News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 14, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 40.

FOREIGN.

—It is reported that the Greek cabinet has officially ratified the treaty of peace drawn up by the ambassadors of the powers.

—A new Grecian cabinet has been formed under the leadership of M. Zaimis, and the members took the oath of office before King George on October 3.

—On September 12 a bloody riot took place at Santo Domingo, Costa Rica, between the supporters of the president and his political antagonists, in which five were killed and over thirty wounded.

—Japan has purchased two new war vessels in England, which were being built for the Chilian Government. These vessels are 9,000-ton armored cruisers of the first class, capable of sailing twenty-one knots.

—Indian health statistics show that the bubonic plague is again active in India. The withdrawal of the medical officers to serve with the soldiers on the frontier is regarded as responsible for the increase of the disease.

—A plot to overthrow the government of Salvador has been nipped in the bud, and prominent politicians implicated have been placed under arrest. President Gutierrez is said to have the sympathy of natives and foreigners alike.

—The retiring minister for the Spanish colonies has called upon the bank of Spain to furnish 50,000,000 pesetas for the Cuban campaign; but the committee of the bank has declined to advance the funds, and has been asked to resign.

—The war between the Conselheiro fanatics and the Government of Brazil has come to an end, and Conselheiro is a captive. Canudos, the stronghold of the rebels, was captured by the government troops after a desperate engagement.

—Pope Leo has issued another encyclical, the burden of which is the spread and assiduous maintenance of the worship of the Virgin Mary,—a form of idolatry known as Mariolatry and forbidden by the first and second commandments.

—The English exploring expedition under Cavendish, which was reported some time ago to have been massacred by natives in East Africa, has reached civilization in safety, having discovered a number of lakes and two active volcanoes.

—A British sailing captain, arriving at Halifax on October 2, reports the sinking of an unknown vessel with all on board during a furious gale on September 8. He estimated the crew of the unfortunate vessel at between forty-five and fifty.

—Late reports from Guatemala indicate that the rebels under Morales are being defeated. Quetzaltenango has been retaken by the government forces, and one of Morales’ generals has been captured with a considerable store of arms and ammunition.

—English officials have communicated to United States Ambassador Hay the final decision of England not to join in a sealing conference to which Russia and Japan were to be admitted, but she is willing to join in a conference between the United States and Canada.

—In view of the preparations made by the British forces in India to complete the punishment of the rebellious Afridis and Orakzais, the latter, it is reported, have decided to offer terms of submission, instead of attempting to oppose the advance of the punitive expedition.

—A terrible prairie fire raged through certain portions of Manitoba on October 2, destroying live stock, farm products and implements, and entailing a considerable loss of life. There were many narrow escapes, and a number of families are homeless and utterly destitute.

—The National Congress of Miners, in session at Liege, Belgium, on October 3, has decided to make a demand for an increase of 15 per cent in miners’ wages throughout the kingdom; and if this demand is not granted by the middle of November, a general strike is to be declared.

—A Havana despatch states that it is estimated that 150,000 native Cubans have disappeared from various causes since the beginning of the war, and that in certain towns whole families have been wiped out. The highest estimate placed upon the number of massacred Armenians is 100,000.

—Insanity is said to be greatly on the increase in Prussia, where the lunatic asylums find great difficulty in accommodating the crowds of applicants for admission. The completed census of 1896 shows a total of 82,850 of these unfortunates in the kingdom. The condition of affairs in this respect in England is said to be but little better.

—The latest reports from Dawson City indicate that famine and disease will work havoc among the miners during the coming winter. The city itself is situated on a flat, with no drainage, and furnishes a first-class breeding ground for deadly bacilli. Vessels conveying provisions up the river have been stalled at different places, unable to proceed on account of the shallow water, and it is estimated that the stock of supplies now on hand at Dawson, can not possibly support all those who look to that place for the necessaries of life.

—Certain persecuted refugees from Galicia, Austria, who are now in the United States and Brazil, have asked to be taken into the Russian Church; but the Russian Government holds aloof from granting the request, on the ground that such an action may give offense to Austria; which is another of the inconsistencies of a union of Church and State.

—A report from the Orient states that Russia is preparing for aggressive movements in the far east. It is said that 100,000 Russian soldiers are now massed on the Russian frontier near Vladivostock. Her purpose in the move is not clear to outsiders, but it is thought to be a menace to Japan, inasmuch as Russia has offered to drill Chinese soldiers free of expense.

—The interests of England and France in western Africa are beginning to clash. France is laying claim to territory that for some time has been considered under the sphere of British influence, and British troops are being moved toward the seat of difficulty. It is stated that unless the Anglo-French frontier is speedily designated, there is bound to be trouble.

—Additional excavations made in the district of Tiraspol, Russia, have resulted in the finding of the bodies of six more of the fanatics who had themselves buried alive. The search continues, and it is expected that about thirty more bodies will be discovered. This peculiar sect was known as the Raskolniki, and burial alive was considered by them a passport to heaven.

—The English and Germans have decided to abandon the practise of carrying conspicuous battle-flags into action. Lord Wolseley says: “In future it would be madness and a crime to order any man to carry colors into action. You might as well order him to be assassinated. The Germans carry the poles on which the colors used to be, so that they attract no notice in action.”

—A New York Herald despatch from Panama gives the following report of affairs in Colombia: “The disturbed political situation continues, and is causing considerable excitement throughout the republic. Commercial interests are suffering greatly.” Both parties have hopes of settling the present critical condition without conflict, should the proper man be placed at the head of the government.

—Considerable excitement has been aroused in England over the epidemic of typhoid fever which has recently broken out in Maidstone, Kent County. There have been 1,300 cases of the fever in that town and vicinity, and about 50 deaths have occurred. The epidemic is spreading at the rate of 120 cases daily. Hospital accommodations have been found inadequate, and the school buildings have been turned into sick wards.

—The Spanish columns at Rosario, Havana province, were attacked on October 1 by the insurgents. After a desperate fight the Spanish were routed, and all connection on the Western Railway, joining Havana with Pinar del Rio, has been cut off. General Weyler has cabled to Madrid another promise to pacify Havana province. The volunteers threaten to throw down their arms if Weyler is recalled. The excitement against the United States is so intense in Havana that it is feared attacks upon the United States consulate and Americans will occur if Weyler is recalled.

—Señor Sagasta has accepted the position of premier of Spain, and selected his cabinet. General Correa will be minister of war, Señor Gullon, minister of foreign affairs, and Señor Moret, minister for the colonies. Señor Sagasta has announced a liberal policy for Cuba, which will amount to home rule under the suzerainty of Spain, and the recall of General Weyler. On the announcement of the change in the cabinet, General Weyler cabled the government, tendering his services, and stating that he would not resign. Through his influence and that of his immediate associates a great demonstration was made in Havana on October 6 by the loyal Spaniards protesting against Weyler’s recall. In a speech made by Weyler on that occasion he declared he should neither resign nor accept a recall. It is said that according to the laws of Spain he can not be compelled to obey the recall of the government. The queen regent, in appointing Señor Sagasta, expressed her dissatisfaction with the cruelties practised under the leadership of Canovas, both in Spain and Cuba.

DOMESTIC.

—General Neal Dow, the father of prohibition in the State of Maine, died at Portland on October 2. He was ninety-three years old.

—The Southern Pacific Railroad Company has closed its Gulf route to all freight traffic on account of the yellow fever quarantine.

—The lumbering town of Austin, Potter Co., N. Y., was nearly destroyed by fire on October 4. The amount of the loss is placed at over $165,000.

—Seven girls were burned to death at Plankinton, S. D., on October 6 by the burning of the girls’ dormitory of the State Industrial School at that place.

—The schooner Hueneme, of San Francisco, was wrecked on Unamak Island, Alaska, on September 7. Her crew was saved, but her entire cargo was lost.

—It is said that the bacilli of cholera can not resist the powerful citric acid of the lemon, and that one grain will destroy all the microbes in a quart of water.

—A tent in which the First-day Adventists were holding meetings near Pittsfield, Mass., was set on fire on September 7, and a considerable portion of it destroyed.

—The State Fish Commissioner of Washington reports that the Pacific Coast salmon catch for the present year will break all past records. The entire catch will amount to nearly 3,000,000 cases.

—Five bandits held up the Rock Island passenger train at a lonely siding near Chickasa, I. T., on October 1, robbed the passengers, crew, and the mail pouches, and escaped to the Wichita Mountains.

—Prof. Elmer Gates, of Washington, D. C., has invented a microscope, or an improvement on the microscope, by which the power of magnifying an object can be increased 300 times above what it is now.

—On September 30 two masked robbers held up and robbed three stages between Angels and Milton, Cal., killed two of the horses, and wounded two of the passengers, all inside of thirty-five minutes. They have not been apprehended.

—An express train was held up eight miles from Kansas City, Mo., on October 6 by a band of eight highwaymen. Their attempt to blow up the safes of the express company failed, the robbers securing only a few dollars from the trainmen.

—One hundred and thirteen naval officers and seamen passed through Omaha, Neb., on October 6 on a special train to join the United States cruiser Baltimore at San Francisco. The run is being made as a sort of test of the facilities of sending sailors across the continent.

—The government is rushing work on the harbor defenses of San Diego Bay, which will consist of heavy gun emplacements and additional submarine torpedoes, and these defenses are to be completed in half the time specified when the contracts for the work were signed.

—Four young women were drowned in Buttahatchie River, near Hamilton, Ala., on October 1. Their escorts, two young men, who caused the boat in which they were sailing to capsize by rocking it, saved their own lives, but have been compelled to leave town on account of the bitter feeling against them.

—The United States Commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 1900 has succeeded in securing the desired space for the American exhibits. The space set apart for the Americans was considerably smaller than that granted to the other big nations, and the commissioner had decided to withdraw from the exhibition.

—Certain Catholic leaders are making complaint to the public because Catholic authors are not recognized in the text-books of the country, and propose to establish a Catholic authors’ club in New York, and to boycott all text-books issued by non-Catholic publishers and authors “in which Catholic genius is ignored.”

—The wily Chinese coolies who desire to come to America in spite of the exclusion law, are shrewdly taking advantage of a treaty fifteen years old, by the provisions of which they are allowed to land. By that act they are simply required to make oath that they are either merchants or students, and have their certificates signed at the port of departure. It is believed that the act will be revised.

—The editor of the Interior declares that the Presbyterian Church is lagging behind other denominations in its progressive work, and attributes this to the “weights of austere and forbidding philosophies” that hamper it. He advises the different churches of the denomination to stop bickering over creed nonessentials, and suggests that a new, short creed be adopted.

—During the present year, 6,913 schoolchildren of the city of New York have been refused admission to the public schools on account of lack of room. In view of this certain officials of the city are negotiating with the superintendents of the parochial schools to bring about such an arrangement that the schoolchildren now denied a place in the public schools may be admitted to the parochial schools to receive instruction there under Catholic teachers.