DOMESTIC | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 42.

DOMESTIC.

—Charles A. Dana, the well-known New York editor, was buried at Glen Cove, N. Y., on October 20.

—A general conference of Catholic archbishops convened at Washington on October 19 to consider the policy and administration of the church in America.

—The gunboat Detroit has been sent to the eastern coast of Guatemala for the purpose of protecting American interests there during the rebellion now in progress.

—George M. Pullman, the millionaire palace-car manufacturer, died at his home in Chicago on the morning of October 19. He is said to have left a fortune of nearly $40,000,000.

—Admiral John L. Worden, who commanded the Monitor in her duel with the Confederate ram Merrimac in Hampton Roads, died at his home in Washington, D. C., on October 18.

—New York's pneumatic mail tube has been given an official test and proved eminently satisfactory. The carriers, weighing twelve pounds, were sent at the rate of a mile in thirty seconds.

—Alexander de Soto, a lineal descendant of the explorer, will head an expedition, under the auspices of the New York Bowery Mission, to carry the Gospel into the Klondike mining regions.

—Hon. John M. Kasson, of Iowa, has been chosen by President McKinley to have charge of negotiations with foreign countries in matters of reciprocity, especially affecting international commerce.

—The dome of the Robinson Opera House at Cincinnati fell in upon the occupants of the theater on the evening of October 15, killing three persons and injuring more or less seriously thirty others.

—Examination of the moon through the new Yerkes telescope is said to disprove the proposition put forward by eminent French astronomers that the moon is inhabited and that rivers can be seen upon it.

—The annual report of the third assistant postmaster-general shows an excess of expenditures over receipts for the year of $11,411,779, being about $3,000,000 more than the deficiency for the preceding year.

—A decision of the Supreme Court handed down on October 18 renders void the claims of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company to nearly three-quarters of a million acres of land in southern California.

—The appeal of the case of the San Francisco murderer, W. H. T. Durrant, to the Supreme Court of the United States, will be heard by that tribunal on November 15, and a decision rendered within thirty days from that date.

—Secretary Gage has overruled Attorney-General McKenna's construction of the discriminating clause in the new tariff schedules, and the duty of ten per cent, charged against goods coming into the United States from foreign countries through Canada or Mexico, is to be collected.

—A mysterious, poisonous plant has been discovered near Circle City, Alaska, to taste which means a loss of consciousness for several weeks, if the report given by a returned prospector is authentic. L. Goth, of Seattle, Wash., partook of this plant and experienced this peculiar effect, together with almost complete muscular paralysis.

—At the Christian Alliance meeting in New York on October 17 Rev. A. B. Simpson secured donations for the support of foreign missionaries to the extent of $78,000. A donation of similar proportions was secured by the same speaker at a meeting of this body in Maine one year ago.

—It is reported that steps are now being taken to postpone the foreclosure sale of the Union Pacific road in the hope that higher bids may be received than the $50,000,000 guaranteed by the reorganization syndicate, to accept which it is claimed that the government would lose $22,000,000.

—The Secretary of War has issued an order creating a military reservation in Alaska, including St. Michael Island and contiguous territory within a radius of 100 miles of the flagstaff on that island. A tract of land at Tanana has also been taken possession of for a military reservation.

—One of the clerks of the Treasury department has been caught extracting silver dollars from the bags of coin in the vault and substituting their weight in lead. This occurrence will necessitate the recounting of $100,000,000, at an expense to the government of $25,000, and will occupy six months.

—There is little change in the fever situation in the south, except a slight increase in the number under treatment. Several cases and one death are reported from Montgomery, Alabama. There have been reported during the week 214 new cases, with 21 deaths, at the principal centers of the disease.

—The remarkable speed of two miles in sixty-six seconds was developed by the Hollman friction-geared locomotive, carrying a train of three cars, in a trial run between Camden, N. J., and Cape May, on October 14. This is the fastest time on record. A measured mile the same afternoon was carried in forty-two seconds.