p. 319 | SECULAR | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 20.

SECULAR.

—The California Legislature has passed an act exempting persons from taxation whose property is valued at less than $500.

—Last week a large increase in the deaths by pneumonia and la grippe, and diseases of a kindred nature, was reported in New York City. The number reported was 210.

—An ominous sign of the times is seen in the singular spectacle of the Board of Trade of Kansas City suspending business to give a reception to a champion prize fighter.

—President Cleveland has withdrawn the Hawaiian Annexation Treaty from the Senate. It is now thought that a special commission will be sent to the islands to inquire into the situation of affairs.

—In this city, on the night of the 10th inst., two burglars were detected by two policemen in the act of opening a safe. A fight ensued, in which one of the burglars and Officer Cashin were killed. The other burglar escaped.

—A Panama correspondent says that a new revolution has broken out in Southern Honduras. The Revolutionists, with 1,000 men, under Generals Sierra and Bonilla, had captured the city of Choluteca, which was garrisoned by 1,500 troops.

—Mr. Cleveland is now experiencing the most trying effects of success, that of portioning out the spoils of office. There are dozens of applicants for every position, and necessarily many recent friends will be—to say the least—disappointed.

—San Diego, Cal., seems determined to try women for the City Board of Education. The design is to lift the Board out of politics. The Democrats, Republicans, and Populists have all nominated women in most of the wards. One woman is on all three of the tickets.

—Some English radical papers are drawing doleful pictures of the contrast between the lavish toilettes of the wealthy people and the general depression and harrowing condition of the working classes. This contrast is becoming more and more marked in all countries.

—European advices say that there are increasing omens of cholera calamity the coming summer. The disease has broken out, in spite of the wintry weather, in several sections. Russia's latest reports state that about 500 new cases are noted daily in the district of Kamenzpodols.

—War has been waging between rival factions of Chinese highbinders in San Francisco for several weeks, and the police determined to put a stop to it. So last week they raided the joss houses of both parties and demolished their patron idols, and this was followed up by the arrest of between thirty and forty of the belligerent celestials.

—A destructive fire occurred in Boston on the 10th inst. Some of the finest buildings in the city were destroyed, with a loss estimated at $3,000,000. The fire also caused the death of twenty or more persons, and many others were seriously injured by jumping from windows or being burned.

—A Vienna dispatch of the 9th inst. says that Lichtenwacht, a village of 1,100 inhabitants, in Lower Austria, has been swept by a terrific thunderstorm, lasting fifteen hours. Many houses were struck by lightning, five persons were struck dead in the streets, and seven perished in the burning buildings.

—The grand jury of Atlanta, Georgia, have ignored the verdict of the lunacy commission in the case of Miss Julia Force, who recently killed two of her sisters. The jury claims that the decision of insanity was brought about by the influence of Miss Force's attorney and her friends, and she will have to stand trial.

—A Miss Little, who had been employed in the Assembly post office at Sacramento, went last week to Ogden to meet and marry a railroad conductor named Janes. Ten hours after her marriage she shot herself to death with a revolver. The couple were first cousins, and her parents had opposed the marriage. No reason was assigned for the deed.

—An immense ice gorge in the Susquehanna River at Wilkesbarre, Pa., went out on the 10th inst. with a tremendous crash. The town of Plainsville was submerged, trains were stalled, and the village of Port Bowkley was inundated. The whole country along the stream was afloat, and at Pittston the flood was twenty-three feet above low-water mark. So says a press dispatch.

—Additional reports from the South indicate that the damage by the great cyclone mentioned last week was greater than at first supposed. An Atlanta, Georgia, dispatch says that in Troupe County the storm swept away nearly all the farmhouses, scattering all their supplies. At Meridian, Miss., the mayor has called for contributions for the distressed people at Marion, Toomsuba, Kowance, Pachuta, and Burnett.

—The suggestion that the emperor of Austria is about to abdicate the throne is another cause for a sensation in European government affairs. The triple alliance between Austria, Italy, and Germany is weakening, because Austria and Italy cannot long sustain the financial cost. Germany has the most at stake, hence the young emperor is uneasy. A visit to Italy is contemplated, for an interview with King Humbert and the pope.

—The town of Sandgate, Kent County, England, was practically destroyed on the 5th inst. by the ground giving way for about a mile square, and sinking several feet. The incident was accompanied by loud rumbling, and noxious vapors issued from the breaks in the ground. The report says two hundred houses were totally destroyed, and the others rendered uninhabitable. The landslide is supposed to have been caused by the waves of the sea undermining the low cliff on which the town is built.

—The skeletons of forty-three soldiers and forty-five horses were recently discovered by mining prospectors in New Mexico. They are said to be the remains of a company sent out from Fort Marcy in 1879 in pursuit of Apache Indians. It has always been supposed that the company had been annihilated by the Indians, as no tidings had ever been received from them after leaving the fort. But it is quite evident that they were poisoned by drinking the water of a poison spring near their camp. The arms and ammunitions of the company were undisturbed, which would not have been the case had they been massacred by Indians.

—A terrible tale of disaster comes from Tomsk, Siberia. While on their way to that city a party of exiles encountered a terrific snowstorm. They were then six hours' march from their destination. Heavier and heavier became the fall of snow, and the wind grew in intensity. In one hour all traces of the road were lost. In two hours most of the men were exhausted. Then came a heartrending scene. One after another, the exiles would stumble and fall, each drawing with him two or three of his comrades, who were chained to him. No assistance was offered by the rest, however, and the weary party marched on, leaving the fallen ones to their fate. Of 374 prisoners only 91 survived.

—News of a hurricane at Tamatave, on the east coast of Madagascar, on February 22, was received in Paris on the 6th inst. The wind came from the sea, and first struck vessels near the mouth of the bay. The Alsimo, a French ship, was stripped almost instantly of masts and rigging, and a few minutes later went to the bottom with all on board. Five coasting vessels anchored within the harbor foundered almost simultaneously, and but ten men of the crews were saved. Four other coasters sank before the storm passed. In Tamatave the streets were swept clean of people and vehicles in a minute. Twenty-two of the best buildings in the place and a large number of huts were wrecked. Four sugar factories were leveled to the ground. Many lives were lost.