p. 927 | SECULAR | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 17, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 58.

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SECULAR.

—Earthquake shocks still continue in Italy.

—The net gold reserve in the U. S. Treasury, December 7, was $107,957,562.

—A recent cable announces the arrival of the U. S. S. Baltimore at Chee-Foo.

—The Denver chief of police has decided to allow no more prize fights in that city.

—Arizona and New Mexico have applied for Statehood. The prospects are favorable.

—Count Ferdinand de Lesseps died December 7, at his home, La Chesnaye, France, at the age of eighty-nine.

—Congress assembled according to appointment the 3d inst., and is now assimilating the President's message of 15,000 words.

—Mr. Cramp has just received from the Navy Department $434,000, the speed premium earned by the Minneapolis on her trial trip.

—Advices from Richmond, Ky., announce the death of a student of Central University from injuries sustained while playing modern football.

—Japan's aim seems to be to humiliate to the depths her big opponent. From latest reports China must sue for peace in the humblest style if she wishes it.

—Work was formally begun the 7th inst. on the great Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago. The site is on the shores of William's Bay, Lake Geneva.

—Advices from Guthrie, O. T., state that a posse of 250 farmers has started for the Gyp Hills with the intention of wiping out the horse and cattle thieves infesting the territory.

—The vessels seized by the Japanese in the capture of Port Arthur, the key to China, are one torpedo boat, two merchant coasters, and a small cruiser, which was being built there.

—It is stated by late dispatches that Li Hung Chang is to be succeeded by Liu Kun Yih. Some trouble is anticipated when the latter attempts to take over the vice-regal seals.

—Chicago's Health Department is visiting and examining the city's bake shops. The first day's investigation reports an astounding condition of carelessness, filth, and disease.

—A trolley car on the Mt. Vernon line in Bronxdale, N. Y., overturned at a curve and slid considerable distance on its side. It was traveling very fast, and the occupants were severely shaken and cut up.

—The German Reichstag opened at noon, Wednesday. A characteristic speech was delivered by Emperor William from the throne. He expressed it as the foremost duty of the government to protect the working classes.

—Students of the California State University have just indulged in a haze. The victim was guilty of cheering and assisting members of an opposition football team. The spirit of hazing has slumbered a number of years heretofore in this institution.

—A bill was introduced in the Senate December 5, to form a temporary government of the five civilized Indian tribes in Indian Territory, with regularly appointed governor, secretary, and assembly. The proposed name of the new division is Indianola.

—Latest advises from our neighbors on the south indicate a very excited state of affairs between Mexico and Nicaragua. The ill feeling threatens to draw in all the Central American States. If the only means of settlement is war, Mexico will probably whip them all.

—Two parties returning from the gold and diamond fields of South Africa, report the best claims, especially those in Mashonaland, in the hands of a syndicate. They also report that gambling is not allowed in the colonies. The latter feature, if true, is certainly commendable.

—The Thursday evening express on the Texas and Pacific Railroad was held up by three bandits near Fort Worth, Texas, and relieved of over $100,000, in gold bullion. The train was delayed only fifteen minutes, and the work is pronounced the boldest in the history of Texas train robberies.

—A report from Washington states that Professor Langley has just put his aeroplane to a practical test. When released, it jumped into the air against the breeze, and, after floating for some distance, alighted upon the water. The trial was pronounced a success, but the report does not state whether the inventor sailed with the machine or not.

—Even the Reichstag has its trials and worriments. The president, Von Levetzow, made a reminiscent speech, and called for cheers for the emperor. The Socialists remained seated and silent, in spite of the angry protests of the other members. A great uproar followed, each side attempting to justify positions taken. Herr Singer, the champion of the Socialists, made a bitter attack upon the emperor, and was called to order by the president. The debate that followed was interspersed with remarks on this unusual exercise of party and personal feeling. Thus ended the first sitting.

—Fifty gallons of nitro-glycerine exploded behind a runaway team in West Virginia, last Thursday, and all that has been thus far found is a ten-foot hole in the solid rock, over which the wagon was passing, and a piece of horse collar. The explosion was heard forty miles away. The driver fell from the wagon a few minutes before the final act.

—A railroad express car, said to be bullet proof, is being constructed in Chicago. The car has a double floor and double roof, and at each end is a messenger's compartment, from which he may shoot along the sides of the car from outwardly swinging sections provided with portholes, or from which he can command the interior of the car with safety to himself.

—News from Chicago state that on the evening of December 8 a party of young people, while waiting at the Lyons depot of the Burlington road, were struck by a suburban train. Miss Ida Schultz was killed outright, her brother Edward perhaps fatally injured, and another brother, Emil, narrowly escaped death. It would seem that such accidents could be avoided.

—Concerning the recent alleged slaughter of Armenians, it is claimed by Turkish authorities that Turkish troops have not exceeded the requirements of civilized warfare in dealing with bands of insurgent Armenians, who have been during the past few months pillaging Mussulman villages. A commission has been appointed to investigate the truthfulness of the reports. President Cleveland will send an American delegate.

—The latest novelty in detective work is a telephone in a hat. A well-known Chicago lawyer, desiring certain evidence, arranged a transmitter in the crown of his client's hat, placed a small battery in his pocket, and connected these by means of very fine wire with a receiver one hundred feet away. Thus equipped, Dr. Janss, the client, met the party to be interviewed, and was conducted through several doors with the wire trailing from his heel. The conversation was recorded at the other end of the wire, and the information thus gained so overwhelmed the interviewed party that it brought forth a complete confession in the presence of witnesses.

—In the recent storm that visited this coast, lightning and thunder played a conspicuous part. These visitors are of such rare occurrence in the vicinity of San Francisco that they are worthy of notice. In Sausalito a hotel in course of construction was struck by lightning and completely demolished. In its fall other buildings were damaged to the extent of several thousand dollars. The residence of Julius Franklin, 2930 California Street, San Francisco, was also struck, twisting a large chandelier, fusing the connections, and destroying the electric light system in the house. This is the first instance known of lightning striking a building in San Francisco.

—The electrical museum of Cornell University has received a valuable souvenir from Stephen Vail, whose father, Alfred Vail, was associated with Samuel F. B. Morse in the invention and development of the electric telegraph. Vail invented the semaphore, or sounder, and the alphabetical code based on the divisions of time and space, which are often attributed to Morse. The first telegraph line was one constructed by Vail in his father's iron works at Morristown, N. J., and consisted of three miles of wire stretched around the four sides of a large room. The transmission of the message, "A patient waiter is no loser," over this line by Alfred Vail, is the first historic instance of a message sent by telegraph, and led to an appropriation by Congress for the construction of the line between Baltimore and Washington, with which Ezra Cornell, the founder of Cornell University, was prominently identified.