DOMESTIC | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 1, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 39.

DOMESTIC.

—On the 26th ult., the Northern Illinois College, at Fulton, was destroyed by fire. Loss, $100,000.

—Following a custom of long standing in Europe, there is being held in San Francisco, this week, a meeting of the Episcopal bishops of the Pacific Coast.

—The orange and lemon yield of the southern orchards of California, it is estimated, will yield only a half crop, owing to severe weather late in the spring.

—In a fracas resulting from an attempt to arrest a Philadelphia saloonkeeper, on the 22 ult., for selling liquor without license and on Sunday, one man was killed and five wounded.

—An English syndicate has purchased the great Chino Ranch, in southern California, and proposes to locate upon it a European colony of 2,500 people within the next year and a half.

—Last week the people of Anderson County, Ky., turned in riotous force and destroyed all the turnpike toll-gates in the county. A year ago a vote had been taken to make the turnpikes free roads.

—On the 24th ult., at different points in New Mexico, five men were hanged for murder. Four others were to have been executed, but were, for some technical reason, granted an extension of time.

—Acting Secretary of the Navy McAdoo has forcibly reminded the lieutenant-commander in charge of one of the large cruisers, that swearing at, or harsh treatment of, enlisted men by officers of the navy is in violation of the regulations, and will not be tolerated.

—A Kansas City despatch of the 23d ult. says that eight representatives of local and foreign brewers comprising, a brewers' combine, were to-day held by the United States grand jury, charged with violation of the interstate commerce and conspiracy laws in fostering the trust.

—The formal opening of the San Joaquin Valley Railroad is to be celebrated at Fresno on the 5th inst. The line is 125 miles long, connecting at Stockton with water transportation to San Francisco. The people all along the route are rejoicing over what is deemed a permanent competing line.

—“The worst storm in ten years” is what the telegram says regarding the rainstorm in Colorado September 22 and 23. All the railroads suffered loss from washouts, and the main irrigating canal, which supplies the farmers in the valley around Grand Junction with water, was almost destroyed.

—The San Francisco Board of Health proposes to take a decided stand against making that city a dumping-ground for lepers. One was recently sent there from Mendocino County, and one from Los Angeles. There are now about a score of lepers in the city pest-house, in various stages of the disease.

—Gen. Nelson A. Miles, commander of the U. S. Army, is now on a tour of inspection of the Pacific Coast defenses. Extensive additions to the defensive armament of the harbor of San Francisco is said to be in contemplation. Engineers are already at work on fortifications for the defense of San Diego Bay.

—A fierce whirlwind and waterspout swept over Long Island Bay, on the coast of Rhode Island, September 24, turning over a yacht, some bathing-houses, many trees, and finally playing havoc in the corn fields. Sand from the bottom of the bay, at a depth of three or four feet, was hurled into the air, leaving the water, for some distance, almost double its usual depth.

—The Missouri Military Academy, near Mexico, was entirely destroyed by fire on the 24th ult. The loss on the building was $75,000, besides which there is a heavy loss in personal effects. Twenty-one students were injured, but none fatally. As the fire occurred early in the morning, while a hundred students were in bed, it is remarkable that all escaped alive, as many of them were obliged to jump from second or third story windows.

—Humanity under excitement is well illustrated by the following despatch from New Orleans, under date of the 24th ult.: “James Hawkins, a negro, slapped a five-year-old white child in Gretna last night, and officer Miller swore out a warrant for his arrest. When attempting to capture him about midnight, the officers fired into a crowd of negroes, killing Alexander and Arthur Green. Hawkins was later lodged in Gretna jail, but a mob broke the door down, took the man out, hanged him and threw his body into the river. Gretna is in Jefferson Parish, just across the river from this city.

—In consequence of the striking miners’ having begun the work of destroying property and rioting at Leadville, Colo., the town is now under martial law, and is occupied by troops. It is thought this virtually breaks the great strike, and miners are coming from other parts to take the places of the strikers. An idea of what martial law means may be gathered from the fact that a newspaper correspondent is under arrest for publishing the proceedings of a citizens’ meeting, after being ordered by the adjutant-general not to do so. The commander of the militia is absolute monarch for the time being.