SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 20, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 19.

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SECULAR.

—Cholera seems to be spreading in Italy.

—Cholera of the contagious type is reported in Naigai and Kobe, Japan.

—Terrific storms have recently visited France, doing a great deal of damage to property.

—Ex-alderman Jaehne, of Broadway Surface Railway notoriety, has been convicted of bribery.

—Geronimo and his band are still committing murders in Arizona Territory, and Sonora, Mexico.

—The Knights of Labor of Cleveland, Ohio, will petition Congress to impose a tax upon all foreign immigrants.

—The employés on the Pennsylvania Central Railroad are preparing to demand an advance of ten per cent. in wages.

—May 15 several large shoe factories in Stoneham, Mass., shut down for an indefinite period, owing to a strike of 200 cutters.

—A decree has been promulgated in Berlin and Potsdam, Germany, forbidding the holding of public meetings without the permission of the police authorities.

—Herr Most, the anarchist, was arrested in New York, May 11. In the house where the arrest was made were found a Winchester rifle, and books upon dynamite bombs and kindred topics.

—May 9, a mob made an attack on the Salvation Army meeting near Zurich, Switzerland, and demolished the building in which the meeting was being held. Several persons were injured.

—The steamer Acadia, of Baltimore, has been given up for lost. She sailed April 10 from Port Antonio, Jamaica, and has not been seen since. The passage is usually made in eight days.

—Many of the people in the north of Ireland are bitterly opposed to Home Rule, and declare that they will oppose by force of arms if necessary, what they regard as a virtual dismembering of the British Empire.

—May 14 the employés of one of the St. Louis sugar refineries struck, and in the afternoon assaulted and beat several men who had been employed to take their places. The police were compelled to interfere.

—At Alliance, Ohio, May 8, a woman was fatally poisoned by eating rhubarb leaves cooked for greens. Several others in the family were made dangerously ill. A similar case occurred some years since in Pennsylvania.

—Recent advices from Athens state that the minister of the interior in the late cabinet, and who favors submission to the wishes of the Powers, has agreed to form a new Ministry. He promised to disarm the Greek army.

—As an offset to the resolution of the Trades Unions declaring eight hours a day's labor, the wholesale clothing manufacturers of Chicago have resolved upon a general lockout which will throw 30,000 people out of employment.

—The strike of the sugar refiners in Brooklyn has ended. The strikers surrendered unconditionally and have asked for work. What the men struck for practically was the recognition of the right of their union to dictate terms, and they have failed.

—An attempt was made May 10 to assassinate President Roca, of the Republic of Buenos Ayres. The attempt was nearly successful, the president being struck a heavy blow on the head and rendered insensible for a time. His assailant escaped.

—General Master Workman Powderly of the Knights of Labor, acting under the authority vested in him by the general executive board, has issued a call to the various assemblies of the order for a special session of the general assembly, to be held in Cleveland, O., on Tuesday, May 25.

—The New York World of May 14 says: "Anarchist Most's speech in Germania Hall, on April 22, in which he advocated the forming of a Socialistic rifle corps and carrying muskets which were to be had for ten dollars apiece, is already bearing fruit." Three such companies have been formed and meet at stated times to drill.

—An accident near Conemaugh Station, Pa., May 11, resulted in the death of three men and obstructed the tracks for twelve hours. The accident was occasioned by the wind blowing a number of empty cars from a side track onto the main tracks where they were run into by a freight train running at the rate of thirty miles per hour.

—The California Prohibitionists met in State convention at Sacramento, May 12, and adopted resolutions denouncing the old parties as servile tools of the liquor interest, and demanding National and State prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. A resolution favoring a strict Sunday law was introduced but was not adopted.

—The Canadian Government has recently seized two vessels owned in the United States, for alleged violation of the fishing laws. One of the vessels was subsequently released, but the other is still held. It is probable that the whole fishing question, which has always been a bone of contention between this country and Great Britain, will thus be re-opened.

—The London Standard of May 1, in a leading editorial, says: "South Australia, yesterday, successfully raised another large loan in London, and now stands beside its rivals, Queensland and New Zealand. These three colonies are the most debt-ridden of all the Australian group. Their public burdens have attained an amount of between £50 and £60 per head. Everything they possess is in some degree mortgaged. Hardly a steamer leaves New Zealand without carrying away men who have failed to discover any means of earning their bread."

—Advices from Corea say that Mr. Denny, the newly appointed adviser to the Corean Government, has arrived at Seoul from Tientsin. His salary is said to be 1,000 taels per month, a certain portion of which is believed to be provided by the Chinese Government. Great distress still prevails among the poor Corean people, and even within Seoul itself over 500 are said to have died for want of food.

—May 14 cyclones visited parts of Ohio, Kansas, and Michigan. At Forest, Ohio, "the air was filled with balls of fire, which exploded with a loud, snapping sound. There are known to be five persons killed and a number injured." "A great number of people are without homes, and the sight along the track of the storm is terrible. Some farms are made almost worthless." The loss is estimated at $400,000. Reports from Carey, Ohio, state that five persons were killed and thirteen wounded at that place. At Topeka, Kan., a large number of buildings were destroyed and eighteen or twenty persons injured. The damage in Michigan, so far as reported, is confined to farm property, and no one was seriously injured.

—May 11 an exceedingly violent storm swept over portions of Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana, doing immense damage to property and destroying more than a score of lives. At Kansas City, Mo., several buildings were blown down, among them one of the city school buildings, and twelve or fourteen pupils were killed and others injured. An overall factory and the court-house were also wrecked and a number of persons killed. A similar storm visited that city four years ago. On the night of May 12 a still more destructive storm swept over Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, doing untold damage to property and destroying many lives. At Xenia, Ohio, over thirty persons were drowned by the rushing waters, and fully $100,000 worth of property was swept away. The damage to property is heavy and general throughout the storm-swept territory, and some loss of life is reported from several places. A heavy storm at Madrid, Spain, caused the death of twenty-eight persons in the city and suburbs, and damaged property to the amount of over a million and a quarter of dollars. England too has been visited with exceedingly heavy rains and considerable property has been damaged.