SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Jul 22, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 28.

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SECULAR.

—The Empress Augusta Victoria, of Germany, has been converted to the Catholic faith.

—Fresno, Cal., had a $250,000 fire the 12th inst. It was mainly in the business portion of the city.

—The National Educational Association convened in Nashville, Tenn., the 16th inst., for its annual session.

—The Pope has been petitioned to canonize Christopher Columbus on the anniversary of the discovery of America.

—The Otis Iron and Steel Works of Cleveland, Ohio, has been purchased by an English syndicate for $4,500,000.

—It is rumored in Berlin that Prince Ferdinand intends to assume the title of King of Bulgaria on the 14th proximo.

—It is rumored in diplomatic circles that Blaine has handed in his resignation, to take effect the 1st of next September.

—The widow of ex-President Tyler died from the effects of a congestive chill at Richmond, Va., July 10. She was 69 years of age.

—Rev. Henry C. Bowen, editor of the New York Independent, was badly bruised by a carriage accident at Putnam, Conn., the 12th inst.

—Two bridges and several miles of track on the Santa Fe railroad near Wallace, N. M., were washed away by a cloud-burst the night of the 9th inst.

—Eight persons were killed and eleven injured by the Frankfort express running into an open switch near Rochemoos, Germany, the 7th inst.

—The general shops of the Union Pacific Railroad in course of construction at Cheyenne, Wyo. T., will cover five acres of ground and employ 2500 men.

—Dispatches from the scene of hostilities in Egypt report that sixty dervishes were cut off from the main body and killed by the Egyptian forces recently.

—Twenty-five passengers were injured and several lives lost by a wash-out north of Chihuahua, Mexico, on the line of the Mexican Central railroad, the 9th inst.

—A severe hail and wind-storm passed over parts of New York and Vermont adjacent to Lake Champlain July 13. Much damage was done to grain and fruit.

—The committee of the High Court of France has recommended that Boulanger, Dillon, and Rochefort be arrested on a charge of conspiracy against the State.

—A 2500 ton vessel has ascended the Congo River in Africa as far as Matadi. Hitherto it has been assumed that the river was not navigable to that point.

—Such is the feeling between Germany and France, that the Emperor William has forbidden officers of the German army from attending the Paris exposition.

—Trouble is still brewing between Germany and Switzerland. Bismarck has been advised by the Emperor to modify his tone and thus avoid aggravating the difficulty.

—The present condition of affairs in the East is such that Europe is virtually sleeping on her arms from month to month and war could be precipitated at almost any time.

—The entire business portion of Bakersfield, Cal., together with about forty dwellings, was burned on the afternoon of the 7th inst. Loss, $1,250,000, with very small insurance.

—Fifteen persons were killed and many injured by the collision of two trains near Ciulnita, Roumania, July 9. The accident was caused by the mistake of a switchman.

—The entire Avon Valley, one of the most promising mineral districts in Wales, has been purchased by a British firm, who expect to make several immense fortunes out of its management.

—The river Indus has overflowed its banks, and the adjacent country is under ten feet of water. Many lives have been lost in the flood, 40 persons having been drowned at Larkhana alone.

—India has an area of 1,600,000 square miles. The extreme length is 1,900 miles and the breadth 1,700 miles. It is made up of a number of nations, and twenty-three different languages are spoken.

—The climate in the Darling River District, New South Wales, is so sultry as to make it almost impossible to use horses. The manager of a line of mail coaches proposes to introduce camels instead.

—During the last century there have been twenty-seven cases of insanity in the Bavarian royal family. The present king is a lunatic, and several of his relatives have been attacked by the same disease.

—A large codfish bank has been discovered near Cape Lookout on the Oregon Coast, about thirty-five miles south of the Columbia River. The cod are said to be very abundant and of excellent quality.

—The Mikado of Japan gave his people constitutional freedom, and by Imperial edict declared the empire a republican nation, July 11. Henceforth, the people make their own laws, and govern themselves.

—Leprosy is increasing in Russia. During the last ten years forty-nine patients were treated in the St. Petersburg hospitals, half of whom were natives of the city. The Baltic provinces suffer most from the disease.

—Recent dispatches from London state that a division has occurred among the British Liberals. Nearly eighty of Gladstone's followers in the House of Commons have deserted him, and are organizing a new party.

—Of the eleven million square miles of Africa, only about four and a half million remain which have not been claimed by some European power, and more than half of this area lies within the Desert of Sahara.

—The bitter religious controversy now raging in Canada has occasioned a renewal of the agitation for annexation to the United States. It is thought by some that it will result in Canada becoming a part of this country. This is, however, improbable.

—Recent dispatches from Vienna, Austria, reported that fifty Russian officers had passed through Roumania on their way to Servia, and that the Russian Government was sending war material and pontoons to Bessarabia and the mouth of the Danube.

—Counterfeiters have recently been actively engaged on the Pacific Coast, and several cities and towns have been flooded with their bogus productions. The spurious coins are mostly halves and dollars, the latter being regarded as especially dangerous.

—A memorial from the Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was presented in the Montana Constitutional Convention the 10th inst., praying the convention to incorporate in the Constitution of the new State a clause providing for the strict observance of Sunday.

—The number of miles of railroad in the United States and Territories is now about 150,000, or more than the mileage of all Europe. A force of about 800,000 men is employed in various capacities on these lines, being at the rate of a trifle over five men to the mile.

—Heavy rains followed by a cloud-burst in the Cayadutta Valley, did considerable damage in Johnstown, N. Y., the 9th inst. Nine bridges and two dams were swept away, mills and other property destroyed, and half a score of lives are thought to have been lost. The name of Johnstown seems to be associated with calamitous events at present.

—On account of the denunciations by the radicals against the expenditures of Queen Victoria, the English Government has decided to make public all her accounts from her accession to the throne down to the present time. It is said that the expenditures, especially those of the civil list, have been very closely and accurately recorded.

—A large mass meeting of citizens was held at Johnstown, Pa., July 13, to protest against the manner in which the relief fund is being distributed. It is claimed that the carelessness and gross extravagance of the State Committee is resulting in an unwise and needless waste of means, and that the local committee should have charge of the distribution of the funds.

—According to the Financial News Circular of the 11th inst., a scheme is being formed for the consolidation of thirty-five leading railroads of this country into a gigantic railroad trust. These roads have 100,000 miles of track, and their combined capital is over $1,000,000,000. The Vanderbilts, Peabodys, Armours, and other heavy capitalists are interested in the scheme.