SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 17, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 7.

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SECULAR.

—Lord Stanley will succeed Lord Lansdowne as governor of Canada in May.

—Severe fighting is reported in Soudan between the dervishes and Abyssinians.

—O. K. Hopkins, a nephew of Mark Hopkins, died of small-pox, at Oakland, Feb. 7.

—Reports of extreme cold weather in Minnesota and the North continue to reach this coast.

—Exports from New York for the week ending Feburary 6 were $6,086,000, exclusive of specie.

—It is reported that the King of Abyssinia is making overtures to Italy for peace negotiations.

—Advices from China say that nearly 2,000,000 persons are utterly destitute through the Hoang-Ho floods.

—Seven negroes and six whites were castigated at the public whipping-post in New Castle, Del., February 11.

—The Austrian Minister of Commerce asks for an appropriation of 1,280,000 marcs for the construction of State railways.

—Information has been received that Russia and France have concluded a treaty similar to that between Germany and Austria.

—The death sentence was passed upon seven men by Judge Parker the 10th inst. at Fort Smith, Ark. The execution will occur April 27.

—The U. S. Treasury Department has decided that coins worn smooth by natural abrasion are not “mutilated coin” and are redeemable.

—The Lick observatory on Mount Hamilton, Cal., has inaugurated its history by the discovery of a new star in the constellation Orion.

—The Lusk Canning Works at Oakland, Cal., produced last year 1,000 car loads of canned fruits, which would form a train seven miles in length.

—Congress is asked to make appropriations for the protection of shipping on the coast of California and Oregon by the construction of mooring places.

—The Sugar Trust, lately formed, is making itself still more odious by a merciless oppression of producers, and yet advancing prices of the refined product.

—Mr. Wassalls, a Methodist clergyman, was dismissed from his charge in Mendon, Mass., for being a tobacco-smoker, a fact which he unsuccessfully tried to conceal.

—To retaliate for the Austrian refusal to participate in the French art exhibition, France now “returns the compliment” by refusing an invitation from the Austrian exhibition.

—The erection of the Beecher statue is assured; the required sum of $35,000 being nearly all obtained.

—The International Council of Women will meet in Washington, March 25, in the interests of the Woman’s Suffrage movement. Representatives from the old countries will be present.

—The Board of Regents have chosen Horace Davis, of San Francisco, for the position of president of the California State University. Mr. Davis is a nephew of the historian, George Bancroft.

—Great avalanches have recently occurred on the Alps, causing destruction of life and property. A station and mail train were engulfed by one of them, and 2,000 men are employed in digging them out.

—Dakota authorities claim that the loss of life in that territory by the late blizzard has been exaggerated. The Railroad Commissioner at Fort Smith claims that 114 is the authentic number thus losing their lives.

—The Dupont Powder Mills, near Wilkesbarre, Penn., exploded on the 9th inst. with a force which was felt for forty miles around. Four men were killed and forty wounded, of whom fourteen will probably die.

—Experiments made in France in “deep sea” photography have been successful. With a camera and the electric incandescent light, it is said to be possible to photograph sunken ships, and make more simple the diver’s perilous work.

—It is stated that a large corporation with a capital of $10,000,000 will compete with the Standard Oil Company. They will build a pipe line from the oil fields to Toledo, and they claim to possess the patent on a new refining process which will give them superior advantages.

—The case of the Crown Prince of Germany still hangs in doubt. The obstruction in his throat became such as to necessitate the operation of tracheotomy, which was performed the 9th inst. The physicians speak hopefully, but grave fears are generally entertained as to the result.

—Michigan Commissioners of Labor certify that 43,079 of the 90,803 farms in that State are carrying mortgages to the amount of from 55 to 60 per cent. of their assessed valuation, and that the annual interest thus required to be met is more than twice as much as all the taxes paid upon said property.

—Miss Etta Shattock, one of the Nebraska schoolteachers who suffered so severely for her scholars, after losing both lower limbs, died on the 6th inst. The next day Miss Royce, who lay all night in the storm endeavoring in vain to save the lives of three pupils, suffered the amputation of both feet. The Omaha Bee has raised a fund of about $4,000 for each of these heroines.

—The U. S. Senate Committee on Education will report favorably a bill providing for the appointment of a commission of five to investigate the liquor traffic in its relations to general economy, its moral, criminal, and scientific aspects, and its relation to health, pauperism, social vice, and the general welfare; and also to consider the results of license and prohibitory legislation.

—Following close upon the collapse and swindle of the Fidelity Bank, comes another, also in Cincinnati. The Metropolitan Bank closed its doors the 6th inst. The principal officers were placed under arrest, and the affairs of the bank passed into the hands of Government officials. It is not known that the officers are guilty of any criminal dealings. The president, William Means, is a prominent business man, quite wealthy, and was once mayor of the city.

—A bomb has been thrown into the atheistical camp of the anarchists, in the shape of a spiritualistic communication from the spirit of Spies, one of the five executed in Chicago. Spies was an atheist, but his experience in the spirit-world has converted him. His earthly associates are, many of them, extremely skeptical, and indignantly repel this attempt to lead them into Spiritualism. They are not far apart, however, and under one common leadership the Satanic coalition will easily be brought about.

—Prince Bismarck delivered his anticipated speech before the German Reichstag on the 6th inst. The tone was very pacific. He professes great faith in the peaceful intentions of the Russian Czar, and states that since France has elected a peace-loving president there is no probability of war in that direction. Russia’s warlike movements he construed to be simply preparations for emergencies which may arise in the Eastern question. “Russia,” he says, “has no interest to conquer Prussian or Austrian provinces.” Emperor William has complimented the speech; the Czar has shown himself especially friendly to the German and Austrian embassadors at a court ball. And thus for a moment the skies appear calm while the winds of strife are restrained by an unseen power. Let Europe take a long breath, to-morrow trouble will be brewing.

—A serious accident occurred on the Ninth Street cable line, Kansas City, the 8th inst. A well-loaded train was going up the steep incline near the Union depot at an angle of 35 degrees, when the grip broke and the cars dashed rapidly to the foot. Here was a waiting-room on a trestle 20 feet high, which was crowded with passengers, and a loaded train ready to start. The descending cars struck this train with a terrible crash. A panic was created and the crowd rushed down the stairways leading to the street. Thus the number injured was greatly increased. One man was killed, three or four fatally hurt, and nearly one hundred less seriously injured.