SECULAR | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 5, 1892

SECULAR.

—A six-story iron and stone building in New York City, occupied by Otis Corbett as a furniture house, was destroyed by fire on the 23d inst. Loss, $250,000.

—The National Grange has passed resolutions opposing the Sunday opening of the World's Fair.

—The burning of a large brewery at Faribault, Mich., on the 24th inst. caused a loss of $300,000.

—Eighteen miners were killed on the 26th inst. by a cave in the Borda mine at Pachuca, Mexico.

—Admiral Gherardi, with the cruisers Charleston, Baltimore, and San Francisco, arrived at Callao, Peru, on the 26th inst.

—The large pressed brick and tile factory at Kreickerville, Long Island, was burned on the 23d inst., the loss being estimated at $175,000.

—Hostile factions in Samoa are again at war. The fighting, at latest reports, was confined to the island of Tutuila, where two villages had been destroyed.

—At Lynchburg, Va., on the 24th inst., a fertilizer establishment, a sash and door factory, and two tobacco factories were burned, causing a loss of $150,000.

—A Milwaukee paper tells of the recent burning of Staadt's lumber camp at Marshfield, Wis., together with the fatal burning of three employes. Two others were so badly burned that their recovery is doubtful.

—By the last steamer from Australia there arrived at San Francisco two emus, a present from the Sydney Zoological Society. They are fine birds, and will have a place among the attractions at Golden Gate Park.

—In the Lithuania country, Russia, recently a lot of peasants surrounded the house of a man suspected of horse stealing, and set fire to it. The entire family, consisting of husband, wife, and five children, were burned to death.

—The Secretary of the Interior has appointed a commission to negotiate with the Shoshone and Arapahoe Indians of Wyoming, and the Flathead and confederated tribes in Montana, for the purchase of certain portions of their lands.

—Lieutenant Peary has received leave of absence from the U. S. Navy for three years in order to engage in a second Arctic expedition by way of northern Greenland. He goes under the auspices of the Philadelphia Academy of Science.

—One result of the election in Kansas will probably be the extension of woman suffrage to all State officers, as both the Republican and People's platforms were pledged to that measure. The women already vote for municipal and county officers.

—The Northern Pacific train was held up at Hot Springs, Wash., on the night of the 25th inst., by three men, who went through the Pullman car, robbing passengers of money, watches, and jewelry. This is said to be the first train robbery in the State.

—Burglars forced a bank safe with dynamite, at Liberty, Missouri, last Saturday night, and secured something over $12,000. The walls of the building were considerably cracked. They then stole a carriage and pair of horses, and escaped. The team was found at the Missouri River, badly jaded.

—From the large cities come numerous reports of gorgeous Thanksgiving feasts for the poor by charitable people and societies. Remembering the poor is proper thanksgiving, but if the great expense of a single gorge could have been scattered over a week's supply of plainer food, it would have been far better.

—A Polish nobleman, who some years ago had his estates confiscated and was himself exiled for participation in rebellion, has recently had his estates restored to him. At the time of his restoration to favor at home, he was an obscure resident of Cleveland, Ohio. His property in Poland is valued at about $2,700,000.

—A Baltimore dispatch of the 26th inst. says: "At a meeting of spinners of the Blackstone Valleys district to-night, reports were received from a majority of the mills stating that an increase of seven per cent. in wages would be made December 5. The increase at J. & P. Coates, limited, at Pawtucket, will be from ten to fifteen per cent in all departments."

—The regular fall fiestas (bullfights) took place last week at Arteaga, a mountain town in Mexico. At the entertainment on the 26th, four infuriated animals broke through the inclosure into the audience. In the excitement the seats gave way, and fifty people sustained broken limbs and other serious injuries. The bulls killed one man and wounded ten others.

—A disastrous fire occurred on October 11 in a part of Wuhu, China, inhabited by the boating population of that port, and destroyed upward of one hundred houses. A temple in the neighborhood was also burned down. It is curious to note that this temple belonged to the god of fire, and the deity who is supposed to have control over this element was also reduced to ashes. That the deity should bring this calamity upon his own temple and himself is certainly remarkable in the extreme. On October 14 the dwelling houses of nearly two hundred families were also consumed by the flames at Szyeu.

—At Goschen, N. Y., on the night of the 21st inst., Miss Martha Avery, aged 17, was marching in a political procession, when some fireworks prematurely exploded. Someone foolishly told her that her father was killed, when the sudden shock caused a hemorrhage of the lungs. She was immediately taken home, and died in a short time afterward.

—Since the great strike at the Carnegie iron works at Homestead, Pa., has been declared off, there has been a great rush to secure old situations. And after securing them there was much depression over a notification of material reduction in wages. There is also great depletion in the public treasury of the town, because of the inability of the striking population to pay their taxes.

—A Columbia, S. C., dispatch says that the constables who went to Washmassaw to arrest some colored men for attempting to force open the election polls, found themselves confronted with fifty or sixty armed sympathizers with the accused. The sheriff has taken the matter in hand, and will call on the State authorities for help, if necessary. Washmassaw is the "Dahomey" of South Carolina.

—The Chinese residents of the United States are almost unanimous in their disposition to ignore the Registration Law. There is a prospect of a lively time next spring should the government undertake to send them all back to China. The passage money alone would cost several million dollars, to say nothing of probable diplomatic complications, and the cost of legal and other proceedings to enforce the expulsion.

—Simultaneously with the appearance of several comets (visible only by telescope), there come reports of grand meteoric displays in various localities. An exceedingly brilliant display is reported to have occurred in the vicinity of War Eagle Mountain, Idaho, on the night of the 25th inst. It is said to have lasted about eighteen minutes, and at times was so brilliant that the mountain tops were highly illuminated.

—Some of the great college sporting contests of the day have become little else than slogging matches. A football game at Detroit between the Cornell and Ann Arbor teams resulted in a fight in the midst of the game. Two men had to be carried off the field, and another one was ruled off for slogging. Another rough game took place at Kansas City between the teams from the Kansas and Missouri Universities, in which three men were disabled.

—Miss Merres, a nurse at Swinburne Island, makes serious charges against the New York health authorities on account of maltreatment of patients during the cholera quarantine. Patients had to remain in bed for twelve days after they were able to get up, for want of clothing. Supplies which were ordered by the commissions never reached the island. She also alleges drunkenness and gambling on the part of male nurses when they should have been caring for the sick.

—The International Monetary Conference, called at the instance of the United States, met at Brussels, Belgium, on the 22d inst. Montefiore Levi, of Brussels, was chosen president. It is not expected by anybody that the conference will amount to much, as it is generally understood in this country that the call was merely a means of quieting the silver discussion in the last session of Congress, and in Europe it is looked upon as a scheme for the disposition of the silver product of America.