SECULAR by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 15, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 39.

Read the full edition

SECULAR.

By Editor

—King Alfonso has the intermittent fever.

—Small-pox continues in Montreal, Canada.

—At Salt Lake, October 5, five more Mormons received full sentence for polygamy.

—Heavy and damaging rains are reported from the interior and valleys of Mexico.

—Advices from False Point, India, say that the recent cyclone destroyed 500 villages.

—Cardinal McCloskey died at New York City, at half past twelve Saturday morning, Oct. 10.

—Nearly $100,000 worth of wheat was recently destroyed by fire at Chico, Butte County, Cal.

—A mill making paper pulp from the yucca on Mojave Desert, turns out some ten tons daily.

—The ambassadors of the powers are urging the Greek Government to stop its war preparations.

—Aid is being sent to the fishermen at Labrador, who are suffering from the scarcity of fish this season.

—Resolutions were passed by the Teachers' Institute of Alameda Co., held recently in Oakland, denouncing the use of tobacco and alcoholic stimulants, and pledging the teachers' influence against these pernicious habits.

—It is reported that Congress has licensed 389 saloons in a section of the city of Washington, measuring about 8,000 by 6,300 feet.

—The New Hampshire law punishing with a fine of $20 the sale of a cigarette to a boy or girl under sixteen years of age, has gone into effect.

—A fire broke out in London, October 8, destroying thirteen eight-story warehouses, which, together with their contents, are valued at £3,000,000.

—The Czar of Russia has been persuaded to delay his return to St. Petersburg until October 17, in order that he may return in safety to his own capital.

—Michael Davitt's land system of agitation in Ireland increases daily. The moonlighters are forcing farmers to swear that they will not pay their rent.

—The Roumelian trouble is still a question. If Roumelia and Bulgaria are left to unite under Prince Alexander, then Servia demands an extension of territory.

—Don Milla, a learned Guatemalan, has been examining all the documents of Columbus's time, and concludes that Christopher Columbus never set foot on North American soil.

—The grand jury of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, found no indictments against the Rock Springs rioters who so barbarously shot down and burned many Chinamen on September 2.

—A Government ukase has been issued from St. Petersburg, ordering all the governors and other officers throughout the provinces to use the Russian language exclusively in their official duties.

—Important documents relating to the Caroline Islands have been discovered among the archives of the Vatican. It is thought that they will facilitate the settlement between Spain and Germany.

—The Abyssinians, commanded by Ras Afula, defeated a large force of dervishes under Osman Digna, killing 3,000 of them. He is now on the march for the relief of Kassala in Upper Nubia.

—Sixty convicts working on the road at Rush, Texas, made a break for liberty, on the evening of October 4, and the guards opened their repeating rifles upon them with deadly effect, killing twenty-five. Thirty-five escaped.

—A bee-raiser in the East claims to have found toads making great inroads into the population of his hives. One morning he discovered some toads at the entrance to the hives and soon discovered that they were catching and eating bees.

—The New Zealand Government has renewed the mail service between New Zealand and San Francisco. The Governments of New South Wales and America will contribute their shares of the subsidy necessary for the keeping of the service in operation.

—Affairs have been amicably settled between England and Turkey. Each power is to appoint six commissioners: two on war, two on finance, and two on general administration. When Egyptian affairs have been placed on a satisfactory basis, the British will withdraw from Egypt.

—A Baltimore Grand Jury testifies to the good effects of a law providing a whipping-post for wife-beaters. It reports that since the introduction of this kind of punishment there have been scarcely any cases of wife-beating brought before it, whereas before it was one of the most common offenses.

—The Cuban revolutionists are still on the war path. Although from time to time they seem to be almost exterminated, again and again they make their appearance in their almost hopeless warfare. Now comes the report that a movement has been inaugurated, backed by three Spanish bankers in N. Y. City, looking to the annexation of Cuba to the United States.

—In 1836 the State of Massachusetts made, in round numbers, 16,000,000 pairs of boots and shoes; in 1844, 20,000,000; in 1854, 45,000,000; in 1864, 51,000,000; in 1874, 59,000,000; in 1880, 78,000,000; and in 1884 (estimated), over 100,000,000. The value of this product is estimated at from $120,000,000 to $150,000,000. Lynn stands first, with an annual business of $90,000,000.

—In a late number of the New York World, appeared a letter from a Maine correspondent, on the Maine liquor law. He is a bitter opponent of prohibition, yet he says, "Prohibition has been on the statute books thirty years now, and the longer it stays on, the more liquor appears to be sold." This is a fair sample of much of the opposition to prohibition, but we cannot understand it. If prohibition increases the sale of liquor, then why do lovers of liquor oppose prohibition? We wish some of these folks would explain.

—The S. F. Chronicle of October 6, says: "At about midnight on July 29, a remarkable phenomenon was seen at Jonkoping, Sweden, over Lake Wettern. A strong luminosity was suddenly shown in the north, where some very peculiar clouds, looking like icebergs, were seen almost to touch the water. From the clouds electrical discharges continually proceeded. . . . Except the electricity-laden clouds, all was clear, and the full moon shone bright."

—The five-story printing and lithographing building of Charles Crocker & Co., San Francisco, was burned to the ground, except some of the walls of brick, still standing. The value of property destroyed is variously estimated at from $500,000 to $1,000,000. In trying to subdue the flames, two firemen, Martin Hannan and Peter J. Healy, were carried down with a falling floor, and burned or crushed to death; several others were badly injured.

—Flood Rock at Hell Gate, New York, was blown into fragments by the use of 280,000 pounds of dynamite, September 10. Flood Rock covered nine acres. Into this rock a shaft was sunk fifty-six feet deep; from the base of this shaft twenty-four tunnels were made, extending, in different directions, a total distance of four miles; in chambers along the sides of these tunnels, the dynamite was placed in cartridges four or five feet apart; a copper wire connected these explosives with Hallett's Point, where a battery was placed at 1,000 feet from the rock. This explosion was witnessed by a large part of New York City, the water being thrown 200 feet into the air.