinary wealth escaping the payment of their share of the taxes, and men of moderate means having to carry the burden of city expenses.

—The assassin of the late shah of Persia was a member of the Babi, a sect of the Mohammedans. This sect is socialistic in principle, and forty years ago attempted to take the life of the shah. There are many sects in the Mohammedan ranks, each the embodiment of some peculiar fancy, but all imbued with the characteristic idea of propagating Mohammedanism by the sword.

—At Barcelona, Spain, on the 7th inst., during the Corpus Christi parade, a bomb was thrown into the procession, killing six persons and wounding about fifty. Near San Sebastian, the same day, two petards were exploded in front of a priest’s residence, resulting in much damage to the property, but no person was injured. It is thought that another uprising of anarchists is imminent.

—A London exchange says that “all the public museums of London are now open on Sunday. The British Museum was opened Sunday, May 17, being the first time, it is said, in its existence that the public have had the opportunity of entering it upon that day. The unanimity of this change in the regulation of museums and exhibitions is drawing attention to the Sunday question in general.”

—The telegraph announces that a riot occurred at St. Petersburg on the eve of the coronation of the czar at Moscow. A drunken crowd became unmanageable in the Newski Prospekt, whereupon a command of Cossacks galloped into the midst of the crowd, which responded by throwing stones at them. The Cossacks finally fired into the mass, killing and wounding about 250, and arresting some 500 others.

—Among the persons exiled from Hawaii a year ago for complicity in a rebellion against the Dole government, was a native of Canada named Volney Ashford. He has since resided in San Francisco, and has repeatedly asked permission to return, but has been refused a permit. He is now sick in a hospital, and as he is a British subject, that government has made a peremptory demand that he be allowed to return to the islands. President Dole, however, declines to accede to the demand. It remains to be seen whether the British Government will undertake to enforce the demand, and whether the United States will remain neutral in the matter.

DOMESTIC.

—Ex-Governor S. D. McEnery, of Louisiana, has been elected U. S. Senator to succeed Senator Blanchard.

—Recent severe floods in Howard County, Neb., are said to have caused property losses amounting to $100,000.

—Miss Alice Ruth Palmer, one of the round-the-world missionaries of the World’s W. C. T. U., has been ordained pastor of the Congregational Church at Wayzata, Minn.

—Two Japanese battle-ships are to be built in the United States, one at San Francisco and one at Philadelphia.

—Both Houses of Congress have passed the River and Harbor Appropriation bill over the President’s veto, by a large majority.

—A St. Paul despatch says that the town of Lynch, Boyd County, Neb., was almost entirely destroyed by a tornado on the 6th inst., but no lives were lost.

—Every college faculty in the state of Ohio is to be asked by the W. C. T. U. to require a certificate of moral character from matriculants, and to expel any student who frequents saloons or improper resorts.

—A Jacksonville, Fla., despatch of the 3d inst. reports the return of the steamer Three Friends, after successfully landing 100 men and a heavy cargo of ammunition in Cuba, for the assistance of the insurgents.

—At the recent general meeting of the Dunkards held in Covington, Ohio, a resolution was passed condemning the practice of having defective teeth filled with gold. It was declared to be unbecoming in members of that humble sect.

—The Southern Pacific Railroad Company has raised the barrier against the employment of men engaged in the great strike of two years ago. The order embraces all but those who committed overt acts of injury to property. Nearly 5,000 former employees have been on the black list.

—At Jacksonville, Ill., the grand jury has indicted the heads of the Illinois College, including Bishop Ryan and Vice-General Hickey, for not having flags in their school buildings. This is a false patriotism gone mad because of an infusion of prejudice against certain religious scruples.

—“Fifteen saloon-keepers of Manchester, N. H., were arrested recently for selling liquor on Sunday, and fined $1,500.” So says a temperance exchange; but it forgot to say that this defiance to the Sunday institution was a tacit indorsement of the saloon curse during the other six days of the week.

—The Baptist chapel car Emmanuel is now at the railroad yards in this city. It is one of the four cars kept in operation on the western railroads by the Baptist Publication Society. The Emmanuel has been in this city before, and has been the means of building up three missions in as many different suburban stations.

—German officers employed in China to drill soldiers are reported to have been badly treated. They have been subjected to numerous outrages, some having been beaten by soldiers, and one murdered by a member of the bodyguard of the governor of Nankin. There is a probability of trouble with the German Government.

—A new line of freight and passenger steamers is soon to be established between Portland, Or., and Tokio, Japan, by a Japanese company. The Japanese Government backs the company with $5,000,000. The representative of this enterprise, now in San Francisco, says freight is to be carried for $9.00 per ton, and that there will be a great reduction in passenger rates.

—At Russiatown, near Fresno, Cal., last week, an Armenian family named Shahamarian—father, son, and daughter—were found shot to death. It is supposed that their neighbors did the work because the young man, Benjamin Shahamarian, had been charged with a grave crime, but for some reason which they, being Russians, did not understand, was not prosecuted.

—Grand juries are coming to be a potent factor in the enforcement of intolerant laws, and bid fair to be the zealous advocates of compulsory Sunday observance. The grand jury of Union County, N. J., has returned a presentment against the officials of the city of Elizabeth for failure to enforce the Sunday laws. This action is paraded as a great victory for the Sunday cause.

—The most disastrous cyclone that the great West has yet experienced occurred at St. Louis on the 27th ult. The damage to property is estimated at $20,000,000, and the deaths numbered about four hundred, in addition to the injury of several thousand persons. The east end of the great iron bridge across the Mississippi River was carried away. The financial loss of this disaster carries up the amount for the week from like causes in various places to $50,000,000.

—Late reports from the Alaskan gold regions indicate a great rush during the summer months. At one locality (Hope City, on Six Mile Creek) it is estimated that the autumn will see 10,000 people, and much more than half of them sadly disappointed. The history of great mining disappointments tells sad stories of destitution and suffering, but such a condition in the Arctic region of Alaska would cast all former experiences in the shade. The steamer schooner Bertha left San Francisco on the 6th inst., bearing over 100 passengers. Of these were a number of missionaries, and a number of employees of the Alaska Commercial Company, who are to put together a steamboat for use on the Yukon River. The boat is stored in the hold of the Bertha.

—The most desperate murder yet recorded in this country occurred near San Jose, Cal., May 27, when James C. Dunham killed his wife, her father, mother, and brother, a hired man, and a hired woman—six in all. The murderer succeeded in making his way to the neighboring mountains, and has, up to the present writing, eluded the efforts of several posses to capture him. The deed was committed at the home of Col. R. P. McGlincy, one of the victims, and father-in-law of the murderer.

—A band of Brazilian Gypsies attracted considerable attention in Berkeley, Cal., last week. They had been outfitted with fifteen covered wagons, and are now headed for Montana, where they propose to establish a colony. There is quite a large proportion of children in the band, who are said to be adepts in the art of begging, as are the women in “fortune” telling and the men in trading. The curious crowd that gathered around them in Berkeley were shocked to see one of the men purchase a leg of mutton and, slicing it up raw, distribute it amongst a number of the children, who devoured it with much gusto.