SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 21, 1878

SECULAR NEWS.

—The death of Jefferson Davis, Jr., leaves the ex-President of the Southern Confederacy without a relative by the name of Davis.

—Thursday afternoon and evening, Nov. 14, rain fell in various parts of California; in the Santa Clara, Napa, and Sonoma valleys, and reported also at Colusa, Stockton, and Merced.

—The managers of the failing bank of Glasgow, Scotland, have been denied the privilege of bail. Swindling will probably not be as popular in Scotland as it is in the United States.

—United States officers are placing under arrest, in various parts of the South, officers of the late election for corrupt practices in preventing a free vote. There will be many seats contested, and it is expected that much fraud will be exposed.

—A revolt, accompanied by a terrible massacre by the natives, has occurred on the island of New Caledonia, in Australasia. Men, women and children, were alike murdered in the most barbarous manner. The revolt was not yet suppressed at the latest intelligence from the island.

—The opening of the Suez canal has proved the ruin of the overland trade by caravans to Bagdad and the Persian Gulf, which formerly supported ancient Damascus. Many of its houses and shops are now empty, and its streets are filled with beggars, where they were formerly a rarity.

—Trade between this country and Japan began in 1859, and during the first year amounted to but $250. From that small amount it has increased to $17,000,000 per annum. The balance of trade is in favor of Japan. Their exports are principally teas, while ours are petroleum and lamps.

—Frosts in the south have caused a great decline in the mortality from yellow fever. In New Orleans it has entirely abated. Those who predicted famines and pestilences on the position of the planets are growing confident in their theory. The present decade has been notable in this respect.

—The detectives are "shadowing" a number of people supposed to have been guilty of the robbery of the grave of A. T. Stewart, some of whom have borne good reputations hitherto, and it is expected that all concerned in the crime will be arrested. Robbing of graves has been unusually prevalent of late and many prosecutions are now pending for this offense.

—The loss of the Georgia, a steamship belonging to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, is ascribed to the drunkenness of the captain. Several passengers give positive testimony that the captain was drunk at the time of the disaster. This company has lost several vessels, and the papers do not hesitate to lay the blame on the habits of the captains. It is only murder to place a ship with passengers under command of a drinking officer.

—A terrible railroad disaster occurred near Florenceville, New Brunswick, on the night of November 14. Several cars ran off the track. A passenger car containing twenty passengers, took fire. The flames spread rapidly from seat to seat, after the car had rolled down a heavy embankment. One boy was burned to death, one man was killed, and fifteen persons severely injured. The same day the mail train on the Portland and Ogdensburg road, in Vermont, was thrown off the track by a broken rail. One man was killed, and a woman seriously injured.

—As Humbert, king of Italy, was entering the city of Naples, November 17, accompanied by the queen and Signor Cairoli, one Giovanni Passauante, a cook by occupation, and who was at the time parading with the trade associations of the city, made a bold attempt to assassinate the king. The design of the assassin was only frustrated by the great coolness and presence of mind of the king, who struck the man upon the head with his sword, when he was promptly secured, and taken to the guard house. The assassin claimed that he belonged to no society, but being poor, nourished a hatred toward the king. This is the fourth attempt that has been made upon the lives of the rulers of Europe within the past few months. It is supposed to be the outgrowth of socialism, which has, within the past few years, grown to alarming proportions throughout the various nations of the Old World.