FOREIGN | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 29, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 43.

FOREIGN.

—A cable despatch announces the wrecking of the British steamer Luna by a cyclone in the Gulf of Aden.

—The last steamer from Australia to San Francisco brought ninety-five boxes of English sovereigns, valued at $2,375,000.

—The town of Kuroff, in the government of Lublin, Russian Poland, was almost totally destroyed by fire last week, and 3,000 people are left homeless.

—The railways from the seaports to upper and central India have reduced their freight rates on grain. This, it is said, will stimulate imports of wheat.

—Late advices from Adelaide say there has been a total failure of the harvest in the northern part of South Australia. Numbers of farmers have been ruined.

—The telegraph reports that a conflict occurred last week at the sultan's palace between the Turkish and Albanian Guards, several men on both sides being killed.

—The board of health of the City of Mexico has issued a circular to the bidders of all nations calling for tenders by November 14 for steam machinery to be used in the drainage of that city.

—A Paris despatch of the 20th inst. states that information from an Armenian correspondent had been received there to the effect that a terrible massacre had occurred at Van, Armenia, on the 3d inst. No details were given.

—A Sydney, N. S. W., cablegram says that the missionary ship Daispring has been wrecked near New Caledonia Island. The captain and seven men escaped in a boat, but the remaining nine persons are supposed to have perished.

—It is officially announced that the Venezuelan Government has secured a loan of $10,000,000 in Germany, and that a German bank is to be established at Caracas. Krupp, the famous gun maker, is president of the company making the loan.

—Two young Mormon missionaries, who went to the South Sea Islands in 1892, arrived in San Francisco on the 21st inst. In the four years of their absence they have established thirteen missions in three several groups of islands, where a few years before the Mormons had been banished by the French Government.

—A Paris correspondent states that Great Britain, Russia, and France have agreed upon a basis of policy with reference to Japan and China, while the Turkish, Mediterranean, and African questions are being arranged. The czar is anxious that the results may be obtained without bloodshed, and is supported by Italy and Austria.

—An escaped Chinese political offender was recently inveigled into the Chinese Legation buildings at London, and held for transportation. After much public indignation, the British premier interfered, and Dr. Sun Yat Sen was released. But it is said that the British Government did not dare to act until Russia had been consulted.

—A most sensational trial has just been concluded in Constantinople. Apik Effendi, a millionaire Armenian, has been condemned to three years' seclusion in a fortress. He was accused of being chief of the Revolutionary Committee; this charge was not substantiated, but his connection with the movement was established, and he was given the minimum penalty.

—Late oriental advices state that the insurrection in the Philippines is growing more formidable. The Hongkong papers say the condition of affairs is even more serious than at first reported. The province of Cavite is completely in the hands of the rebels, together with the arsenal and ship slip. The Spanish troops have made futile attempts to oust the rebels, and the effect of the repulses they have received has been direful. The result of these successes has been to strengthen the insurgent forces and to enlist sympathetic movements in other parts of the island.

—The last steamer from the Orient brings news of a disastrous tornado striking Tien-tsin, China. The result was the death of about one hundred natives, and an enormous destruction of property. The storm is described as follows: "At dusk long strips of varicolored clouds, lighted up by the setting sun, suddenly began to bend and twist into fantastic shapes, curling about one another like a nest of green, gray, red, and blue snakes. Gradually the whole mass took the form and shape of a funnel, and with terrific force bored through the atmosphere, the small end forward, toward the city. In sixty seconds it had skimmed the waters of the bay and run amuck over the town of Tien-tsin. All vessels in the path of the tornado were wrecked. In the town, tops of buildings, including corrugated iron, slate, and wooden roofs, were swept miles into the country."

—Reports from the Philippine Islands insurrection give some harrowing details. The rebels attacked the monastery at Cavite, and were stubbornly resisted by the priests; and when at last the attacking party succeeded in breaking in, they took terrible revenge. Several of the inmates were hanged in trees, and roasted to death by burning coal oil, while others were put to death by being cut up by piecemeal. The monastery has been made headquarters of the insurgents. On the other hand, the Spanish troops are said to be torturing their rebel prisoners to extort information from them.

—By the Australian steamer Monowai comes the following item of news: "On August 11 Baron von Norbeck, an Austrian scientist, and five companions, were murdered by treacherous natives on the island of Guadalcaner, in the Solomon group. The party had left the coast to explore a mountain in the interior, when they were set upon by a swarm of bushmen. Shortly before the attack the party had divided, and both detachments were surrounded by bloodthirsty cannibals, armed with axes and clubs. Quite a number of the natives were killed, but not until six of the white men had been chopped to death were the attacking party repulsed.

—The New York Herald's Constantinople correspondent gives the following particulars of one feature of Turkish troubles: "As regards the troubles at Lemnos, the truth is that while the British fleet was anchored in the port of Mudros, some sailors on liberty hired horses from some sheep-herders and went into the mountains, where they excited the Mussulmans' wrath by the violation of two Turkish women. On returning they met the demands of the shepherds for payment by thrashing them. Three hundred sailors landed at Mudros, ate and drank in the taverns, and then refused payment. They also entered Mussulmans' houses for low purposes, and beat the police and people."