News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 10, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 35.

News and Notes.

By Editor

RELIGIOUS.

—The pope has granted the request of Cardinal Vaughn that St. Peter be made the patron saint of England.

—A Methodist Episcopal Church consisting of about thirty Japanese members has been organized at Portland, Oregon.

—It is said that Rev. W. D. Morgan, of the Baltimore Methodist Conference, has applied for orders as a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church.

—The Christian at Work says that of the 7,000 Presbyterian Churches, last year 1,254 were reported vacant, not even having a stated supply, and that during the past six years the denomination has been compelled to draw on other denominations for 550 ministers to do its work.

—The new ordinance of the city of San Jose, California, forbidding religious meetings within certain boundaries, is to be tested as to its constitutionality. Thirty-five members of the Salvation Army were recently arrested for violating the ordinance. All were released but the captain, and he is to test the ordinance in the courts.

—The London Present Truth says it is reported that the recent harsh measures against the Stundists in Russia have in several places had the desired effect, that of bringing them back into the Russian Church. Great popular rejoicings are alleged to have taken place at Kanev, where 130 Stundists, including several leaders, have recanted.

—At the recent session of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church South, the following decision was passed: “The session must absolutely enforce the injunction of Scripture forbidding women to speak in churches (1 Cor. 14 : 34) or in any way failing to observe that relative subordination to men that is taught in 1 Cor. 11 : 13, and in other places.”

—It is announced that the Catholic bishop, Bonacum, will soon be tried before Archbishop Hennessy of the archdiocese of Iowa on charges of tyranny toward priests and nuns, refusal to obey orders from Rome, collecting and foolishly expending large sums, extortion, falsehood, etc. It will be the first time in the history of the Catholic Church in America that a bishop was put on trial.

—In connection with his work in Great Britain, Mr. Moody says: “The Nonconformists are not flourishing. They have not been faithfully preaching the word, and are being crowded to the wall. Unitarianism has crept in, and growth and prosperity have dropped out. The influence of the Established Church is overshadowing. Men of wealth and ambition go into it, because it means ambition and honor.”

—The W. C. T. U. people of Albuquerque, New Mexico, are making special effort for the “preservation of the Christian sabbath.” At a union meeting of all denominations, held June 18, it was resolved to request the local authorities to take such measures as shall result in the enforcement of the Sunday laws, and to call upon all the people of the Territory to rally together in the interest of Sunday. Then it was decided to devote one month to special efforts in that city in behalf of the cause.

SECULAR.

—James Sheakle, of Alaska, has been appointed governor of that Territory.

—Typhoid fever is epidemic in this city. July 3 318 cases of typhoid and typho-malaria had been reported.

—Eighteen Honolulu schoolteachers arrived in San Francisco by the last steamer en route to the World’s Fair.

—During the month of March there were eighteen cases of suicide and eighty-two attempts at suicide in the German army.

—The collector of customs at Portland, Oregon, has been suddenly removed on account of alleged fraudulent practices in the landing of Chinese.

—Another revolution is in prospect in Chile. A politician named Pierola wants to be president, and as he appears to have no chance of an election, he is preparing to bring about the desired result by a revolution.

—The Hartly Bank of Jericho, Missouri, was robbed on the 28th ult. of over $8,000. Four men went to the house of the cashier early in the morning and compelled him to accompany them to the bank and open the vault.

—Arctic Explorer Peary left New York on the 2d inst. in pursuit of his favorite scheme, finding the North Pole by way of the east coast of Greenland.

—A. J. Drexel, the intimate friend of George W. Childs, and the richest private banker in America, of the Drexel Banking House, of Philadelphia, died at Carlsbad, Germany, June 30.

—The cut rates adopted by the northern transcontinental railroad lines are commanding the attention of the central and southern competitors, and are being met by counter cuts.

—Governor Altgeld, of Illinois, has pardoned the three Anarchists who have been in the State Prison since 1886, on life sentence, for complicity in the great Haymarket riot in Chicago.

—In view of the financial condition of the country President Cleveland has called an extra session of Congress, to convene Monday, August 7, at 12 o’clock noon, at the Capitol in Washington, D. C.

—In the vicinity of Aspen and Leadville, Colo., all the silver mines have shut down and hundreds of men are thrown out of work. And this is true of many other industries throughout the country.

—It is said that the Belgian Government proposes to convene a special conference of the Latin Union States for the purpose of considering what action they shall take in view of the recent fall in silver.

—The U. S. Consul General of Shanghai reports to the Washington authorities that there is no danger of a boycott of American trade on account of the Exclusion Law. Chinese merchants will buy in the market that offers the best inducements, regardless of other considerations.

—Advices from Morocco state that there is no diminution in the slave trade, batches of girls being sold publicly in Tangier and other towns. Like reports come from Zanzibar, on the east coast of Africa, where it is estimated that not less than 40,000 slaves are carried away every year.

—There is trouble and omens of war between France and Siam. A French gunboat was in the River at Bankok last week threatening to fire on the city, and the king was threatening to blockade the river’s mouth twenty miles below with sunken vessels. The dispute is in regard to the possession of certain territory.

—The will of the late Senator Stanford bequeathes $2,500,000 to the Leland Stanford Junior University, at Palo Alto, Cal.; $100,000 is given to each of the nephews and nieces of himself and Mrs. Stanford, with various other legacies. Mrs. Stanford is residuary legatee and sole executrix, with the power of disposing of the property by will or deed.

—The New River country in Louisiana is suffering terribly from unexpected floods, caused by a sudden enlargement of the break in the Mississippi levee, known as Rescue Crevasse. There is said to be from five to seven feet of water at Dutchtown, and in all the New River settlement, a distance of twenty-five miles, there was only one house with floor above water on the 2d inst.

—A Cleveland dispatch of June 28 says: “On account of the great depression in trade one after another of the great iron mines in the upper Michigan peninsula are shutting down indefinitely. These mines employ thousands of men, and are practically the sole support of whole towns in the peninsula. A protracted cessation of work is bound to result in widespread suffering.

—The newly-appointed governor general of Siberia is now in the United States, endeavoring to become acquainted with American industries, with a view to closer business relations between America and Siberia. The completion of the trans-Siberian railroad to the Pacific Coast is destined to create a new interest in that hitherto comparatively unknown region, and this new channel of business and travel will have an important relationship to the west coast of the United States.

—Bishop Taylor appeals to the U. S. Government in behalf of the little republic of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa. A few years ago England appropriated about 100 miles of the northwest portion, and now France is laying claim to seventy-three miles of the southern portion of the defenseless territory, known as the Ivory Coast. As all the European governments are in the gold game for African territory, the bishop thinks the United States is the only government in a position to defend Liberia.

—June 27 a daring revolt was made by sixteen State prisoners at Folsom, California, led by George Sontag, who is under life sentence for train robbery. In the fight which ensued, three prisoners were killed and four wounded, one fatally. Sontag was seriously wounded, and if he recovers will be a life cripple. The revolt was a failure, not a guardsman being injured, although many shots were fired at them. Sontag says he wanted to escape in order to liberate his brother John and Chris. Evans from Fresno jail, where they are confined on charges of murder and train robbing. But his brother at that very time was in a dying condition.

—As announced by Secretary Carlisle, the policy of the Administration will be, in view of the lack of funds, to rid the country of all Chinese who have entered unlawfully in violation of previously existing laws before endeavoring to send out those who came in lawfully but are under the ban of the Geary law because they failed to comply with its requirements of registration, etc.

—A bold attempt at train robbery was made thirty-five miles south of San Antonio, Texas, on the 28th ult. After killing the fireman, two of the three robbers ran off, and the third, finding his single-handed effort unavailing, also ran. The conductor gave chase with a revolver in hand, followed his man into the bush and captured him. The conductor will get the $1,000 standing reward for the capture of train robbers.

—Recent China advices state that on the 15th of May, without a word of warning, a crowd attacked and destroyed the front portion of the mission premises at Kiangtsin, on the Yangtze River. Three ladies in the building escaped over the roof into the house of a neighbor, where they were kindly received. Civil and military authorities came to the rescue before the work of destruction was completed, and several arrests were made.

—The Fresno (California) Canning Company has closed its doors. This will be a serious loss to the community. Many women and girls were last year employed, and $30,000 was paid out in wages alone. Large quantities of tomatoes that were planted for this cannery, will now have to find sale elsewhere or rot. Many tons of blackberries ripening will have to be disposed of elsewhere or they will be lost unless the cannery reopens.

—The financial crisis now affecting this and other countries is not confined to banks, but is sorely pressing manufacturing interests as well. Several cotton establishments in the vicinity of Philadelphia shut down last week. The silver mines of Idaho and Montana are being closed on account of the fall in the price of silver. The recent stoppage of silver coinage in India has had a blightening effect on the white metal the world over.