SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 7, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 1.

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SECULAR.

—December 28 an earthquake-shock was felt in England.

—Snow-slides are causing trouble on the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

—The Russian Budget for 1889 shows a surplus income of 2,000,000 roubles.

—Several shocks of earthquake were felt in Southern Spain on the 27th ult.

—December 27 the town of Audubon, D. T., was nearly wiped out of existence by fire.

—Steps are being taken to develop the oil field known to exist near Gallup, New Mexico.

—Trains on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad are successfully heated by steam from the engines.

—During his recent visit to Victoria, B. C., the evangelist Moody established a coffee-house in that city for sailors.

—The entire business portion of Marblehead, Mass., was burned on the 26th ult. The loss is estimated at $750,000.

—Thread from nettle fiber is now spun so fine that it requires sixty miles of it to weigh two and one-half pounds. Nettle fiber is also extensively used in making ropes.

—The official journal of the French Government announces an increase in the army of 15,000 foot chasseurs, by the addition of two companies to each thirty battalions.

—The Hebrews who entered Utah with Johnson's army in 1868 have built a commodious synagogue in Salt Lake.

—A sister of Lord Dunallarey was thrown from her saddle and dragged to death while hunting in Ireland on the 28th ult.

—Bauereisen, the Burlington and Quincy dynamiter, has been found guilty and sentenced to two years in the penitentiary.

—On the 28th ult. a shell burst in a powder magazine at Messina, Sicily, killing twenty-two soldiers and injuring many others.

—A young man who entered a burning house near Nebraska City, Neb., on the 26th ult., to secure some clothing, was burned to death.

—December 23 the Italian Chamber of Deputies, by a vote of 175 to 32, passed a bill authorizing a credit of 145,000,000 lire for defenses.

—News has recently been received in this country of two more battles in Samoa. The killed and wounded numbered some two hundred.

—The most powerful artificial light in the world is at St. Catherine's light-house, in the Isle of Wight. It is estimated at more than 7,000,000 candle-power.

—Four men were instantly killed and two others fatally injured at Denver, Col., on the 26th ult., by the caving of the bank of a ditch in which they were working.

—Edison is working on an invention which he claims will enable him to produce electricity directly from burning coal without the use of boilers, engines, or dynamos.

—December 25 six out of seven members of a boating party on San Francisco Bay were drowned by the capsizing of their boat some distance off South San Francisco.

—A house in Harrisburg, Pa., in which a party of colored people were engaged in dancing, was blown up with dynamite on the night of the 27th ult. A number of the inmates were seriously injured.

—Nearly the entire village of Hermansville, Mich., was destroyed by fire on the 22d ult. No lives were lost, but owing to the severe weather and the poor shelter available many of the people suffered intensely.

—Dr. Alexander McDonald, general superintendent of the insane asylum on Ward's Island, has become insane. The Doctor was one of the experts whose testimony convicted Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield.

—The second inquiry into the recent accident to the Czar's train at Horkier resulted in attributing the disaster to a criminal conspiracy. All of the recently discharged railway employes will shortly be arrested.

—The attorney-general of Pennsylvania has begun suit against the Western Union and the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph Companies for the forfeiture of their charters for violation of the constitution of the State by consolidating.

—The great strike of coal miners at Newcastle, New South Wales, was settled recently and the men returned to work after thirteen weeks of enforced idleness. The loss to mine owners and strikers is estimated at $1,500,000.

—From 1827 to 1852 suicides increased in France from 48 per million inhabitants to 102 per million, and since the latter date the increase has been scarcely less rapid. In Saxony the rate had in 1877 reached 391 per million.

—Work continues on the Panama Canal, and it is stated that there are at the present time about 9,000 laborers employed upon it. Notwithstanding the serious embarrassment of the company, it is thought that the canal will be completed.

—It is said that General Boulanger is rapidly gaining in influence in French affairs. He aspires to the presidency of the republic, and his cause has recently been espoused by General Montalbon, a very influential man in the councils of the nation.

—As to the number of children being educated in Anarchist Sunday-schools, the Pilot says, "Nearly 1,200 children, ranging from four to sixteen years, are gathered into those schools in Chicago to be brought up in antagonism to all religion and to all law.

—It is said that Mormons have been evading the law in Idaho and receiving the privilege of voting by being excommunicated from the church just before an election and being re-instated just after. The Legislature proposes to remedy this by requiring the test oath to declare the affiant's separation from the church to have taken place at least two years prior to the application to vote.

—The report of the Illinois Railroad and Warehouse Commission for the year shows that 601 persons were killed, and 1,974 injured, on the Illinois railroads. The total income of the roads from all sources is $61,338,000, an increase of $4,500,000 over last year.

—The question of the probabilities of a European war are again being discussed by foreign papers. A late dispatch says that a tone of anxious expectancy is heard everywhere in all circles throughout Europe and that scarcely any sudden development would surprise the people.

—The steamer Haytien Republic, seized some weeks since by the authorities of Hayti for violation of the blockade, has on demand of this Government been delivered up to the American men-of-war sent to secure her release. The people of that country consider the action of the United States as an abuse of power against a weak nation.

—Recent advices from South America state that Chili has a second time interfered to prevent the settlement of the foreign debt of Peru, and it is now very plain that she will permit nothing to be done that will interfere with her purpose to annex the prostrate republic and extend her boundary along the entire west coast of the continent.

—Sunday morning, December 23, the steamer Kate Adams was burned on the Mississippi River, near Commerce, Miss., and fourteen lives were lost. The following day the propellor Lief Erickson was burned near Seattle, W. T., with a loss of seven lives. This was followed by the burning of the steamer John H. Hanna on Christmas-day, near Plaquemine, La., with the loss of some forty lives.

—The late school election in Boston, in which some 20,000 women voted, was held in connection with the regular election of city officers, and as the ballots for both elections were the same size and on the same colored paper, quite a number of women, either by mistake or designedly, voted the entire municipal ticket. Election contests will result, and the whole election may be declared void.

—A Central Pacific express car was robbed on the night of the 21st ult. near Clipper Gap, Placer County, in this State. The robbery was accomplished while the train was running between stations, the thieves having secreted themselves on top of the express car while the engine was taking water near the scene of the robbery. The amount of booty secured is placed by the express company at only a little over $3,000.

—December 23 three small boys entered a powder magazine near Mount Vernon, Ohio, for the purpose of smoking. Two of them seemed to realize the danger and ran away, but the eldest, a boy of fourteen years, remained, probably to show his bravery. In a short time an explosion took place, killing the boy who caused it, and doing immense damage to property. Seventeen men were badly injured, and several houses within a mile were wrecked. There were in the magazine 10 cases of dynamite and 210 kegs of powder.

—On the 23d ult. some Chicago Anarchists were prevented by the police from holding a meeting at a certain place in that city; it seems, however, that they had provided for just such a contingency as police interference, and the delegates repaired to a quiet saloon on West Randolph Street, where, in accordance with their program, they completed their formal organization. Before adjourning they elected Mayor Roche, Chief of Police Hubbard, and Inspector Bonfield honorary members of the Arbeiter Bund. The fact that the meeting was held was not learned until a late hour. The police were somewhat chagrined.