p. 526 | SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 25, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 33.

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SECULAR.

—Prof. O. S. Fowler, the famous phrenologist, is dead.

—A terrific hail-storm did considerable damage at Atchison, Kan., August 20.

—The Chicago canned fruit trade is overwhelmed with orders that cannot be filled.

—On June 30 the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, was almost destroyed by earthquake shocks.

—One person was killed and several injured by a railroad accident near Alliance, O., August 18.

—It is expected that over five thousand doctors will attend the Medical Congress at Washington.

—Three men were drowned at Cincinnati, August 17, while trying to cross the Ohio River in a skiff.

—A slight shock of earthquake was felt in Oakland and San Francisco early on the morning of the 17th.

—A young Catholic priest has recently rediscovered the art of making Greek fire, which was lost about the year 1250.

—Not long since a fire destroyed the town of Sassawa in Galicia. Fifteen bodies have been recovered from the ruins.

—The settlers in the vicinity of Parkfield, Monterey Co., Cal., have discovered large petroleum wells in that district.

—An estimation of the population of China based upon official data, puts it at 382,000,000 as against 415,000,000 in 1842.

—The city of Bordeaux, France, was visited on the 16th inst. by a hurricane which destroyed a great amount of property.

—Medical returns show that 70,000 persons have died of cholera in the northwest provinces of India during June and July.

—Over one thousand lives have been lost and enormous injury done to crops by a freshet in the Menchow River in China.

—It is stated that 150 or more members of the British House of Commons are directly or indirectly connected with the liquor traffic.

—From January to June of this year there were 10,336 deaths from cholera in Chili, and the Government spent $1,000,000 in fighting the pest.

—The large Inman steamer City of Montreal was burned at sea last week and thirteen persons are reported missing. The steamer was worth $500,000.

—Crop reports in London say that the yield of wheat in Great Britain will be above the average, and in France and Italy a decided increase over last year.

—A terrible cyclone passed over the town of Calabasas, A. T., August 17, which damaged a number of houses. One child was killed and several persons injured.

—An earthquake shock which passed over New Mexico on the 12th inst. did considerable damage to the Mexican village of La Joya, twenty miles north of Socorro, N. M.

—An attempt was made at St. Louis on the night of the 17th inst. to wreck an outgoing passenger train on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, by driving two coupling-pins into the frog.

—A fire at Scutari, Turkey, August 15, destroyed about one thousand houses and two churches. Two women and a child were burned to death. Hundreds of people are homeless.

—Last month 27,844 immigrants arrived at Castle Garden, a greater number than any previous month, with a single exception. Since January 1 the arrivals have aggregated 240,499.

—The British Government has made arrangements with the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company by which the latter will have ten steamers ready for use as armed cruisers.

—The ancient and famous city of Damascus, which was a place of importance 1900 B. C., is busy with plans for laying railroad lines through the streets. The place has 120,000 inhabitants.

—The Rev. Dr. William H. Hall, who has been chaplain for six years at San Quentin Prison, speaking on convicts, in San Francisco, a few days since, said, "The saddest fact, though, is the growing taste for crime among boys."

—The Labrador fisheries are almost a total failure. The outlook for the coming year is consequently worse than it was last year. It is said that nothing but the transportation to the United States or Canada, or subsistence at the entire cost of the Government, will save the population of Labrador from starving to death.

—During a sham battle at Enfield, Ill., August 19, a cannon was discharged prematurely, killing one man and wounding four.

—The citizens of Tucson, A. T., are anticipating trouble from the Apaches of the San Carlos Reservation. The Indians who committed the last depredations are in jail at San Carlos, and the others on the reserve are evidently contemplating a rescue.

—The Ameer of Afghanistan was lately afflicted by a boil on his arm. The court physician at Cabul applied an ointment which no doubt would have been highly efficacious in its ultimate results, but at first it considerably aggravated the Ameer's anguish, causing him to order the instant execution of his medical adviser, who was forthwith beheaded.