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News and Miscellany

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 8, 1871

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 38, No. 8.

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News and Miscellany.

“Can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
July 26.—A severe thunder-storm passed over Alleghany City this afternoon. The lightning struck several houses, doing slight damage.
St. Johns, N. B., July 26.—Very destructive fires have occurred at Fredericton, N. B. Some fourteen or fifteen buildings, nearly all of which were occupied for the sale of ships’ stores, were burned. The loss to insurance companies is estimated at $50,000, and the actual loss nearly four times that sum.
Brazil.—The yellow fever has assumed a very malignant form at Para. Nearly every stranger in the city has died, and the physicians are losing nearly all their patients.
St. Louis, July 26.—A terrible railroad accident occurred at 6:30 last evening, on the Toledo and Wabash Railroad, sixteen miles from this city, and two miles this side of Edmondsville, Ill. A freight train of thirty-three cars, heavily laden with grain, going south at great speed, collided with a gravel train on which were a number of laborers returning from their work. Of these six were killed outright, and four others so severely injured that but little hope is entertained of their recovery. Of the other men on the construction train fully one half were more or less injured, some of them quite seriously, although with the exception of the four mentioned, none are believed to be fatally hurt. The track was not cleared until at a late hour last night, and the express train transferred its passengers at the scene of the wreck. The collision occurred on a short curve, and neither engineer was aware that another train was on the track till it was too late to prevent the catastrophe. The engineers and firemen from both locomotives jumped off in time to save their lives. Both engines and a large number of cars were demolished.
Portugal.—A very destructive fire occurred in Lisbon on Thursday. Several perished in the flames.
Guadaloupe.—Nearly the whole town of Point-e-Pitre, Island of Guadaloupe, was destroyed by fire on the 18th ult., and 30,000 persons left without shelter.
A number of prominent clergymen called at the Mayor’s office, in New York, on Monday, and requested him to appoint a day of prayer and fasting in recognition of recent afflictions to which the city has been subjected.
The value of the window-glass broken by a hail-storm in Chicago, on Wednesday, is $18,000.
On Sunday last a horrible accident occurred in New York City on board the steamer “Westfield,” plying between the Battery and Staten Island. Just as she was about to leave her slip to make a trip to the Island, with several hundred passengers, mostly persons making a holiday excursion, and among them great numbers of women and children, the boiler exploded, completely wrecking the forward portion of the steamer, and involving a terrible sacrifice of life. The passengers were mostly crowded together on the forward decks, immediately over the boiler, and were hurled into the air, some falling in the water, to be drowned, while scores fell into the hold, buried among the debris, to be scalded by the escaping steam. As near as can be learned, some 91 persons were killed, and about 123 more or less injured. Many of the wounded were so dreadfully scalded that they will ultimately die. The coroner’s jury has not yet sat upon the case, and the cause of the explosion is not certainly known. The engineer, who escaped, says the boiler was patched, and acknowledges carrying at the time a pressure of 27 pounds of steam to the square inch, while the boiler inspector’s certificate fixes the limit at 25 pounds.
A discovery of concealed arms has been made at Liverpool, which are in some way connected with Fenianism.
The Coroner’s inquest upon the bodies of the men killed during the riot did not carry its inquiries beyond ascertaining the simple fact that the parties came to their death by gunshot wounds “at the hands of some person or persons unknown to us.”
Reports of the destructive hail-storm that lately passed over portions of Sullivan County, in New York State, and Wayne and Pike Counties, Penn., are coming in. In Sullivan County the towns of Mamakating, Thompson, Forestburgh, and Bethel, suffered severely by the storm, which was accompanied by terrific thunder and lightning, and very high wind. Trees were blown down, growing crops cut to the earth, and two or three barns struck by lightning. Considerable wheat and rye, still uncut, was totally destroyed. The corn crop has been seriously affected, and, as the drought of early summer rendered the hay crop very light, the prospects confronting the farmers of the county are anything but cheering. It is even considered doubtful whether half the stock in the county can be wintered. In Wayne County, Penn., the storm was very violent. The ground in many places was covered from one to two inches deep with hailstones. In Damascus, corn, oats, and buckwheat, are seriously injured—some fields of corn being totally destroyed. The hailstones were of extraordinary size, and demolished windows, fruit, and gardens, as well as crops. Three barns were struck by lightning, all of them being just filled with new grain and hay. Some farmers estimate their damages at from $1,500 to $3,000. The loss in the county will be many thousand dollars. Two bridges were also blown down in the northern part of the county. In Sussex County, N. J., the storm seems to have been very destructive. In the vicinity of Andover hailstones fell in immense quantities, and lay on the ground in piles several inches deep. After the storm had ceased, sleigh-riding was possible. From Freedom to Anderson Hill the storm made a complete sweep, cutting corn and oats to pieces. The corn is mere stalks and stubble, entirely stripped of leaves. Fruits and gardens received lasting injuries; and the damage to farmers is very great. Jason Wickham’s barn, near Coleville, was struck by lightning and entirely destroyed. Loss, $4,500, independent of contents. The scene in the track of the storm after it had ceased was fearful. Fences down, fields of grain riddled, windows demolished, branches of trees, and debris of all kinds, formed a discouraging sight to the farmer. Up the Erie Railway, north of Narrowsburgh, the storm did great damage to property of all kinds.
The London Spectator laments over the decadence of the monarchial system in Great Britain. It says: “There is in this country but one great political institution left alive, and that is apparently endeavoring to commit suicide by asphyxia. The throne as a political power is dead. The Lords are dying, and if the House of Commons loses the respect of the country, there will be nothing left.”
A reception, such as rarely occurs in any city, was given in Detroit yesterday afternoon and evening, the occasion being the 100th birthday of Mrs. Sarah Hall, for the last 21 years a resident of the city. Mrs. Hall, who retains to a remarkable degree the possession of her faculties, and who is still fond of company, has often within the past year or two expressed an earnest wish that her life might outlast the completion of a century from its beginning. Yesterday saw her wish fulfilled, and in honor of the occasion a reception was given, to which her personal friends and members of the First Congregational Church, with which church she is connected, were invited. Her residence on Washington avenue was thrown open from 4 till 9 P. M., and the old lady, who is rather hard of hearing, but still glib of tongue, herself greeted from her arm-chair the many who called. The parlor in which she sat had over the door festoons and wreaths, and a shield with the figures “1771—1871.”