SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 25, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 45.

SECULAR.

—Cholera has appeared at Buenos Ayres.

—A man was frozen to death in Colorado on the 14th inst.

—It is said that the ex-Empress Carlotta has lost her Flemish cook and is haunted with a constant fear of being poisoned.

—Ex-President Arthur died at his home in New York City on the 19th inst. The immediate cause of his death was cerebral apoplexy.

—A Chinese steamer was burned recently off Niigata, and all on board, ninety-six persons, perished. The officers were Englishmen.

—It is proposed to construct a submarine railway tunnel under the St. Clair River, to connect Port Huron, Michigan, with Sarnia, Canada.

—Late advices from Ireland state that the Tory statesmen will have either to face coercion or home rule. Apparently they are preparing for the former.

—The consumption of ardent spirits in Belgium has nearly doubled in fourteen years. There is a place for the sale of intoxicating liquors to every forty-four inhabitants.

—The French, in their thirst for conquest, have considerably overreached themselves in the Tonquin affair. The expenses of the country exceed its revenues by 30,000,000 francs.

—The treasury of the city of New Orleans is empty. The Mayor says that he will recommend the suspension of the city officers for December, at least so far as pay is concerned.

—Advices have been received at London to the effect that a ship, crowded with native laborers returning from Queensland plantations, foundered in the Pacific Ocean, and that 140 lives were lost.

—There is a movement among the cotton planters of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, to organize a great company to control the products of their plantations and to protect them against monopolies.

—A disease somewhat resembling rabies has caused the death of quite a number of cattle in the Blue River Valley, Nebraska. Cattle men are greatly alarmed and fear the loss of a large number of animals.

—It is stated that the Chief of Police of Washington, D. C., is to be discharged for establishing an espionage over members of Congress who visited disreputable houses. The average congressman can't bear to be watched.

—November 16, a stage coach containing nine persons was carried over a precipice 200 feet high, by a snow slide, fifteen miles east of Aspen, Col. Four of the party were unhurt. The others were seriously, if not fatally, injured.

—A heavy snow-storm in Nebraska and Iowa on the 16th and 17th inst. interfered seriously with railroad traffic. Numerous trains were snow-bound for hours, and passengers suffered considerable inconvenience and discomfort.

—November 18 and 19, the most disastrous storm ever known in that region, raged over Lakes Superior and Michigan. Thirty-nine lives are known to have been lost. Quite a number of vessels were wrecked; the loss is estimated at over $600,000.

—According to the report of the commissioner of pensions, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, there were in the United States 365,783 pensioners. Of these, 1,539 were survivors of the war of 1812, and 13,397 were widows of those who served in that war.

—The Czar has nominated, with the approval of the Powers, a colonel in the Russian army as a candidate for the Bulgarian throne. This colonel is Nicholas of Mingrelia, a prince who has never reigned, or been more than an obscure henchman of the Czar.

—Last week a young lady died in Chicago of hydrophobia. Twenty-seven days before, she was attacked and bitten in eighteen different places by a large Newfoundland dog. The physicians who were called, said the dog was not mad and no danger was apprehended.

—November 15, 10,000 of the ex-strikers at the Chicago stock yards and packing houses returned to work. Each man who was re-employed was required to sign an agreement that he would not leave his work without giving two weeks' notice of his intention. The forfeit is $50, which amount each man is required to deposit from his wages. The packers likewise agree not to discharge a hand without a like notice. There is much dissatisfaction among the men, and another strike is feared.

—Idaho has 15,000,000 acres of arable lands fit by nature for cultivation; 12,000,000 acres more which may be made productive through irrigation; 6,000,000 acres of natural pasture and grazing land; 18,000,000 acres of timber and mining land, and 400,000,000 acres of volcanic and desert land.

—A man died a few days since in Baltimore of paralysis, superinduced by a fracture of the third cervical vertebra, received eight months before, much of which time the injured man was able to work. This is the first case upon record of a man living for any considerable time with a broken neck.

—During a tornado, in the Mohawk Valley, New York, November 19, six employes in a vitriol factory near Troy, were fatally injured. Three of them were shockingly burned by vitriol that was spilled on them from a tank on the second floor, and the others, though not so severely burned, were struck by falling timbers.

—A terrible railroad accident occurred recently near Sisterton, France. It appears that about 300,000 cubic meters of rocky earth fell from Mont Gerves, overwhelming the train. One first-class carriage was crushed to atoms, and the engine was overturned. Six persons were instantly killed, and some have since died.

—On the 18th inst., the Grand Jury at Sioux City, Iowa, returned indictments against the ten persons who were present at the murder of Rev. Geo. H. Haddock in that city some weeks ago. Two of the indicted men claim that it was John Arensdorf, a prominent brewer, that fired the fatal shot. They will probably be allowed to turn State's evidence.

—The Northern Pacific Railroad has been enjoined from interfering with the Postal Telegraph lines placed alongside the railroad track. The Court holds that the Postal Telegraph Company, having complied with the Act of Congress, and having accepted its conditions and restrictions, is entitled to use the railroad's right of way for the construction of its telegraph line.

—There is a scheme on foot among a number of persons in this country, headed by Editor Cutting, to invade and conquer the three northwestern States of Mexico, and found a "Socialistic Republic." The United States could probably furnish Socialists enough to colonize these three States, besides throwing in enough Anarchists to make the thing really interesting.