SECULAR by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 3, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 21.

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SECULAR.

By Editor

—A new Mahdi has appeared in the Soudan.

—Small-pox has again made its appearance in Montreal.

—Dio Lewis left instructions that his body should be cremated.

—Forest fires are doing great damage in Clare County, Michigan.

—Boycotting has been declared a criminal act by the Connecticut courts.

—A tornado visited Welsar, Prussia, May 25, doing considerable damage to property.

—The admission of Dakota at this session of Congress, is now regarded as improbable.

—The Greek and Turkish armies are both retiring from the scene of their recent engagements on the frontier.

—May 24 a fire in San Francisco destroyed property to the amount of $75,000. The fire robbed sixty families of shelter and clothing.

—A large bakery at Vallejo, Cal., was destroyed by fire at 2:30 o'clock, A. M., May 27. Two bakers lost their lives in the building. The money loss is $30,000.

—Herr Most and two of his associates have been found guilty of misdemeanor for inciting riot in New York. The maximum penalty is one year's imprisonment.

—A dispatch from Venice, dated May 29, says: "During the last twenty-four hours there have been thirty-three new cases of cholera and thirty-one deaths in this city."

—Says a daily paper: "The steam laundry at Red Bluff has suspended operations owing to the lack of patronage." Chinamen, it seems, have not yet lost their grip on the laundry business in California.

—Professor Leopold Van Ranke, the noted German historian, died at Berlin, May 23. He celebrated his ninety-first birthday some time ago, but continued active literary labor until his death.

—The women of the Salvation Army in Bristol, Conn., have armed themselves with cayenne pepper, to throw into the faces of the ruffians who are accustomed to annoy them in their street parades.

—The Chicago Grand Jury has returned twenty-two indictments, thirteen of which are known to be against Anarchists, seven of them charging murder. The indictments have not yet been made public.

—South Carolina has been visited recently by most disastrous freshets. Thousands of acres of the best lands planted in corn and cotton were flooded, and immense damage was done. The railroads also suffered greatly.

—May 29 a Spanish revenue cutter fired upon and seized three trading boats in English waters near Gibraltar. The cutter was in turn fired upon from the rock, and was finally captured by an English armed launch.

—A dispatch from Catania, Italy, May 25, says: "The eruptions of Mount Etna have greatly increased, and the destruction of the town of Nicolosi now seems inevitable. The entire district is enveloped in darkness, and showers of stones are continually falling."

—Recent investigations in Chicago have revealed the fact that Anarchists and Socialists had formed a plot to fire the city in different places and then to blow up all the police stations and police squads with dynamite bombs. The prompt action of the police in the Haymarket riot disarranged the plans. A great many bombs charged with the most powerful explosives have been found hidden under sidewalks in different parts of the city.

—May 26 seventy-six boiler-makers employed by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, went out on a strike because the company would not discharge some non-union men employed in another department of the works. It is said that the strikers will not be re-employed.

—Two distinct shocks of an earthquake were felt in San Francisco May 25; and on the 26th there were three shocks. The greater part of the people, however, became aware of the fact only by reading the newspapers. Light shocks are also reported at some other points in the State.

—The House Judiciary Committee will report the following proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States: "Article 16—The marriage relation, by contract or in fact, by one person of either sex with more than one person of the other sex, shall be deemed polygamy. Neither polygamy nor any polygamous association or cohabitation between the sexes shall exist or be lawful in any place within the jurisdiction of the United States or any of the States."

—May 25 Toronto, Canada, was under mob rule for over three hours. The Knights of Labor had declared a boycott against a street-car line and had put on a line of stages to accommodate all who did not wish to patronize the cars. On the arrival of the omnibuses a procession was formed in honor of the event, but it soon became a howling mob which attacked and wrecked between thirty and forty street-cars, and injured many of the drivers, conductors, and passengers.

—General Miles has recently inaugurated what promises to be a sufficiently vigorous Apache policy. He has enlisted a company of Mexicans and also one of white men, and started them in pursuit of the hostiles. A report from Wilcox, A. T., says: "In addition to their pay the General has offered a reward of $50 for each Indian, or head of an Indian, brought in here and $2,000 for Geronimo or his head, which has excited great enthusiasm among the volunteers. The hostiles have never been so hard pressed before, not having had a moment's rest for the past three weeks, and are worn out, as is evident by their slow movements, and by the few murders and depredations they have committed during their retreat from Gayco. The outlook for a speedy settlement of the war is most encouraging, and the people have never before felt so hopeful."