p. 14 | SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 16, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 44.

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SECULAR.

—November 9 thirty men were killed in an explosion in a coal mine at Aulilinaia, Sicily.

—On the 6th inst. a ferry steamer sunk in a collision at Calcutta and sixty people were drowned.

—The Modesto, Cal., post-office was robbed on the night of the 7th inst. The thieves secured nearly $500.

—November 7 a reservoir at Montreux, on Lake Geneva, burst, injuring several persons and drowning many.

—A terrible collision occurred November 6 on the railway in Southern Russia near Kovel. Many were killed.

—A discovery of small diamonds on a farm near Atlanta, Ga., has created no little excitement throughout the State.

—Long Beach Hotel, twenty miles from Los Angeles, Cal., was burned on the night of the 7th inst. The loss was $90,000.

—The British Government is about to build eight first-class men-of-war, a score of swift cruisers, and many torpedo vessels.

—It is now asserted that the late accident to the Czar's train was, as at first stated, due to the explosion of a dynamite bomb.

—November 7 several vessels were wrecked on the British Coast. The gale was very heavy. It is thought that no lives were lost.

—A nest of four boilers at the Lancaster Chemical Works, Lancaster, Pa., exploded on the 7th inst., killing one man and injuring three.

—The Parliamentary committee appointed to consider a revision of the French Constitution has decided by a vote of six to four in favor of a revision.

—A recent telegram from Havre states that the Cunard steamer Nates came into collision thirty-six miles off the Lizard with the German ship Theodore Ruger, and that both vessels sank. A portion of the ship's crew landed at Trouville. The fate of the rest and the steamer's crew is unknown.

—Governor Swineford, in his report, states that the coast line of Alaska, 18,211 miles, is nearly twice the combined Atlantic and Pacific coast lines of the United States.

—The market value of the Alaska fisheries for last year is estimated at $3,000,000. A thousand salmon, averaging ten pounds each, have been taken in Sitka Bay in a single haul.

—It is said that the Russian Government is taking steps toward the solution of the question of a rail connection of the Baltic with the Pacific Ocean through Russia and Siberia.

—There is a deficiency of about $20,000 in San Francisco's school fund; and it is affirmed that there will be no money in the treasury for the payment of salaries before February next.

—Henry Blake, now Governor of Newfoundland, has been appointed Governor of Queensland. It is said that the appointment gives great dissatisfaction to the Australian colonists.

—The remains of twelve infants were found a few days since in the reservoir of the town of St. Ambroise, Canada. Complaints about the quality of the water led to the ghastly discovery.

—The London Economist says that 5,107,000 tons of sugar were consumed by the inhabitants of this planet last year. Of this amount 2,407,000 tons was beet sugar, and 2,500,000 tons cane sugar.

—The new ironclad Re Umberto, launched at Castellamare in the presence of King Humbert and of Kaiser Wilhelm on the occasion of the emperor's recent visit, is the largest of Italy's big war ships.

—Fifteen persons lost their lives in a fire in Rochester, N. Y., on the 9th inst. Ten of these were fatally injured by jumping from the third story of a burning factory and five perished in the flames.

—Prof. Chandler Roberts estimates the weight of the smoke-cloud which daily hangs over London at about 50 tons of solid carbon, and 250 tons of carbon in the form of hydrocarbon and carbonic-oxide gases.

—The topographic work of the arid lands and irrigation survey has been completed at the United States Geological Survey in Washington, and all the parties to be employed this year are already in the field.

—The most phenomenal snow-storm that ever occurred in Northern Kansas began on the morning of the 9th inst. and continued furiously all day. Trains were all delayed, and telegraph wires prostrated in all directions.

—One hundred and sixty lives were lost in a coal mine disaster at Pittsburg, Kan., on the 9th inst. Black damp is supposed to have been the cause of the explosion. Most of the victims were from the Pennsylvania coal regions.

—The residents of Hyde Park, a suburb of Chicago, have succeeded, through the aid of the police, in closing the saloons on Sunday. The saloon keepers retaliate by strict prohibition of "drinks" to the police on any day of the week.

—The fact that the price of wheat in Chicago is still maintained shows that the recent advance in price was not purely speculative. On the 5th inst. wheat sold in that city for $1.15, a bushel, and advanced to $1.15½, closing, however, at $1.15.

—A few days since 70,000 followers of the Mahdi attacked the town of Waday in the interior of Africa. The garrison repulsed the assailants and killed 3,000, but the Mahdiists re-attacked and captured the town. The Sultan of Waday fled to Cheri.

—The Russian Government has notified the Porte that should the divorce of King Milan of Servia cause troubles which would lead to the occupation of Servia by Austria, Russia will consider herself released from her obligation not to occupy Bulgaria.

—A recent St. Petersburg dispatch to a London journal says that General Gourko has sent a telegram to the Minister of the Interior announcing that he has discovered the existence of a revolutionary society in Poland, with numerous branches. Many members have been arrested, including a number of students, a magistrate and several Government officials, all of whom are in prison at Warsaw. The society has issued a manifesto regretting the failure of the recent attempt on the life of the Czar, and threatening a repetition of the attempt.

—The Senate Committee for the investigation of live stock and dressed meat, are making a tour through the country for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of cattle exported to large cities, the methods of slaughter, and the extent to which the flesh of diseased animals is put upon the market. It is claimed that Chicago is the recognized market for diseased animals. Conclusive evidence has been given that train loads of cattle suffering from Texas fever have been brought to St. Louis and elsewhere, and have been shipped to Chicago in a dying condition.

—Eighty per cent of the total manufactures of Siberia belong to the Territories of Tobolsk and Tomsk. According to the reports of the Bureau of Statistics, there are 2,300 factories, which employ 12,500 men and produce 14,000,000 rubles' worth of goods annually.

—Advices from St. Petersburg say the Czar was injured in several places in the recent accident to his train, and that he is suffering from severe pains in his chest and legs. Admiral Possirt has been dismissed from the Ministry of Railways, owing to the accident.

—The Norwegian bark Nor, from New York October 2 for Stettin, collided with and sunk the steamer Sax Mundham off Cowes, England. Twenty-two persons are missing and supposed to be drowned. Eight survivors were landed at Weymouth. The Nor was abandoned.

—A Paris dispatch of the 7th inst. says that the previous evening a dynamite bomb was exploded in the Registry office in the Rue Boucher. Another bomb was exploded in the Registry office in the Rue Francaise. Much damage was done at both places, but no one was hurt.

—The increase of population of France is steadily growing less. In the past year the number of births was 899,333; of deaths, 842,797; or 23.5 and 22 per thousand, respectively. The excess of births over deaths has decreased since 1881 from 108,229 to 56,536, or 48 per cent.

—Another of the shocking crimes, the seventh of the series known everywhere as the White Chapel murders, was perpetrated in London on the morning of the 9th inst. The body was mutilated more horribly than any of the others. There is absolutely no clew to the murderer.

—General Greely, in his annual report, says that the percentages of successful weather predictions made by the Signal Office for the year were 78.4; 75.5; temperature, 74.2; general average, 76.7. The number of cold-wave signals displayed was 1,743, of which 1,240, or 71.5 per cent., were verified.

—The total assessed valuation of real estate in the city of New York in 1886 was $1,203,941,065; in 1887, of 161,334 plats of real estate, $1,254,491,349—showing an increase in one year of $50,550,784. But as the assessed is less than two-thirds of the market value, the whole is not worth less than two billion dollars.

—Emperor Francis Joseph has officially intimated that it is his special wish that on the occasion of the anniversary of his accession to the throne he shall receive neither addresses nor deputations, and that no fêtes will be held that will involve expense. He desires his accession to be commemorated by acts of public charity.

—A dispatch from Gainesville, Fla., under date of November 10, says, "The yellow-fever scourge is thoroughly upon us and making rapid inroads upon the people, with no signs of a decrease. Almost the entire population has fled, no more than sixteen hundred remaining, and less than one hundred of those are white, with no official government."

—A furious snow-storm, extending over the whole of Quebec and the maritime provinces, began on the evening of the 8th inst. and continued for twenty-four hours. Dispatches from Lower Quebec say two and a half feet of snow fell all along the Lower St. Lawrence. It is feared that there was large loss of life among the fishermen on both shores of the Gulf.

—A recent dispatch to the London Times from Zanzibar says that the Germans have burned all the dhows and boats in Whind harbor. Lieutenant Fitzherbert of the Algerine, in face of a heavy Arab fire, chased a dhow with 200 slaves off the north coast of Madagascar, until the dhow grounded. Lieutenant Fitzherbert captured twenty-seven slaves with the dhow.

—It is said that a ministerial crisis and a disruption of the cabinet are inevitable in Spain, several of the principal ministers not being even on speaking terms with their colleagues. Insubordination and discontent reign supreme in the army. Says the Madrid correspondent of the New York Tribune: "At no time since the death of the King has Spain been in such a state of ferment as at the present moment."

—The 5th inst. was marked by a series of five disastrous explosions at various places from Windham, Maine, to Clarksville, Col. The first was a nitro-glycerine explosion near Shannopin, Pennsylvania. A large amount of property was destroyed, but only one man was killed. The second was an explosion which destroyed the mills of the Oriental Powder Company, near South Windham, Me. Two men lost their lives. The third disaster was a mine explosion, on Kettle Creek, Pa., which resulted in the loss of seventeen lives. The fourth was a similar accident in a mine at Clarksville, Col., while the fifth was an explosion in a Chicago starch factory which resulted in the loss of one life.