SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 22, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 28.

SECULAR.

—A rebellion has broken out in Northern Mexico.

—Admiral Worden of the United States Navy died at Newport, R. I., July 11.

—The business failures in the United States and Canada for the seven days ending July 16, were 183, against 179 the preceding week.

—The trial of the bomb-throwers is now in progress at Chicago, and very damaging evidence is being produced against the accused.

—The smallpox epidemic at Santiago, Chili, is becoming worse every day, and the disease proves fatal to 60 or 70 per cent. of the persons attacked.

—Notwithstanding their defeat at the polls, the leaders of the Irish Home Rule party are not discouraged, and express themselves as feeling confident of ultimate success.

—There has been no rain in Colorado for the past three months, and in consequence the rivers are drying up, and crops and stock, as well as families, are suffering for water.

—A California paper complains that because hay is now worth only eleven dollars per ton in San Francisco, farmers have a profit of only one dollar per ton, or two dollars per acre.

—A strike on some of the San Francisco street-car lines resulted, July 15, in a riot during which cars were overturned, windows broken, and men knocked down. Several arrests have been made.

—The Riverside, Cal., Press says: "Closing the saloons has nearly ruined the business of Judge Noland's court. No drink, no drunks; no drunkenness, no fines. Where are we drifting?"

—July 17 the Canada Gazette published a proclamation granting amnesty to all persons connected with the Riel rebellion, except those who committed homicide otherwise than in actual conflict.

—The St. Louis Grand Jury has closed its investigation of the charges against members of the House of Delegates, and has returned indictments for bribery and drunkenness against six of them.

—Belfast, Ireland, was the scene of serious rioting on the night of the 13th inst. Two civilians and one officer were killed, and quite a number of persons were severely wounded. Orangemen were the aggressors.

—A recent London dispatch says: "An extradition treaty between England and the United States has been signed. In addition to the customary clauses, the treaty provides for the surrender of dynamite miscreants."

—The twelfth juror in the Chicago anarchists' trial was obtained on the 15th inst., and accepted by both sides. Nearly one thousand persons were examined and twenty-two full court sessions held to achieve this result.

—The cholera report in Italy for one day, July 16, is as follows: Brindisi, 75 new cases, 44 deaths; Fontana, 37 new cases, 19 deaths; Latiano, 16 new cases, 7 deaths; Codigore, 7 new cases, 2 deaths; Venice, 1 new case, 1 death.

—Heavy and continued rains throughout North Carolina have caused the greatest floods since 1867. The farmers on Cape Fear River have lost all their crops, and many have been forced to leave their homes on account of the flood.

—The French Government has ordered 60,000 repeating rifles to be distributed among the troops before August. This action is attributed to the conduct of Germany in arming her battalions in Alsace-Lorraine with similar weapons.

—Probably the most peculiar case of drowning on record occurred a few days since near Carondelet, Mo. A young man in attempting to drown a large dog was himself thrown down a precipice into the river and drowned, while the dog escaped.

—July 16, Central California was visited by a thunderstorm, something which is very unusual in this State, especially in the summer season. Some grain was burned, several cattle were killed, and a few buildings damaged by lightning. The rainfall was not great.

—The canning business has become the most important industry in Maryland. Over fifty-six thousand hands are employed in canning fruits and oysters. The largest corn-packing establishment in the world is said to be in Fredericksburg, with a capacity of 75,000 cans per day.

—It seems that the wreck of the steamship Ly-ee-moon, which occurred off Green Cape, Australia, May 30, was due to the most criminal negligence of the officer in charge. Out of eighty-six persons aboard of the vessel, only fifteen were saved. The captain will be tried on the charge of manslaughter.

—A eucalyptus tree 106 feet high was cut down recently in Santa Rosa, Cal. It had moved a house beside which it grew, two inches from its foundation, and had raised one corner of it an inch. The eucalyptus is an Australian tree, introduced into California since its settlement by Americans.

—Typhoid fever of a peculiar and virulent type has broken out in Waterford, Wisconsin. Forty persons have been stricken with the disease in its worst form, while many others are suffering from a milder form of the malady. There have been several deaths; the people are terror-stricken, and many are leaving the town.

—Recent telegrams from Paris report increasing uneasiness in diplomatic circles at the movements of the French Ministry of War, which, it is feared, will stir up serious complications with Germany. The activity of the War Department is incomprehensible, unless something more important than the French expedition to the East is on foot.

—A few days since while an iron dealer in St. Petersburg was unloading a wagon filled with old artillery material, which had been purchased from the Government, a nine-inch shell, supposed to have been improperly unloaded, exploded among a group of workmen and others. Sixteen persons, including four children, were killed and several others injured.

—While four men were being lowered to the bottom of a one hundred and twenty foot shaft, in New York, a few days since, a gasoline lamp which they had with them exploded. This so terrified the men that they jumped out of the bucket when still eighty feet from the bottom of the shaft. All were severely burned, besides receiving serious and probably fatal injuries from the fall.

—It seems that the Jesuits are not wanted in Peru. At a meeting held in the public square at Callao on the 11th inst., it was resolved to petition the Government to take immediate steps for their expulsion from the country. We suppose that if they are expelled from Peru they can find an asylum in this country, as many thousands have already done. They are about as desirable as Socialists and Anarchists.

—One of the most remarkable accidents ever recorded is thus related by the Nogales, Arizona, Frontier: "Of all the chapters of the curiosities of accidents, the fatal wounding of Manuel Varra, a Mexican, near Buena Vista, last Tuesday, takes first rank. He, with a party of about twelve others, who were out hunting Indians, dismounted, and neglected to take their guns from their saddles. His horse in rubbing against a tree threw a shell in the barrel of the gun, and then, rubbing again, discharged it, the ball taking effect in the unfortunate man's abdomen."

—The Postmaster-General has, in compliance with petitions signed by large numbers of business men in numerous cities, amended the postal regulations so as to permit the transmission through the mails within the United States and Territories, of liquids not liable to explosion or spontaneous combustion or ignition by shock or jar and not inflammable—soft soap, pastes, confections, ointments, salves, and articles of similar consistency—under certain conditions insuring safety to other mail matter in transmission.

—It is now positively stated that "Lord Salisbury has made overtures to Lord Hartington for the formation of a coalition Ministry, whose programme shall include a local government bill for Ireland, Scotland, and England; a laborer's allotment bill, empowering rural laborers to acquire small holdings; the reform and extension of the Artisans' Dwellings Act, including dwellings for farm laborers; a measure for the cheaper transfer of land, and the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the administration of the Government of India, with a view of giving the natives increased local control."