p. 526 | SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 33.

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SECULAR.

—The shortage of wheat in Great Britain is estimated at 60,000,000 bushels.

—Hogs recently killed and partially devoured a drunken man near Salinas, Cal.

—Tulare, Cal., was the scene of a very destructive fire on the night of the 16th inst.

—A large loan has been raised in France for the completion (?) of the Panama Canal.

—The triennial conclave of the Knights Templars will be held in St. Louis in September.

—Serious riots have recently occurred at Nagasaki, Japan, between the Chinese and Japanese.

—A deficit of $1,500,000 has been discovered at Havana, Cuba, in the funds in charge of the Public Debt Board.

—The population of the United States is estimated at over 60,000,000, and Russia is the only Aryan nation which now exceeds this country in population.

—It is stated that out of 4,600 men who last spring entered upon a strike on the Missouri Pacific system, less than 200 have ever been restored to their places.

—The loss by fire in the United States and Canada during July was $10,000,000, which is 20 per cent. greater than the average for the same month for twenty years.

—A recent London dispatch states that the attention of the Government is again necessarily directed to the Afghan frontier question. The situation is delicate, and may easily lead to war between Russia and Afghanistan, involving England.

—The convention of the Irish Nationalist League of America convened in Chicago on the 18th inst. About four thousand members were present.

—It is stated that of 7,000 persons inoculated for yellow fever by a Rio Janeiro physician only seven died of the disease, although the epidemic was of unusual intensity.

—News has been received at San Francisco of the capture, by the revenue cutter Thomas Corwin, of three British schooners which were engaged in seal-fishing in Behring Sea.

—Two thousand idle workmen sent a deputation to the Board of Guardians of Liverpool, July 22. The spokesman said that in fifty years he had never known distress to be so severe.

—A passenger steamer, plying on the river Volga, between Astrakhan and Saratov, the capital of the province of Saratov, in Russia, was burned on the 21st inst., and 200 lives were lost.

—A number of oleomargarine manufacturers in Chicago propose to test the constitutionality of the law recently passed taxing their business and compelling them to conduct it honestly.

—A woman has been arrested in Somerville, Mass., charged with having, at various times, fatally poisoned at least eleven persons, all her own relatives, the last victim being her son.

—At Havana, Cuba, August 16, 6,000 cigar makers struck for higher wages. Smokers, however, will continue to put in from ten to eighteen hours daily as usual, besides paying their own expenses.

—Affairs in Belfast, Ireland, are in a very unsettled condition. Mobs gather frequently, and indulge in acts of violence. Nine policemen have been arrested, charged with willful murder.

—A six-year-old Holstein cow, in Syracuse, N. Y., has during the past year given 26,000 pounds of milk, or about 70 pounds per day. The highest previous record was 23,775 pounds by a cow in Utica.

—The Knights of Labor of North America will hold a convention at Richmond, beginning October 4. The members of the convention will represent a constituency of 1,000,000 working men and women.

—It is said that the workingmen of New York will demand of the Legislature next winter a law legalizing boycotting; but the New York Mail advises them that a law will not do the business, but that they must first reorganize the State Constitution.

—A very disastrous storm swept over a part of Texas on the night of the 20th inst., doing immense damage to property. Buildings were wrecked, trains were blown from the track, bridges were washed away, and large sections of country inundated. Some lives were lost.

—The newly elected Parliament assembled in London on the 19th inst. The queen's speech, which contained only about two hundred words, was read. The only measures suggested were those which are necessary to the maintenance of the public service for the remainder of the financial year.

—An imbecile widow residing in Selles, France, was burned at the stake recently by her two sons, who had previously endeavored to obtain her admission into the mad-house. While the woman was suffering, her sons sprinkled holy water over her, and when arrested said that they had burned her because of religious motives.

—The new torpedo boat Nautilus, which made a successful trial trip recently in New York Bay, is a submarine vessel capable of being fully operated while completely submerged. The boat has attained a speed of nine miles, and remained under water half an hour. It is claimed that the success of this invention will revolutionize naval warfare.

—Telegrams from St. Petersburg state that the feeling in favor of an offensive and defensive alliance between Russia and France is rapidly growing. It is also believed that an understanding will be effected between Germany, Austria, England, and Italy, amounting practically to a coalition against Russia and France in the case of a breach of the European peace, which now seems probable.

—A large meeting of Anarchists was held in New York City, on the 20th inst. The purpose of the meeting was to denounce the conviction of the Chicago bomb-throwers. The speakers vied with one another in their denunciation of the trial, law, Government, police, press, and everything that did not suit them. Every mention of anarchy was cheered, as were also the threats against law and peace.

—Punched coins are thus valued by the Treasury Department: double eagle, $15; silver dollar, 75 cents; half dollar, 35 cents, quarter of a dollar, 18 cents; and dimes, 5 cents.

—It is stated that Dr. Gatling, the inventor of the Gatling gun, is in Washington, D. C. He will soon have ready a new form of his machine gun, specially devised for use by the police in large cities. The barrels of the gun are only twelve inches long; and the whole thing, when mounted on a police wagon, will not weigh more than 50 pounds. His idea is to have two or three of these guns mounted on a police wagon, which can be driven rapidly to the scene of a threatening riot. Each gun will fire at least 1,000 shots a minute.