News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 12, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 53.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 5.

RELIGIOUS.

—The Presbyterian Church of Hempstead, R. I., celebrated its 250th anniversary with a three-days jubilee beginning October 23.

—President Cleveland has appointed Thursday, the 29th inst., "as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, to be kept and observed by all the people of the land."

—Bishop Marty, of South Dakota diocese, has sent out letters to the priests of the State urging them to use their influence for the reëlection of Senator Pettigrew.

—Rev. J. Herndon Garnett, of San Jose, Cal., who created quite a sensation some time ago by renouncing the Baptist ministry for that of Unitarianism, has returned to the old fold. The pretext for his former defection was that he wanted greater freedom than he could exercise in the Baptist Church.

—A recent number of the Outlook, New York, contained the following advertisement: "WANTED—A minister for a progressive country parish. Must be young and married, a Republican, and interested in social and club work. Salary, $1,200 and parsonage. An overgraduate preferred. Address Supply Committee, Hartford, Vermont."

—Mr. Vivekananda, the high priest from India, who made a sensation at the World's Parliament of Religions, and who has since remained in this country to expound Brahminism, has found a new pretext for denouncing American Christianity. In the city of Baltimore, recently, he was denied admittance to several hotels on account of his dusky color.

—In defending the American Protective Association, the Pacific Christian says: "Many have been informed that the business of the association is to make war on the Catholic religion. There never was a greater mistake. The order stands for religious liberty." But in any representative A. P. A. organ we can find emphasized the slogan that no Roman Catholic is to be elected to any office. If the fact that a man is a Catholic is alone to exclude him from office, what is it but war on the Catholic religion. We personally know a man, an American, in full harmony with the order, who was refused membership because his wife is a nominal Catholic, although she too is an American and never attends the church. Such "religious liberty" is of the very kind that Catholics advocate in countries where they have full sway. The claim of opposing Catholic political methods and not the Catholic religion is the veriest delusion, for Catholic politics is Catholic religion, and intrigue for political prestige is the main shaft in the machinery for propagating the Catholic religion.

SECULAR.

—It is said that the insurrection in Peru has completely paralyzed business.

—The little Central American republic of Salvador has decided to exclude Chinese immigrants.

—At a tenement house fire in New York on the 30th ult. seven people were smothered to death.

—A snowshed on the Union Pacific Railroad, at Sherman, Wyo., 800 feet long, was burned on the 31st ult.

—Some miners from the Yukon country in Alaska, recently arrived at Tacoma, Wash., with 100 pounds of gold dust.

—The burning of warehouses and 4,000 bales of cotton in New Orleans, on the 4th inst., caused a loss of $150,000.

—Fourteen Whitecaps were recently arrested in Sevier County, Tenn., on account of a fight in which three men were killed.

—The Oakland Iron Works, this city, were destroyed by fire on the night of the 31st ult. Loss estimated at about $50,000.

—The American Board of Foreign Missions has a late dispatch stating that a fire in Radjin, in Galicia, Turkey, left 2,000 people homeless.

—A Gibraltar dispatch says that an Italian vessel was recently boarded by pirates off the African coast, and robbed of 1,000 cases of petroleum.

—On the night of October 29 a fire in the trimming goods establishment of Porter & Co., Pittsburg, caused a loss on building and stock of $350,000.

—It is reported that the San Francisco and Hongkong steamer Gaelic has been seized by the Japanese at Yokohama on a charge of carrying contraband articles.

—The steamer Toremes struck Crow Rock, near Milford Haven, Wales, on the 31st ult., and twenty-one men, including all the officers, were drowned. Only seven men were saved.

—The bright hopes that have been entertained for the use of the bicycle by army postmen have been blasted by exhaustive experiments in Germany, France, and Austria.

—The recent fall in the price of wheat may be hard on the farmers, but it is causing the people of some Eastern cities to rejoice because of the corresponding fall in the price of bread.

—A fire on Pine Street, San Francisco, on the 4th inst., destroyed property to the value of $270,000. The principal loss fell upon the grocery establishment of Goldburg, Bowen & Lebenbaum.

—The Polish papers announce the arrest of an Austrian general on the charge of selling to Russia plans of Austrian fortifications. The paper says that Russia paid the officer 1,000,000 florins for the plans.

—The editor of the People's Advocate, of Ripley, Tenn., has been fined $1,000 for in a sensational manner calling a mass meeting and threatening bloodshed on election day. He was charged with sedition.

—The Chinese Six Companies have issued a notice warning Chinamen throughout California not to give evidence for government in cases involving the exclusion or deportation of Chinese. Otherwise they will be boycotted.

—Workmen of Pullman, Ill., are starting a coöperative car manufacturing company at Hiawatha, Kan., on capital furnished by capitalists of that place and vicinity. Thirty-four families left Pullman for Hiawatha on the 4th inst.

—A severe earthquake shock was experienced in the City of Mexico on the 2d inst. Many houses were damaged, and men and horses fell in the street. The damage to property within the radius of the shock is estimated at $250,000.

—Anarchists are again reported at work in London. A bomb was exploded in front of the residence of Lord Brett on the night of the 4th inst., the threshold being blown to pieces, and a large concrete slab carried across the street.

—Governor West, of Utah, says that the dumping of the California "industrial army" in that Territory last summer entailed an expense of $3,000, and unless the Southern Pacific Company reimburses the Territory, suit will be brought to recover that amount.

—The uncertainty of wills is illustrated in the fact that Thaddeus Stevens, an eminent lawyer, made provision in his will for an industrial home for boys in Lancaster, Pa., but the matter has passed through twenty-six years of litigation and the home is not yet built.

—A British fleet of over twenty war ships is being mobilized at Shanghai, and a Russian fleet of twelve vessels is gathered at Che-Foo. It is said that Great Britain has secretly asked the king of Korea to cede Fort Hamilton, on condition of reciprocal assistance.

—M. Zola, the noted French author, who has greatly offended the Catholics by his book purporting to give the truth about the famous shrine at Lourdes, recently visited Rome. He was accorded a grand reception by members of the press, but was denied an interview with the pope.

—A press dispatch from Buenos Ayres states that the Argentine Congress has voted $1,000,000 for the sufferers by the earthquake in the provinces of San Juan and La Rioja. Slight shocks continue to be felt in both provinces. Large quantities of food are being sent for the relief of the sufferers.

—Fifty-seven American-born Chinese have registered in San Francisco, and will vote at the State election. It is said that there are 2,000 in the State that may vote two years hence. As they all vote at the dictation of their bosses, they may become a dangerous factor in politics, especially in the city of San Francisco.

—Ten tons of lead are at Tacoma, Wash., awaiting shipment to Japan, but the collector wants advices from Washington before allowing the freight to be shipped. Both China and Japan have declared lead contraband of war, but it is claimed that this particular lot was contracted for and engaged in freight before the war was declared.

—A recent dispatch from Shanghai states that the empress of China has committed suicide by taking poison. The reason is said to have been a rebuke by her husband, and that he slapped her face. The emperor never loved his wife, whom he was urged by the empress dowager to marry, when he came to the throne, at the age of 18. Thus ended five years of unhappy wedded life amid the splendors of an oriental capital.

—A stage driver named Arthur Meyer was shot and killed by a footpad on the road near Nevada City, Cal., on the 30th ult., for refusing to come down from his seat on demand. The only passenger jumped from the stage and ran away, several shots being fired after him without effect. The robber then ran away also, without disturbing the treasure box. The passenger procured assistance and returned to the stage, when it was driven on to Nevada City.

—President Cleveland is to arbitrate certain differences between Italy and Brazil. The Italian Government claims for certain citizens indemnity for losses to a line of steamers and stoppage of railroad contracts during the late rebellion in Brazil. It is also alleged that Italians were forced to serve in the Brazilian army during the rebellion.

—A Mr. Allen, of Melbourne, Australia, is credited with the invention of a new electric submarine torpedo boat, which can be submerged in the water and run as fast as a surface boat. Naval officers have expressed the opinion that it will in a measure revolutionize naval warfare. It is claimed that the boat may be kept submerged for three days.

—The steamer Wairapa, from Sydney, N. S. W., for Auckland, N. Z., was wrecked on the rocks of Great Barrier Island, October 31, and 58 passengers, the captain, and 20 of the crew were drowned while attempting to get ashore. The survivors, 81 passengers and 40 of the crew, report terrible scenes of suffering, both during the wreck and after gaining the shore.

—The czar of Russia, Alexander III., died at Lividia, on the 1st inst. His son, who is now Nicholas II., has been proclaimed czar. The celebration of this event was attended to prior to the public mourning for the dead czar. Nicholas II. is just 27 years old, and has just married Princess Alix, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Of course all Europe will feel uneasy until the young ruler's disposition and policy shall have been developed.

—The Japanese seem to be still marching on to victory. China is making preparations—borrowing money and raising armies—for a prolonged war. The fact that English capital is being loaned to China will no doubt at some time become a pretext for Great Britain to take a hand in the contest, for the protection of the interests of her citizens. As was foreshadowed at the outset, Japan's ultimate success depends upon prompt action, and the little island government is apparently aware of this fact.