Leading Events of Week Oct. 13–19.
By A. J. B.
— The usual number of murders, suicides, and robberies this week. — A San Jose, Cal., fire burned over four acres of the town the 14th inst. — The thirty days of official mourning for President McKinley ended Friday night, October 18. — Ten sailors deserted from the United States training-ship “Buffalo,” at Kiel, Germany, the 15th. — A new 10,000,000-gallon reservoir at East Liverpool, Ohio, burst the 13th inst. Loss, $150,000. No lives lost. — The ninth national convention of the Spiritualists of America is now in session in Washington, D. C. — An appointment has been made for “an interview between Cardinal Gibbons and the President,” on the 27th of this month. — It is reported that “Boer invaders, 500 strong, have reached Saldanha Bay, near Hopefield, after a march through Cape Colony.” — The Philippines were swept by a typhoon the 16th inst., twenty persons perishing in Manila Bay, and many vessels being damaged. — Great Britain and Russia have come to a complete agreement regarding the Afghan situation. So says a St. Petersburg dispatch of the 18th. — On the 13th inst., Count de la Vaulx, with three companions, left Les Sablettes, near Toulon, France, “on a balloon voyage across the Mediterranean to Algeria.” — The 16th inst. 120 Scots Guards accompanying a steam convoy were attacked by 200 Boers near Lefuw Kop, South Africa, the fight lasting all day Sunday. Boers were defeated, and left twenty dead on the field. Eleven British wounded. — A Paris dispatch of the 18th inst. states that “reports have been received of a French reverse in West Africa. The natives of the ivory coast colony have revolted. The French commander, General Combes, with 1,100 men, has had several fights with the rebels. He lost 70 killed and 200 wounded.” — A Vienna dispatch of the 16th states that in Kishinef, Bessarabia, Russia, 1,000 students “attacked and wrecked the house of the governor, the headquarters of the police, and the office of the Official Gazette.” A fight took place with the police, eleven persons being killed and thirty-six wounded. — Wednesday, the 16th, the steamship “Nederland” arrived at Antwerp; the “Rhynland,” at Browhead; the “K. P. Wilhelm,” at Cherbourg; the “Ethiopia” and “Livonian,” at Glasgow; the “Montividean,” at London; the “Trave,” at Naples; the “Teutonic,” at New York; the “New England” and “Majestic,” at Queenstown; the “St. Paul,” at Southampton. On the same day the “Oceanic,” “St. Louis,” “Vaderland,” and “S. of Nebraska” sailed from New York, and the “Saxonia” from Queenstown. — On the 15th inst. the physicians and surgeons who attended President McKinley (seven in number) presented to the State Medical Society, gathered in New York in semiannual session, “a lengthy report covering the medical and surgical history of the case,” signed by them all. The chief physician, Dr. Mann, stated that “there was absolutely no bacteriological infection,” and also said: “If you ask me what caused the President’s death, I could not tell you. I doubt if that will ever be discovered. Among contributory causes, however, were the President’s age, his lack of exercise, and his naturally weak heart, which made his pulse high.” According to the Buffalo court and jury, Czolgosz was the cause of his death. — Wall Street financiers are after the Texas oil shares. — Miss Stone is still in the hands of the Bulgarian bandits. — President McKinley’s doctor bills amount to $50,000. Congress will probably settle the same. — A sixteen-year-old girl of London, England, testifies that a hypnotist and her husband have had her under their control for some time. — According to latest news, “a reign of terror exists in Rome, on account of the number of robberies.” — The Illinois Central Railway decides to increase the wages of all its employees, from yardman to conductor. — Two armed Italians, anarchist suspects, were arrested in the presidential palace, in Rio Janeiro, the 13th inst. — Technology students of Boston, 600 in number, voted the 14th inst. to abolish “cane rushes.” A most sensible idea! — General Chaffee cabled President Roosevelt the 16th inst., “advising against a reduction of the force now in the Philippines, as proposed by General Corbin.” — Under date of the 18th, a dispatch from Rome contradicts all recent reports stating the Pope has ill health, and affirms that Leo is “in perfect health, and holds audiences regularly.” — New Zealand declines to join the Australian commonwealth, believing that in federation she would have “little or nothing to gain, and almost everything to lose,” so long as England holds command of the sea. The countries are too far remote to be of service to each other in case of need. — At the annual convention of the Christian Foreign Missionary societies, in session in Minneapolis, it is stated that “the diminution of contributions to the treasury is due to the influence of Mark Twain.” But suppose Mr. Clemens’s statements are true. Then what? — On the 16th inst. the starving peasants of Samara, Russia, “stormed the municipal buildings and the residences of wealthy persons, setting some on fire. Troops were summoned, and fourteen peasants were killed.” Similar riots are also reported from Anderweska, where two landowners were murdered, and also from Pestrawka. — A Manila dispatch dated the 18th says: “Five hundred insurgent bolomen rushed forty-six men of Company E, Ninth Infantry, at Bangajon, on the Gandara River, Island of Samar, and killed ten and wounded six. Re-enforcements arrived for the Americans, and the other men of the Ninth were rescued. Nearly 100 bolomen were killed.” Forty-five men of Company C, Ninth Infantry, were massacred on this same island the 28th ult., while eating breakfast. — According to a dispatch from Rome, Italy, dated the 16th, Mussolino, the famous Italian bandit, has been captured. He was unjustly imprisoned two years ago, and upon escaping vowed to kill the fifteen witnesses responsible for his conviction. He succeeded in dispatching twelve of them. He was a friend of the poor, and it was owing to the sympathy of the peasantry that he always escaped capture, despite the immense reward the government offered for his capture. — Southern newspapers denounce President Roosevelt for entertaining Booker T. Washington, the colored leader, at the White House on Wednesday, the 16th. Mr. Washington is a personal friend of the President; but no hotel in Washington would give him, or any colored man, accommodations. It will be remembered that Mr. Roosevelt, when vice-president, took Mr. Washington to his home in New York City, the hotels of that city having refused him accommodations. Speaking of the incident, the Memphis (Tenn.) Scimitar says: “The most damnable outrage which has ever been perpetrated by any citizen of the United States was committed by the President when he invited a nigger to dine with him at the White House.” The Commercial Appeal, of the same place, says: “It is now incumbent on those white Democrats of the South who had received appointments at the hands of President Roosevelt to resign their offices. They cannot afford to remain the recipients of any favor at his hands. Certainly there is no honor attached to his benevolences or bestowals.” So far as is known, Mr. Washington is “the first colored man to be honored with the privilege of dining in the White House with the President of the United States.” But Washington is dominated by Southern etiquette, and always draws the color line. A. J. B.