SINCE OUR LAST ISSUE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 3, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 39.

SINCE OUR LAST ISSUE.

FOREIGN.

—It is said that a far-reaching and deep-laid scheme for reporting German war secrets and statistics to the French has been unearthed at Cologne.

—At Amsterdam, on the 27th ult., about ten thousand diamond cutters quit work because employers refused terms demanded by the Cutters’ Union.

—It is said that Premier Reid, of New South Wales, is securing the coöperation of the other Australian colonies in raising funds for an Antarctic expedition.

—Great excitement was caused at Quito, Ecuador, on the 28th ult., by an attempted assassination of President Alfaro. It is said that prominent persons are implicated.

—The emperor of Germany is now followed by a telephone car whenever he is absent from Berlin. By this arrangement he can communicate with his ministers at any time.

—The cholera has made its appearance in Tangier, Morocco. A despatch from that place states that eighteen deaths and twenty-five new cases had been reported September 25.

—A despatch from Guayaquil, Ecuador, states that a collision occurred on September 25 between the U. S. cruiser Alert and the British ship Condor, by which the former sustained considerable damage.

—A London despatch says that “England is finally in earnest regarding the massacres of missionaries in China. Five war ships are now in the Yang Tse Kiang River, proceeding to the scenes of disturbance.”

—The longest bridge in the world is the Lion Bridge, near Saugang, China. It extends five and one-fourth miles, over an arm of the Yellow Sea, and is supported by 300 huge stone arches. The roadway is 70 feet above the water and is inclosed in an iron network.

—Russian aggression in the Orient is further shown by the statement that a Russian bank with large capital is soon to be established at Peking, with a branch at Shanghai. It is believed an attempt is on foot to supplant the British supremacy, both politically and commercially.

—A large filibustering expedition in aid of the Cubans is said to have eluded the officers at Tampa, Fla., and is now under way with 2,500 rifles, 900,000 rounds of ammunition, and 400 pounds of dynamite. The expedition is under the command of General Collazo. The size of the party is not exactly known.

—The home secretary of England has promised to review the celebrated case of Mrs. Florence Maybrick, who has been for several years serving a life sentence of imprisonment for the murder of her husband by poisoning. The case at the time and since has aroused worldwide sympathy, as the evidence was circumstantial only. New evidence, tending to show her innocence, and sufficient, it is believed, to cause a reversal of sentence, has come to light.

—It is announced that the pope will address a letter to the czar of Russia protesting against the ill treatment of Catholics in that country. It was only a few weeks since that a similar protest from Protestants concerning the treatment of that sect in Catholic South American countries met with the response that the civil law of those countries required all persons to uncover the head to the “host,” hence a refusal on the part of Protestants was a crime against the state. In Russia the hat is on a different head.

DOMESTIC.

—Four outlaws were sentenced September 25 at Fort Smith, Ark., to be hanged October 31.

—Five persons were drowned, on September 22, at Chicago while bathing in Lake Michigan.

—A line of steamers has been established running between Puget Sound and Central American ports.

—The national convention of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union will convene in Baltimore on the 18th inst.

—Kier Hardie, the noted English Socialist, is touring this country, and airing his views on that subject.

—A movement is on foot whereby all the street railroads of Washington, D. C., will pass under one management.

—It has been discovered that a convict in the Kentucky penitentiary has been manufacturing counterfeit coins of the lower denominations. They were put in circulation by a prominent party who had access to the prisoner.

—A cyclone in the eastern part of Wisconsin, on the night of September 22, caused over fifty thousand dollars damages in various places.

—The University of California has been enriched by the gift from Mayor Sutro, of San Francisco, of his immense library, together with a site for a library building.

—Six miners lost their lives near Leadville, Colo., on September 26, by the accidental explosion of fifty pounds of powder, which caused a cave-in of earth in their slope.

—The cholera scare has resulted in the thorough cleansing of numbers of cities of the Pacific Coast. The ravages of this disease are due almost wholly to unsanitary conditions.

—A Japanese syndicate proposes to put on a line of steamers between Japan and some point on the North Pacific Coast of America, and Seattle, Wash., is bidding for the prize.

—Wichita, Kas., was visited by an immense swarm of bugs on the night of the 27th ult. Electric lights were obscured and the pavements were covered to a depth of an inch by the insects.

—Mrs. Mary Slanson, of Spring Garden, Wis., locked her two children in a room while she went on an errand. The house caught fire and burned to the ground, the children perishing in the flame.

—Fire in a tobacco house at Cincinnati, on the night of the 27th ult., caused a loss of over $300,000. On the same night fire in Durango, Colo., damaged some smelter works to the extent of $50,000.

—In the now famous Durrant trial in San Francisco, Judge Murphy adjourned court from Friday of last week to Monday, because of the Hebrew day of atonement, two of the jurors being of the Jewish faith.

—Recent government tests of the new Krag-Jorgensen rifle, which has been adopted for use in the army, are said to be unsatisfactory, the weapon not equaling the Springfield rifle in many important points.

—Three desperadoes near Cushing, O. T., being refused admittance to a house, fired over one hundred shots through the doors and windows, killing the owner and his two daughters, and fatally wounding his wife.

—The body of John Kutler, a prominent farmer living near Barada, Neb., was recently found in his hog yard. It is believed he became ill, fell into the hogpen, became unconscious, and was eaten by the hogs before recovering.

—An order has been issued by President Cleveland requiring appointees to certain consular and commercial positions to pass a civil service examination. The order affects positions commanding salaries between $1,000 and $2,500.

—A new lead for deep-sea sounding carries a cartridge which explodes on touching the bottom. A submerged microphone receives the sound, and the depth is estimated from the time occupied by the lead in sinking to the bottom.

—Major-General Schofield, commander in chief of the regular army, was retired on the 29th ult., on account of having reached the age limit for active service. He is the only survivor of the recognized great military leaders of the Union Army in the Civil War.

—The Irish National Convention is now in session at Chicago, with about fifteen hundred delegates, representing various sections of the country. The principal themes discussed are the present condition of Ireland, and plans for freeing that country from British rule.

—The great Crossley reflector, gift of Edward Crossley, of Halifax, Eng., to the Lick Observatory, has reached its destination. Some of the finest astronomical photographic work has been done with this instrument, and it will be specially utilized in this line.

—The Sunday closing of the gates of the Atlanta Exposition is now ready to foment discussion and complications. On September 22 the grounds were nominally closed to the public; nevertheless, a crowd of people found their way inside and patronized the various open attractions.

—An Irish landlord, named William Sculley, has settled in New York and declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States. It is said that he owns 100,000 acres of land in Illinois and a whole county in Kansas. It is for the protection of his landholdings that he finds it necessary to become a citizen.

—The Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics has made a startling report. It charges that the great majority of the wealthy taxpayers of Illinois, and more especially of Chicago, are perjurers; that the assessors are guilty of malfeasance in office; that the present financial condition of Chicago is directly traceable to the corrupt system of taxation, and that the deplorable condition of work is due to the liberty-destroying methods of taxation which prevail in Illinois.

—A despatch from Eureka, Cal., of the 28th inst. says the steamer Humboldt, which plies between San Francisco and that place, is on the rocks at Point Gorda, south of Cape Mendocino, and is supposed to be doomed to destruction. After the fog lifted, the crew, passengers, and treasure were safely landed.

—Governor Culberson, of Texas, proposes to call a special session of the Legislature to pass a law prohibiting a proposed prize fight; but his wife contends that the people want the fight, and he should not worry himself to keep up public dignity when nine out of ten of the people would be willing to witness the fight.

—The United States Board of Geographic Names, a body charged with the duty of prescribing the proper methods of spelling the names of places throughout the globe, has just completed its second report. This comprises a list of 600 names, making the number of names passed upon by the Board since its creation in 1891, 5,364.

—There has been trouble amongst the Chinese clans in the leading cities of the Pacific Coast, and the Chinese minister at Washington has threatened degradation to the consul general and local consul at San Francisco if matters are not quickly settled. These, in turn, are bringing like pressure to bear upon the heads of clans, who are men of high rank.

—The number of post offices in the United States June 30, 1895, was 70,064. During the year ending on that date 2,422 offices were established and 2,163 discontinued. The total number of appointments for the year was 13,142. There were made 2,240 arrests for offenses against postal laws. The affected parties were all employees, 175 of the number being postmasters.

—On September 25 a demonstration in the nature of a parade, speeches, etc., was made in New York by the United Society for Liberal Sunday Laws. Ten thousand men were in line, and the procession was reviewed by Commissioner Roosevelt, whose appearance, although he had been invited, was a surprise to all, as the display was in opposition to the commissioner’s war against Sunday saloons.

—Mrs. Nellie Hazel made a balloon ascension at Monrovia, Cal., on the 28th ult., and when a thousand feet above the earth, jumped out, intending to make the usual descent by means of a parachute. But the parachute failed to open, and the result of the fall was that the aeronaut was crushed to a shapeless mass. Professor Hazel’s first wife also was killed by attempting an ascension in a balloon.

—The Indiana Methodist Conference has voted to admit women as delegates to its proceedings. The conference was addressed by Ex-President Harrison, who is reported as saying the time had passed when the country and its needs could not be mentioned in a religious gathering. He said it is a pleasant sign of the times that all religious organizations have come to recognize the fact “that the service of God and the service of one’s country—Christian life and a life of good citizenship—are not only reconcilable, but are inseparable.” A true Christian will always be a good citizen, but of course Mr. Harrison meant that Christianity must now include in the field of its operations the state as well as the church, a principle contrary to Christ’s teaching.