News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 29, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 51.

News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 22.

RELIGIOUS.

—The Congregational Church of Santa Monica, Cal., has incorporated as "The Prohibition Congregational Church."

—The last report of the numerical strength of the Presbyterian Church of California was 228 churches, 267 ministers, and 20,138 communicants. The amount of money raised for home and foreign missions was about $33,000.

—Miss Lucy, daughter of General Booth, of the Salvation Army, was married, in London, to Colonel Hellberg, of the army. The ceremony was witnessed by thousands of people. The couple will go to India to engage in missionary work.

—Rev. J. T. Andrews, a Presbyterian minister, has been expelled by the Ohio Synod for preaching that "Saturday is the true Sabbath." In other words, he was expelled for preaching the plain word of God, that is, for preaching the gospel.

—The Christian Endeavor Union of this county has gone into politics in earnest. A committee is passing judgment upon the various party tickets, and selecting such names as are to be presented for church members to support. Of course candidates are to be selected on a Sunday-closing qualification, that being the issue put forth by the Union, prompted by the leading Protestant ministers.

—From time to time individuals who have in various ways wrongfully obtained money from the government have repented and made restitution. In the Treasury Department the money thus returned is called the Conscience Fund. Some religious denominations that formerly sought and received government aid for their denominational schools are now proclaiming that such use of public money is unconstitutional. They have come to this conclusion because the Catholics were beating all other denominations combined at the unconstitutional game. But those who have ceased making the unlawful demand have as yet said nothing about restitution. If the money was wrongfully obtained, as it confessedly was, ought it not to be returned?

—To some queries in regard to the Sabbath question, emanating from interested parties in Jersey City, N. J., the secretary of Cardinal Gibbons replied as follows, under date of the 5th inst.: "In reply to yours of October 3 the cardinal requests me to say that it was by the sanction and authority of the Catholic Church that the first day of the week rather than the seventh is kept holy. Her ruling in the matter was incorporated with civic custom by Constantine the Great, and ever since the Christian world has been following her custom. Certainly the Scriptures give no command to celebrate the Sunday instead of the Saturday. The reasons were that they rested to commemorate our Lord's resurrection and the coming down of the Holy Ghost, which occurred on the first day of the week. The authority is contained in this text: 'What you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,' and in the power which Christ gave the apostles and their successors to rule the church of God."

—Papal Delegate Satolli had a rather warm interview with a delegation of members of St. Joseph's Church, Paterson, N. J., on the 20th inst. He had just arrived from Quebec and stopped at the house of Father Smith, pastor of St. Joseph's, against whom a strong party in the church had a grievance. The delegation called early in the morning and requested an interview, which was refused at that time. But they refused to go away until they had seen the apostolic delegate. The interview is reported to have been quite exciting, the spokesman declaring that it was shameful to send a man from Italy to settle American affairs who cannot speak the English language. Satoli said the church had insulted him at Washington by bringing an apostate to him, to which the spokesman replied: "You will make more apostates. You came here as the guest of a man who is under charges that the bishop of the diocese has admitted to be serious. Your conduct is unworthy of the highest representative of the Catholic Church in this country; your conduct is an insult to American Catholics."

SECULAR.

—The coal expense of the U. S. Navy for the last fiscal year was $640,355.

—France is sending 15,000 troops to Madagascar, six steamships being required as transports.

—The first snow of the season was experienced in several districts of Germany on the 17th inst.

—Reports from New York show that the tide of travel across the Atlantic is still toward the east.

—A late Calcutta dispatch brings news of the death of the ameer of Afghanistan. To the last he is said to have exhorted his eldest son to maintain friendly relations with the British Government.

—At a recent bullfight at Puebla, Mexico, one of the animals broke the inclosure and severely injured eight persons.

—Advices from San Domingo state that a cyclone recently wrecked 700 houses there, and greatly damaged the coffee crop in Haiti.

—Nine police officers recently dismissed in New York have been charged with extortion, and held for trial in bonds of $5,000 to $7,500.

—California raisins are said to be crowding out the Valencia product in the New York market, owing to better quality and lower prices.

—A political conspiracy is reported in Caracas, Venezuela, and leading army officers are said to be implicated. Several arrests have resulted.

—At Orangeburg, S. C., on the 21st inst., five negroes were lynched on suspicion that they were the murderers of County Treasurer Robert Copes.

—Earle E. Frauenthal, of St. Louis, attempted to remove a broken electric wire that was dangling near some children at play, and was instantly killed.

—A large naphtha spring at Grosny, Russia, took fire one day last week, the flames spreading to the adjacent buildings, and seventeen men were burned to death.

—At St. Petersburg, on the 16th inst., thirty students in the Technological Institute were arrested by the police and charged with being Nihilist conspirators.

—A fire in the railroad buildings at Riviere de Loup, on the St. Lawrence River, Quebec, destroyed railroad property to the value of $200,000, on the 20th inst.

—It is said that after the 1st of November the Southern Pacific Company will dispense with its detective force, and give all such business to private detective agencies.

—The wife of one of Chicago's millionaires has been indicted by the grand jury for attempting to bribe a juryman in a case wherein her husband was an interested party.

—A Buda-Pest, Hungary, dispatch of the 20th inst. reports an explosion of fire damp in a colliery, resulting in the death of fifteen miners and the wounding of twenty or more others.

—The municipal council of Berlin has, by a close vote, rejected a proposal of the Socialists to establish an eight-hour day as the legal standard for all workingmen employed by the city.

—An American schooner is loading lumber at Westminster, B. C., for San Francisco, and is to bring down the first cargo under the new tariff law. Lumbermen attach much interest to the result.

—The report has been confirmed that a Chinese steamer laden with rice and 200 soldiers, bound for Formosa, was accidentally sunk September 3, and all excepting a few members of the crew were drowned.

—Queen Regent Christina, of Spain, has instructed the government to prosecute the proprietors and managers of several Catholic papers which asserted that she had caused the young king to be enrolled as a Freemason.

—The election returns in Belgium indicate extensive victories for the church party, especially in the capital, where it is said that eighteen Catholics have won seats in the Chamber of Representatives formerly occupied by Liberals.

—It is said that the introduction of hypnotism in dentistry by the Dental School of the Minnesota State University, is causing quite a stir of opposition among the dental fraternity of the older school, although some flattering results are reported.

—At Colusa, Cal., twenty-two patients are suffering from the effects of strychnine poison, traces of which were found in the coffeepot by the physician. It is supposed that the work was done by a Chinese, who, on account of trouble with the steward, had been discharged.

—It is said that a strong party of the army, the clergy, and the students is being formed in Russia for the purpose of putting Grand Duke George on the throne instead of his brother, the czarowitz, in the event of the death of the czar. On the other hand, it is said that George is dying.

—Señor Castelar, the noted Spanish statesman, recently had an interview with the pope, and immediately afterward was called upon by Premier Crispi, of Italy. Castelar expressed great confidence in the ability of the pope to do much to promote international peace.

—M. Pingault, a popular Paris broker, has been arrested for attempting to steal away with $750,000 belonging to Baron Hirsch, the noted Hebrew philanthropist. The money was the proceeds of a large sugar deal, and the broker was caught as he was about to leave the city. He made full confession.

—Two giant powder explosions occurred on the drainage canal being constructed near Joliet, Ill., one on the evening of the 20th inst. and one on the morning of the 21st. The result of the first was two men killed and one injured; the second caused the death of three men, and three others were injured.

—A leading St. Petersburg paper says that in the event of the military intervention of Great Britain in Afghanistan, Russia will be compelled to take similar action, and joint action upon the part of Great Britain and Russia will necessarily lead to the partition of Afghanistan between these two powers.

—It is announced that the princess of Wales and her daughters have set fashionable society and their middle-class imitators all agog by adopting the tricycle as a means of exercise. It is expected that this will greatly revive the tricycle fad, which had become almost obsolete through the popularity of the bicycle.

—A desperate attack was made on a passenger train near Wagoner, I. T., on the night of the 20th inst., by a party of outlaws. They secured but little, it is thought, but five men are reported to have been shot. Nearly all the car windows were broken. The train was stopped at a siding by pushing an empty car on the main track.

—Some very wealthy and influential Chinese have been arrested at Chicago and charged with arson. After the arrests it was discovered that notices were posted in China town offering $500 to any Chinese who would kill either of the two officers who had caused the arrests. Witnesses against the accused Chinese are also threatened with revenge.

—One of the outlaws connected with the recent train robbery at Quantico, Va., was captured at Cumberland, Md., on the 17th inst. He had on his person over $1,000 in cash, mostly greenbacks, bearing certain marks identifying them as having been sent by the Adams Express Company. He also carried revolvers, several watches, and other valuables.

—It is claimed that the Portuguese settlement at Lourenzo Marques, Delagoa Bay, South Africa, is unable to hold out against the Kaffirs. Marines landed from a British gunboat are protecting British residents. A Johannesburg dispatch says forces are being raised for relief of the settlement of Lourenzo, while settlers on Delagoa Bay are said to be fleeing to Natal on ships.

—Rev. Wolff and wife, who have been active missionaries in Alaska, and especially hostile to the sale of whisky, recently took up a residence in Alameda, Cal. They had been there but a short time when one night they were assaulted in their bedchamber and almost killed. At first the deed was attributed to burglars, but now it is surmised by the detectives that it is the work of emissaries of the Alaska whisky ring.

—A colored man was recently convicted of an assault upon a white woman in Fayette County, Ohio. He was sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary, but a strong mob concluded that they could dispense a better quality of justice. So they attempted to take him out of the jail at Washington and lynch him. In defending the prisoner against the mob, the militia fired upon the crowd, killing three men and wounding eight.

—The Armenian residents of New York are said to be greatly excited over rumors that several of their countrymen, who recently returned to Armenia, have been put to death. It is also alleged that the persons so arrested were members of the Huchagists, a secret order whose object is to free Armenia from Turkish control by means similar to those employed by Socialists and Nihilists. Many of the New York Armenians belong to this order.

—The Protestant ministers of San Francisco, at a recent meeting, resolved that, while acknowledging the constitutional right of the Catholic Church to carry on its church work, it is necessary to have some organization to counteract, at the ballot box, her interference in political affairs. They also resolved to keep the issue before their congregations; but in the controversy they distinctly discourage anything like the unchristian boycott, or interference with the freedom of speech.

—The approaching death of the czar is causing unusual hurry in the matter of the marriage of the czarowitz and Princess Alix of England, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The marriage necessitates three distinct ceremonies—reconciliation to the Orthodox Greek Church, betrothal, and the marriage. It is said that renunciation of former faith will be made specially easy in the case of Princess Alix. She will be spared the humiliation of pronouncing a curse upon the religion which she renounces, as is commonly required of proselytes. Other portions of the ceremony that might be too disagreeable to sensitive royalty will also be omitted.

THE SECOND ADVENT.—Assorted Tract Package No. 3, contains 96 pages; price, 10 cents. Subjects considered—The Coming of the Lord, Is the End Near? Can We Know? The Signs of the Times, The Judgment, and The Second Advent of Our Lord. Address, Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.

THE PROHIBITION PARTY AND FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE. Showing how a political party, on a specially moral pretext, really advocates the religious enslavement of the people. 4 pp.; $1.00 per hundred, Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal.