News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jul 1, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 25.

FOREIGN.

—There are said to be actually 16,000 sick soldiers in the government hospitals in Cuba.

—Twenty persons were killed and ninety injured by a cyclone near Paris, France, on June 18.

—The Greater Republic of Central America is making arrangements for a general currency for use in all five of the countries comprising that union.

—President Faure, of France, has consented to act as arbiter in the boundary dispute between the Central American republic and Costa Rica and Colombia.

—A report from Athens states that Emperor William has requested the sultan to evacuate Thessaly. No settlement has yet been reached in the peace negotiations of the powers.

—The queen of England is now said to be suffering from almost total blindness. The malady is a most unusual one, a peculiar film having formed over the retina of the eye, which it is impossible to remove.

—Fort Mogoles, near Santa Clara, Cuba, has fallen into the hands of the Cubans after a spirited battle, in which most of its defenders were slain. All the ammunition was captured and most of the survivors were taken prisoners.

—Anti-foreign riots have broken out in the province of Kian-Si, China. The English mission at Wu-Chen has been destroyed, and the refugees have arrived at Kin-Kiang. The Catholic mission was saved by the intervention of troops.

—Stories of shocking cruelties are now coming from the little town of Guiñes, Cuba. The new mayor of that place has christened his office by slaughtering innocent men and women and heaping their unburied bodies near a cave one mile from the city.

—A Havana despatch to the New York Sun states that the railway train which was blown up last week by the insurgents carried $200,000 in $5.00 gold pieces. This was secured by the Cubans and will be sent to New York to purchase arms and ammunition.

—Extensive strikes and other labor demonstrations are reported from the manufacturing centers of Russia. It is stated that the authorities are unable to cope with the difficulty. Sixty of the advocates of a general strike have been imprisoned, and will be sent to Siberia.

—The Uruguayan rebels have won another victory over the government troops. The battle was a severe one and hotly contested, resulting in much loss of life on both sides. The government forces are being reënforced and preparing for a decisive engagement.

—Fuller reports from the recent earthquakes in India state that the ruin in the province of Assam is appalling. It is estimated that 6,000 lives were lost. Almost the whole of that province has been laid waste, and renewed shocks have been reported from various parts of Bengal.

—It is reported that since January 1 Spain has expended $8,100,000 on her navy; and orders have recently been received at Havana to transform twenty of the best transatlantic liners into armed cruisers for use in West Indian waters, in view of the strained relations existing between Spain and the United States.

—The town of Tehuantepec, Mexico, containing 15,000 inhabitants, was completely destroyed by an earthquake last week. Every house in the town was shaken down, and the inhabitants are living in tents. Not many fatalities are reported, as the destructive shock was preceded by lighter ones, giving plenty of time for escape.

—A riot occurred at Dublin, Ireland, on June 21, in connection with the celebration there of the queen's Jubilee. A mob bearing a black flag came in collision with a squad of students who were bearing the Union Jack, and a fight ensued in which several were injured. The Irish members of parliament have refused to join in the Jubilee proceedings.

—A despatch to the New York World from Havana states that extermination in the island is an appalling, actual fact. The death rate is increasing, and during the next few months it is expected that it will be doubled. Spanish soldiers and pacificos are dying side by side of the pestilence. A Spanish medical official estimates that if the war continues fifteen months longer, the entire western end of the island will be depopulated.

—The superstitious inhabitants of some of the interior provinces of China, through which the new Chinese railroad is to be constructed, are preparing to make sacrifices of children to propitiate the Chinese devil and thus forestall any fatal accidents that may occur on the road, for they consider him responsible for such casualties. So strong is this superstition that it is feared even government interference will not be able to completely hold it in check.

—Primo de Rivera, the new governor-general of the Philippines, has reached the islands and finds about 50,000 armed rebels to contend with, who, it is expected, will soon make an attack upon the principal towns of the islands. In a recent engagement the Spanish troops suffered a severe defeat, and the rebels are making preparations for active hostilities during the rainy season which is now on, when the Spanish will be least able to cope with them.

—June 20 to June 26, inclusive, was Jubilee week throughout all England's possessions, and was likewise observed by all loyal subjects throughout the world in whatever nation they chanced to be. The celebration was in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne of Britain. An extensive program was provided to cover the entire week. Sunday, June 20, was accession day, and was honored by special services in every Church of England Church in the world. On Monday the imperial and royal guests and the diplomatic representatives of other nations were received at Buckingham Palace. The principal event of the week was Tuesday's imperial parade, which was characterized as the grandest moving spectacle of modern times. Military and official representatives of every country subject to the queen took part in the great pageant, in which Victoria herself rode behind her eight cream-colored Hanoverian horses gorgeously caparisoned and decked with royal blue and bullion fringe. The celebrations of the week closed with the review of the fleet at Spithead by the Prince of Wales.