News of the Week

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 14, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 36.

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—September 6 over 12,000 spinners struck at Bolton, England.

—On the night of September 6 the post-office at Cutler, Ind., was blown up with dynamite.

—It is reported that 1,000 children have died of measles in Santiago, Chili, in the last two months.

—Snow-sheds to the amount of 3,000 feet have recently been burned on the Central Pacific Railroad.

—Nine persons were killed and thirteen seriously injured by a railroad accident in France on the 4th inst.

—De Lesseps has again assured the public that the ten locks on the Panama Canal will be completed by 1890.

—A bill has passed both Houses of Congress for the total exclusion of all Chinese laborers from the United States.

—Seventy new cases of yellow fever were reported in Jacksonville, Fla., for the twenty-four hours ending at 6 P. M. September 7.

—Wet weather and high water have damaged the cotton and corn crops to the amount of about a million dollars in South Carolina.

—The State of Texas, through its commissioners, has refused to accept the new State House, claiming that it is not built according to contract.

—On the night of September 5 a heavy frost did immense damage to crops in portions of New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and New York.

—Several vessels were wrecked at Havana, Cuba, on the 5th inst., by a cyclone. Two sailors were drowned and quite a number of persons were injured.

—It is said that King Leopold, through Cardinal Schiefino, has offered the Pope a residence in Belgium in the event of the necessity arising for him to leave Rome.

—The Pope, assisted by Abbot Pessuts as editor, is writing a history of Rome in the Middle Ages. Particular attention is to be paid to the period of Gregory the Great.

—An Iowa judge has given the prohibition law of that State a stab in the back, by deciding that under it a man cannot lawfully manufacture cider for use in his own family.

—Several fatal accidents have already occurred this fall at political gatherings. The last one reported was the bursting of a cannon at Tulare, Cal., which instantly killed one of the by-standers.

—The recent Catholic Congress at Freiburg, Germany, unanimously adopted resolutions in favor of the temporal power of the Pope, and condemning the Italian penal laws affecting the clergy.

—By the explosion of a steam thresher at Seymour, Ind., on the 6th inst., one man was instantly killed, two others were fatally injured, and some four or five were scalded more or less seriously.

—A royal decree has been published in Spain, providing for energetic action against the spread of phylloxera. It advises the importation of hardier American vines, and the study of the growth of vines.

—Advices from Sag Harbor, L. I., under date of September 5, state that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe is dying at the residence of Rev. Charles E. Stowe, near that place. Mrs. Stowe is seventy-seven years of age.

—September 4 the American workmen in the rolling mill at Coshocton, Pa., began a crusade against the Italians and Hungarians, sending a notice to them to leave. Several collisions occurred, and a number of Italians left.

—The statement is made that the Pope has recently had several audiences with the Russian envoy now in Rome, and is completing a concordat with the Czar, giving a large share of religious liberty to the Polish and Russian Catholics.

—A dispatch from Jacksonville, Fla., under date of September 5, says: "The official bulletin for the twenty-four hours ending at 6 P. M. is as follows: New cases, 51; deaths, 5; total number of cases to date, 388; total number of deaths, 42."

—The first death from hydrophobia in Santa Fe, N. M., occurred in that city on the 2d inst. The victim was a seven-year-old boy. He was bitten by a pet dog thirty days before his death, and was apparently healthy till five days before his death.

—September 6 two freight trains collided on the Council Bluffs and Kansas City Railway in Iowa. Both were running at a high speed, and both crews jumped. The trains were loaded with merchandise, and nearly the entire cargo was lost. The damage is about $100,000.

—English schools are not, as yet, absolutely free to all; but the advocates of free education demand that schools shall not only be absolutely free, with books furnished gratis to those too poor to pay for them, but that luncheon shall also be provided without cost to the poor scholars.

—Another Nihilist plot has been unearthed in St. Petersburg. The conspirators, who had their headquarters near the imperial palace, were raided by the police, who captured twelve men and three women. The police also secured a number of bombs. Several arrests were subsequently made.

—August 20 about 500 dervishes attacked an Egyptian fort near Wady Halfa, and captured a portion of it. The Egyptians received re-inforcements from Wady Halfa, and finally succeeded in driving out the dervishes, killing more than 100 of them. The Egyptian loss was 16 killed and 27 wounded.

—September 3 Frank E. McGurrin, of Salt Lake, gave an exhibition of his skill on the type-writer in Chicago. He wrote from dictation at the rate of one hundred and eight and three-fifths words per minute, beating all previous records. When blindfolded he wrote one hundred and seven words per minute.

—It is now proposed to entirely depopulate Jacksonville, Fla., in order to stamp out the yellow fever. It is feared, however, that the disease cannot be confined to that city, but that it will spread to other places. Dr. Gray, of Palaka, Fla., is of the opinion that it is only a question of a few days when the fever will reach St. Augustine. No cessation of the plague can be hoped for till frost comes in November.

—During the first six months of 1888 the business of the Southern Pacific system of railroads was over thirty-seven per cent. greater than for the corresponding period in 1887. The increase on through tonnage was sixty-three per cent., local tonnage, twenty-six per cent.; through passengers, forty-eight per cent., and local passengers, twenty-three per cent. The increase in earnings was forty-two per cent., or $21,300,000 as against $16,370,000 for the first six months of 1887.

—A late London dispatch states that the African lakes expedition, under command of Captain Lugard, had a fight with Arab slave dealers in Nymasi district, June 16. Several black allies were killed, and Captain Lugard was wounded. The Arab losses are unknown. It is believed that the Arabs retained their position.

—Early on the morning of September 2, several warehouses in the city of Baltimore were destroyed by fire, and seven firemen perished in the flames. The unfortunate men were imprisoned by falling brick and iron, and were literally roasted alive, groans being heard to issue from the ruins more than an hour after the walls fell.

—September 6, on the occasion of the trial, at Arthurstown, of one of the Redmond Brothers, a member of Parliament, for violation of the Crimes Act, the police charged the crowd of people assembled outside the court. The police clubbed the people with their rifles, and dispersed them violently. Many were seriously injured.

—General Boulanger, the irrepressible Frenchman who has for a long time been keeping himself and not a few of his countrymen in hot water, is said to have the support of the monarchists and of the Catholic Church. Boulanger is said to have pledged himself to maintain the vested rights of the church. That would of course endear him to the heart of every papist.

—Serious race troubles, have broken out in Fort Bend County, Texas. Five hundred negroes were ordered to leave the county, which they declined to do, and at last accounts forty white men, armed with Winchester rifles, were on their way to enforce the demand. The negroes are charged with being bad characters. Governor Ross has ordered out the militia.

—A vessel which arrived at Gloucester, Mass., from Iceland on the 8th inst. brought the intelligence that in a single storm last April 6 French fishing vessels and 137 men were lost on the coast of that island. Three hundred men were left destitute on the island for months, until a steamer arrived and took them away. They suffered much because of insufficient food.

—A St. Petersburg dispatch of September 6 says that the northern Afghans have revolted and proclaimed Ishak Khan Ameer. A battle had taken place, the result of which was not known. A civil war is probable, which will complicate Abdurrahman Khan's relations with his neighbors unless he be promptly suppressed, and there are doubts if this can be accomplished.

—An improved method of oiling the waters has been patented in Germany. A rocket, to which is attached a cylinder filled with oil, can be fired with accuracy from the ship, and when it explodes the oil is scattered just where it is wanted. By the explosion of five rockets at a distance of from 1,200 to 1,500 feet from a ship a space of 1,500 to 2,000 square feet of water was covered with oil, and the waves were at once smoothed.

—Quite a sensation was occasioned in Washington a few days since by the report that an English officer had secured complete plans of our coast defenses and copies of our submerged torpedo charts. Later, however, it transpired that the officer had visited Washington for that purpose but had failed to get any information not in possession of the public generally. It is stated, however, that in view of the attempt, and the strained relations with Canada, the torpedo charts will be at once overhauled and re-arranged.

—The price for which Miss Kate Field has sold her influence to the California Viticultural Association is $2,500. It is stated that the president of the commission which employed her to preach the "gospel of the grape" is overjoyed at his good bargain, and says that "her work will be worth nearer $25,000 than the sum she will receive." Perhaps possibly the fact that Miss Field is simply the paid drummer of California liquor manufacturers and dealers, may not add much to her influence; it is but right, however, that the public should understand the matter.