ITEMS OF NEWS | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 16, 1880

ITEMS OF NEWS.

—Rev. Wm. Adams, D. D., LL. D., President of Union Theological Seminary, New York City, died Aug. 31, aged 73 years.

—The stone light-house on the first point of Tanging Koelinge, on the west coast of Java, has been thrown down by a violent earthquake.

—Dr. John Buchanan, the bogus diploma vendor, of Philadelphia, was arrested in St. Clair, Mich., and has been locked up in Moyamensing Prison.

—Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, of Boston, estimates the rum business in the United States at $1,000,000,000 a year, by far the largest industry in the country.

—Manhattan market, in New York, together with several surrounding stores, was totally destroyed by fire on the 9th. The loss was about two million dollars.

—The train from Waterloo Station, London, for Hampton Court (England), came in collision with an engine, Sept. 11. Four persons were killed, and thirty injured.

—On the Island of Dominica, continuous rains and high winds prevailed from August 15 to the 19th, putting the whole island under water. The crops were rotted and destroyed.

—Joseph Tapson, formerly Secretary of the Metropolitan Railway Company's Provident Savings Bank of England, was arrested in Philadelphia, Sept. 11, on a charge of appropriating $50,000.

—Mr. and Mrs. Hayes went to hear Bishop Simpson preach last Sunday, in San Francisco. The Bishop was taken violently sick soon after commencing his discourse, which he could not finish.

—Oakland was in holiday attire on admission day, to welcome President Hayes. An enthusiastic reception was given him. This is the first time California was ever visited by a President of the United States during his term of office.

—On the morning of the 8th, a terrible explosion occurred at Seaham pit, Durham county, England, where over two hundred men were at work. The Government Inspector has officially announced that the number dead is one hundred and sixty-five.

—The Galindo House, the largest hotel in Oakland, was burned early in the morning of the 8th. The walls were left standing, but very little of the contents of the rooms was saved, many of the guests barely escaping with their lives. The loss was about $75,000.

—The Meriden, Miss., Mercury, indulges itself in prophesying in the following manner: "We would like to engrave a prophecy on stone to be read of generations in the future. The negro in these States will be slave again, or cease to be. His sole refuge from extinction will be in slavery to the white man." Whereat we should not be at all surprised.

—The Protestant Episcopal Diocesan Convention of Connecticut has adopted a resolution disapproving of "candidating." It urges parishes needing a rector to adopt some other method of becoming acquainted with a clergyman, and advises clergymen not to accept an invitation to officiate in any church as a candidate for the rectorship.

—The Year Book of the Young Men's Christian Association has just been issued by the International Committee. It contains reports of 825 associations in North America, 285 in Great Britain and Ireland, 65 in France, 15 in Belgium, 293 in Germany, 406 in Holland, 504 in Switzerland, 79 in Sweden, 6 in Italy, 8 in Spain, 1 in Austria, 13 in Australia, 5 in India, 4 in Syria, 3 in South Africa, 2 in Japan, and 1 each in Madagascar and the Sandwich Islands.

—A report from Long Branch, of Sept. 9, says that for twelve hours the coast has been swept by a northeast gale, blowing at the rate of 60 miles an hour. Old surf men say it is the severest September gale that has visited the place since 1854. The damage along the shore is great. The track of the New Jersey Southern Railway between Highlands Station and Seabright has been washed away, suspending all travel from New York via. Sandy Hook.

—A very large number of laborers have been brought from the Eastern States and Canada this season, to work on the various railroad extensions in Colorado, of which there are nine in progress, yet the work is delayed by the scarcity of labor. The Denver and Rio Grande Company alone require at least five thousand more men than they are at present able to secure. Laborers are receiving from $1.75 to $2.50 per day. The mines draw away more than half the number imported.

—The new liquor law in Maine is of a thoroughly stringent character. The act against saloons was evaded by private clubs, and the law against purchasing liquor was thwarted by giving the liquor away, the receiver purchasing some other commodity at a proportionately higher price than usual. The new law makes the gift of liquor punishable, and enacts that any person found intoxicated even in his own house shall be imprisoned for thirty days for the first offense, and three months for the second.

—The Southern Pacific road is advancing at the rate of two miles per day, and is now within 12 miles of the line of New Mexico, and 128 miles east of Tucson. The station at Sulphur Spring valley is named Wilcox. Excellent water in abundance is found at six feet. This will be the most important station east of Tucson, being the natural point of supply for Forts Grant, Bowie, Thomas and Rucker, San Carlos, Gila valley, Dos Cabesos, Merry District, and the Globe mining country. The altitude is over 4000 feet.

—It has transpired that the members of the Chinese Embassy, who arrived in New York about six weeks ago on business, have met with such insults at the hands of the rabble that they have determined, when their business is finished, to betake themselves home as quickly as possible. The Embassy consists of His Excellency Chin Lan Pin, Chin, his Secretary; Messrs. Ho Shin Chi, Chang Lai, Pilg, and Tin, with Captain Marsh, a retired British officer, who acts as English Corresponding Secretary and general adviser, and it was stated that they came to establish a Consulate in that city.

—The naval demonstration has been postponed for a few days, as the Ambassadors of the Powers recognize the good will of the Porte, and the difficulties besetting the surrender of Dulcigno. The Austrian and French Ambassadors pointed out to Abeddin Pasha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the dangers for Turkey which might result from the naval demonstration and the consequent absolute necessity of the surrender of Dulcigno. Russia favored immediate action against Turkey, but was induced by England to share the more moderate views of Austria, and accede to a postponement of the demonstration.

—The recent celebration by Belgium of the fiftieth anniversary of its independence took place in the midst of a conflict so bitter that the bishops refused to take part. The country is said to have made great progress in fifty years; and yet statistical reports have shown that out of 908,000 families in the kingdom, 373,000 were in straitened circumstances and 446,000 in a wretched condition, and that 226,000 received aid from the State. A terrible struggle is now going on between the church and the nation; and it may be safely said that Belgium would fly into fragments if the great Powers did not hold it together by external pressure.

—The Oneida Community announced a year ago that in deference to public opinion the immoral practices and mode of life it had adopted would be discontinued. Since then Mr. Noyes, the founder of the community, has removed to Canada with a few of the members, and has settled near Niagara, where it is believed he intends starting a new community on the same principles as the one at Oneida. The sudden and unexpected submission of the community was not, it has been discovered, altogether voluntary and spontaneous. A number of young people in the Oneida establishment had been led to see the sinfulness of their lives, and were resolved to make an exposure if Noyes had not agreed to dissolve the community. It may be hoped that the Canadian authorities will interfere to prevent so disgraceful a scandal being planted on the soil of the Dominion.