SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 21, 1886

SECULAR.

—Philadelphia had a million-dollar fire on the morning of January 10.

—Amatitlan, Guatemala, was vigorously shaken up by an earthquake, December 18.

—A spinning mill at Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, burned down January 8, and fifteen persons perished in the flames.

—A destructive flood in the Balkans is reported. Several villages have been totally destroyed, and many lives have been lost.

—Thirteen men were entombed by an explosion in a coal mine at Almy, Wyoming Territory, January 12. The bodies of six of the victims have been recovered.

—Belgian manufacturers and agriculturists are taking measures to secure an increase of duties on foreign imports, as a means of protection against foreign competition.

—A telegram states that a train conveying a military company was completely wrecked at Valdivia, Chili, recently, and thirty soldiers, including eleven officers, were killed.

—The Pennsylvania Coal Company has announced the suspension, for an indefinite time, of nine of its collieries. This will throw fifteen hundred men out of employment.

—A destructive fire occurred in Montreal, January 13. The loss is estimated at $500,000. The buildings destroyed were owned by the Hotel Dieu nuns, and were insured.

—At Woolwich, England, the electric light has been successfully applied to photographing the interior of cannons. Such pictures are expected to reveal the presence of flaws.

—A dispatch from Paris states that six hundred convicts at Riom have revolted, and secured possession of the prison. They have erected barricades, and prepared for defensive operations. Troops have been ordered to Riom.

—It is stated that never in the history of the West have so many persons perished from cold as in the recent storm. A dispatch from Topeka, Kan., reports the finding of twenty-four dead bodies. There were deaths from freezing in South Carolina and Virginia also.

—The Powers have demanded that Greece, Servia, and Bulgaria demobilize their armies. Turkey is willing to disarm if Greece and Servia will first do so. Greece protests against disarming, unless she is guaranteed an extension of territory as an offset to the union of Bulgaria and Roumelia.

—Representatives of the German Government have taken possession of the Island of Samoa in the Pacific Ocean, and run up the German flag in place of that of Samoa. Prince Bismarck affirms that Germany does not intend to annex the islands, nor to permanently interfere with their Government.

—During the year ending October 31, 1885, 75,042 persons were brought before the police courts of New York City. This is a number equal to the population of a fair-sized city, and more than twice as large as the population of Wyoming Territory. Nearly half of these are under thirty years of age, and about 9,000 are mere boys.

—During the recent extremely cold weather, the oranges remaining on the trees in Florida were frozen. The loss is estimated at $1,000,000. The loss in the vegetable crop also is immense. It is believed that the mature orange trees are not seriously injured anywhere in the State; but many of the young trees were killed, as were also the lemon trees in Northern Florida.

—The cigar-makers of New York commenced a strike to resist a proposed decrease in their wages. Their plan was for a thousand men to strike at a time, until all the manufacturers had accepted their terms. The manufacturers promptly retaliated; and it is stated that on the 20th inst. a great lock-out will take place, and seven thousand men will be thrown out of employment. It is believed that by February there will be eleven thousand cigar-makers out of work in the city.

—Lord Carnarvon, who went to Dublin to make an effort to govern Ireland by ordinary law, has resigned his office, and returned to England. The Parnellites say that this means coercion in its most stringent form. It is generally agreed that the condition of Ireland was never more alarming than at the present time. The Irish National League has organized a combination over a large part of the country to resist the payment of judicial rents. The landlords also are organizing.

—By the death of Mrs. Julia Newberry, the city of Chicago comes into possession of $2,500,000, willed to the city by her husband, Mr. Walter N. Newberry, for the establishment and support of a free public library. This is the largest donation for a free library ever made in this or any other country. By the terms of the will, the new institution is to be strictly a library.

—Five political prisoners, while on their way to San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in charge of a body of troops, were taken from the soldiers by a mob, and shot. They were the leaders in an attack on the Federal troops in a recent revolution in Nuevo Leon; and it is believed that the killing of the prisoners in this way was planned by the Government officials in a thoroughly Mexican style.