SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Dec 19, 1878

SECULAR NEWS.

—The Constitutional Convention is in session in Sacramento. The Chinese question occupies a large portion of its time.

—It is estimated that the loss by the yellow fever plague was greater than the cost of the Mexican war.

—Several earthquake shocks have been felt in California of late. The heaviest was at Red Bluff and Chico at 3 A. M. of the 9th inst.

—It is reported that there is a rebellion against the Ameer in Afghanistan. If that be so England and Russia will soon have to decide which shall take possession.

—Henry Wells, founder of Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, died in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 10th, aged seventy-two years. He was a native of Thetford, Vermont.

—A Mrs. Harrison and her three children were murdered south of Kearney, Nebraska, recently. Also, a farmer near York, Nebraska. That State may get a bad name soon.

—The California Christian Advocate suggestively says, "Kearney says that women drink more liquor in this city than men drink. 'Because men and women drink, the Chinese come to do the work.'"

—A man is in the Massachusetts penitentiary for a term of three years for stealing $20,000. The same day on which he received his sentence another man was sentenced for ten years for stealing a chicken worth thirty-five cents!

—Two negroes were hanged by citizens in Nebraska City on the morning of December 10. Their crime was outrageous; the jury returned a verdict of murder in the second degree, and the judge reprimanded them, as the evidence would justify a verdict in the first.

—For the first time in the history of the Republic of Mexico the civic element has attained supremacy over the military. This is illustrated by the fact that of the four leading public men spoken of as prominent candidates for the presidency not one has had a military education. All have been, and are devoted to civil pursuits and professions.

—Heavy snow storms are reported in Missouri and Kansas. The weather has been unusually cold in California, high winds prevailing. The night of the 12th the wind moved 40 miles an hour at San Francisco. During the next night ice formed an inch thick in some localities in Los Angeles; hydrants were frozen, and orange and banana trees badly injured. Cold and strong winds from the north and northeast have been general.

—Perhaps there has never been a storm which was attended by so wide-spread destruction as one that recently occurred in the Atlantic States. Dams washed out, bridges gone, railroad trains running into washouts, towns and cities submerged, mills suspended or ruined. These are the constant reports from New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and New York, and all New England. The damage is beyond all possibility of computation.

—The investigation of the school examination scandals still continues in San Francisco before the Board of Education. It will probably go before the Grand Jury. Plenty has been elicited to disgrace the State in its present system. It has been asserted that the examinations here were of such high order that eastern teachers could not get certificates. But by "catch questions" and sales of questions it now turns out that California certificates are no evidence of scholarship or ability to teach.

—For the first time in history, a New York City native-born Chinaman was on Tuesday admitted to the privileges of citizenship. Judge Larremore naturalized Wong Ah Ye upon his own application. He has been a resident of New York for eight years, is married to an Irish woman, and is doing a good cigar-making business. Judge Larremore said his object in granting the papers was to have the case tested. In order to have this done somebody had to be naturalized.

—It is stated that a plan is on foot for consolidating the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, with Sidney Dillon as president; Clark, general manager of the Union Pacific, as general manager, and with one board of directors. This will greatly reduce the clerical force, saving enormously in salaries and cost of transportation, and will form a continuous line under one management from Omaha to San Francisco. It is further stated that the principal owners are anxious to retire, in order to take part in the construction of the Southern Pacific railroad.

—On the night of the 10th two men were burned by a mob in Nebraska, Custer county. An attempt was made to arrest them for cattle stealing, during which they shot a herder. The sheriff afterward arrested them, from whose hands they were taken. Their charred remains were discovered the 11th at a tree to which they were tied. This was the first report. Later reports say the two men were estimable citizens, and the brutal crime was perpetrated by roving herders of the most lawless type. There is great excitement in the county, and every effort will be made to arrest the offenders.