SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 23, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 12.

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SECULAR.

—A general flood prevails on the upper Missouri River.

—Marian Harland is to edit a new illustrated magazine called the Home Maker.

—Negotiations are said to be in progress to settle the Alaskan boundary on the British line.

—Over 3,000 have signed the pledge in Jeffersonville, Ind., under Francis Murphy's labors.

—Sixteen persons were drowned off Bari, Italy, March 14, through the capsizing of a pleasure boat.

—Mormon elders are at work in Botetourt County, Virginia, and are very successful in making converts.

—Simon Cameron, at the age of ninety, is touring in Florida in company with the Duke of Newcastle.

—A dispatch from London dated March 15 states that a severe snow-storm and gale prevailed in Scotland.

—The funeral of Emperor William, of Germany, was held in Berlin the 16th inst., with imposing ceremonies.

—The ladies of Alleghany, Pa., are organizing a boycott against the stores which keep open Saturday evenings.

—March 14 the steamer Japan collided with and sunk the pilot-boat Starbuck and five men were drowned.

—Two fraudulent election judges, named Clark and Best, were sentenced in Baltimore, March 17, to two years in jail.

—The number of people killed on the railroads in this country the past year, is said to be 613; number injured, 1,806.

—Hundreds of horses are dying in New York and vicinity from disease induced by overfeeding and lack of exercise during the storm.

—New York proposes to present the city of Paris with a statue of Washington in return for the one of Lafayette given by France in 1876.

—The steamer City of Exeter was sunk in the Bristol Channel, the 12th inst. Number of lives lost not known. Only one seaman escaped.

—A tenement in New York burned the 13th and twenty families had to run for their lives, losing all they had, the building being entirely consumed.

—The Inman steamer, City of New York, was launched on the Clyde the 15th inst. She is the largest vessel in the world except the Great Eastern.

—The Baltimore Press recommends the licensing of locomotive engineers by Congress as a method to prevent accidents and a positive preventive of strikes.

—Two Mormon elders were tarred and feathered by the indignant inhabitants of Winchester, Ohio, the night of March 14, after which they were chased across the Ohio River.

—A fire occurred on West Water Street, Milwaukee, the 15th inst., which consumed property to the value of $425,000. Another in Philadelphia at the same time caused a loss of $340,000.

—It is reported that the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company has decided to supply large quantities of seed wheat on three years' credit, to farmers along its lines in Kansas.

—The Cattle Trust of Denver has just closed a contract with the French Government for 150,000 head of beef cattle annually for their army supplies. Shipments will begin as soon as possible.

—A passenger train and a freight train collided on a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, near Huntington, Mich., the 12th inst. Three sleeping cars were smashed to pieces, and four persons killed.

—A wedding party of sixteen persons returning from church at Neesatz, Hungary, March 14, started to cross the ice on the Danube in carriages and when half way across the ice gave way and the entire party was drowned.

—A fast mail train went through a trestle, seventy-five miles south of Savannah, Ga., March 17. The entire train was demolished except the engine, which remained on the track. The number killed is reported to be 23, and 34 injured.

—It is reported on good authority that there is a marriage engagement between the crown prince of Russia and the daughter of the German emperor. If true, this will strengthen the late appearances of friendship between the two courts.

—The marriage of Prince Oscar, of Sweden, to Miss Munck, a lady of private rank, was consummated at Stockholm the 14th inst. By taking this step the prince renounces all rights, prerogatives, and titles as a member of the royal family, and becomes a common citizen.

—The U. S. consul at Tangier, being now supported by the presence of a war-vessel, has demanded that the Sultan of Morocco afford satisfaction for his treatment of American citizens within two weeks. The representatives of other powers are urging the Sultan to accede to the demand.

—Thos. Nast, the famous caricaturist, was defendant in the San Francisco police court, March 12, on a civil complaint brought by his partner in his Northwestern tour which did not terminate financially to mutual satisfaction. The suit was dismissed for want of jurisdiction of the court.

—The Pope has sent a letter to Emperor Frederick in which he expresses deep sorrow at the death of the monarch, who had the kindliest feelings toward the Catholic Church, and thanks the present emperor for the peaceful tones of his proclamation, which prove that the son cherishes the sentiments of his father.

—Henry Bergh, celebrated as the founder and president of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, died in New York, March 12, at the age of sixty-five years. As a result of Mr. Bergh's work, similar societies have been organized in thirty-four States, and the anti-cruelty law has been adopted in thirty-seven. The work has also extended to Canada, Cuba, and South America.

—A conductor on a Mississippi railroad refused to permit Roderick Lowry, a nephew of Governor Lowry, to ride on the Governor's family pass, which resulted in a row, and also in exposing the fact that the Governor is guilty of a misdemeanor under the State laws. It appears that he holds passes on all the roads in the State, the penalties for which are severe. The railroads too are liable to a fine of $5,000.

—A storm struck the Atlantic States, March 11, and prevailed for two or three days, which exceeded in severity anything known in that region for many years. Business was almost entirely blockaded; telegraphic communication was cut off between many of the principal cities. In New York, all kinds of traffic was paralyzed. Many marine and railroad accidents were caused by the storm, and several persons were frozen to death in the snow.

—An organized gang of boy-burglars and thieves has been discovered in San Francisco, and several have been arrested and brought to court. They have a "den" stocked with a large supply of the literature usually found with such characters. Their leader bears the significant title, "Bob Terrier;" and a junk-dealer received their goods and paid them barely enough to buy cigarettes, novels, and the necessary food, keeping them through fear of the police from making any protests.

—Serious charges are made concerning the treatment of convicts employed in working a mine at Coal Hill, Arkansas. They are to the effect that the warden permits and encourages the most brutal fighting among convicts; that convicts have been whipped to death, or left at the post, to suffer for hours without attention. The details as given in the coroner's report, are shocking in the extreme. The warden fled while investigation was pending, and a reward is offered for his capture.

—The great strike of engineers and firemen which was inaugurated on the "Burlington" railroad still holds out and is extending to other lines throughout the West and Northwest. Business and communication are seriously interfered with. Efforts are being made to settle the matter in the courts, with but little prospect of success. Both sides are confident of final victory, but the odds so far appear to be in favor of the strikers. Meantime the whole country suffers, and the suffering is aggravated by each day's delay.