ITEMS OF NEWS
2%Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 7, 1881
FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 7, No. 14.
Read the full editionITEMS OF NEWS.
- Telegraphy costs in England one-tenth of what it does in the United States.
- Twelve baronies in County Cork, Ireland, have been proclaimed in a state of disturbance.
- March 30, 4000 emigrants left Bremen for the United States, making 20,000 since Jan. 1.
- On the 30th ult., a man, his wife, and two children were killed by a cyclone in Randolph county, Georgia.
- Mark Firth, who recently died in England, left $1,000,000 to various evangelical denominations to be used in Christian work.
- The validity of the constitutional amendment prohibiting the sale of liquor in Kansas has been affirmed by the Supreme Court of that State.
- Lord Beaconsfield is very low in health, and is not expected to recover. Considerable anxiety is manifested about his successor as a party leader.
- The Iowa farmers, in Convention, April 2, adopted long and strong resolutions against the barbed-wire fence monopoly, showing an intention of fighting it to the bitter end.
- At Sydney, Neb., they are clearing the town of dangerous characters. A noted cut-throat was hanged by the "vigilantes," April 3, and the chances on others are reported favorable.
- A ukase has been promulgated in St. Petersburg creating a temporal council from among the people, one member from each of the 228 city districts, to assist the commandant of the city council.
- Daniel W. Gantley, who served in the war of 1812, died in Athens, N. Y., recently, aged 94. He is supposed to have been the last survivor of the famous New York Hussars, a famous corps in their day.
- In Manchester, England, a seven-story warehouse filled with valuable cotton goods, was burned the 29th ult. The loss is estimated at £80,000. One fireman was killed and two others dangerously injured.
- The round-house of the Utah and Northern Railroad, at Logan, was burned down on the night of April 1. There were five locomotives in it at the time, which were also destroyed. The loss is about $60,000.
- The Crown Princess Victoria has received an anonymous letter, declaring that Prince Frederick William will be murdered during the ceremonies at St. Petersburg. The letter bears the Berlin postmark.
- The Australian steamer City of New York, about which much anxiety has been felt, arrived in San Francisco Sunday evening, April 3. She was detained twelve days on the open sea by an accident to her machinery.
- Four natives belonging to Colonel Flatters' mission of exploration for the Trans-Sahara Railway, arrived at Onargla on Monday, March 28, bringing details of the most complete annihilation of the expedition by the natives.
- Rev. Dr. U. Gregory, who has been President of the college at Vacaville, has accepted an appointment from the Baptist Home Mission Society for Arizona. And the Vacaville college is reported to be on the "r. i. p." list.
- The Viceroy of India has a telegram from Candahar confirming the report that a rebellion had broken out at Herat, and that the place is besieged. The report is current at Candahar that Ayoob Kahn had been taken prisoner.
- Several shocks of earthquake were felt in Calistoga, Cal., March 31. The first, which was quite heavy, lasting six seconds, occurred at six in the morning. The last shock was similar to the first, and occurred at ten in the evening.
- From the mountain districts of Bohemia the immigration of the German portion of the population to America has begun to assume large proportions. The principal cause of the exodus is an intolerable political tyranny of the Czechs, who form a majority of the population.
- A reporter of the Pacific Coast, just returned from a trip through the southern part of San Benito county, states that crops in that section do not present a promising appearance, and unless more rain falls soon the grain produce will be light. That which was sown late is not doing well.
- The great Corliss engine, which was on exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, has just been placed in the mammoth works of the Pullman Palace Car Company, near Chicago. It is the largest engine in the world, and weighs 350 tons. It was taken from Philadelphia in thirty-five cars.
- Secretary Blaine called the attention of the commissioners of emigration in New York to the expected arrival in the steamer Suevia, from Havre, of two undesirable women from Switzerland. This is a commendable step toward preventing this country being a refuge for the worst classes of Europe.
- The details of a riot at Ballyghadeyn, Ireland, April 2, are as follows: The people attacked the police, who were obliged to fire in self-defence. Two rioters were killed and thirty-two wounded, four of whom are not expected to live. One policeman was killed. Several were severely injured by stones.
- It is stated by the embassy of the German embassy as a fact positively known in diplomatic circles that "the present Czar is determined on war with Germany, and preparations to that end are being pushed to the extent of ordering the stoppage of all operations in other parts of the Empire, and the movements of troops to points of concentration."
- The Court of Appeals has sustained the decision of the Queen's Bench in Bradlaugh's case, to the effect that the affirmation in Commons cannot be taken instead of an oath as in Courts of Law. Bradlaugh will appeal to the House of Lords. Rev. Henry Varley will contest Northampton against him. He says in his address to the electors: "The man who denies the existence of a divine Law-giver is unfit to legislate."
- Dispatches from Athens, Greece, dated March 31, state that "The Porte's offer is regarded as a mere juggle, and accordingly the battalions in every part of the kingdom have been ordered to prepare to march to the frontier." War between Greece and Turkey is considered inevitable, as "The Powers jointly agree to declare to the Greek Ministry their firm resolution not to intervene if the compromise is rejected."
- One of the five Nihilists to be tried for the assassination of the Czar of Russia is a woman of aristocratic connections and superior education. She and Jelahoff, chief director in the matter, "vow that the object of their operations was to terrorize the country, disarrange the machinery of the Government, and bring about, if possible, a Socialistic Republic, after the pattern of the Paris Commune." According to their confession they alone knew of the attempt to be made on the Czar's life, and the time and place. Roussakoff, the one who threw the bomb, was only informed of what was required of him on the day of the murder. "He asserts that the Nihilists latterly had no money; that there was considerable disagreement among them, and they would probably have dispersed had their last attempt failed."
THE LATE STORMS.
- March, unusually cold nearly everywhere, was particularly severe in the highlands of Scotland. "Drifts thirty feet deep," and "walls of snow forty feet high" are spoken of. The storms were general throughout Britain, but were most severe in the extreme north.
- During a late storm at San Jose, a strange thing happened. The trees in that vicinity were covered with lizards, and some were also found lodged in the branches and stuck on the ends of lately cut limbs of trees. The lizards varied from two to four inches in length.
- Omaha, March 29.—It is impossible as yet to procure more than meager facts about the condition of towns in the Platte Valley, owing to the fact that the telegraph lines are only partially rebuilt. Three lives are known to have been lost, but it is believed a large number have perished. Loss of stock and property counts up in the hundreds of thousands.
- This morning there were about 1500 west-bound travelers on the east side of the river. Some arrived Thursday, and others Friday and Saturday, and all were growling at delay and expense.
- About 200 men, claiming to be destitute, formed a procession and marched to the commodious waiting-room of the depot, and demanded that the Union Pacific, whose tickets they held, should either forward them or furnish food during their detention. The company conceded them a free dinner and promised to feed them until they began running the trains west.
- Trains on the Union Pacific direct were resumed April 2.
- Cincinnati, March 29.—The snow-storm throughout Indiana has been generally accompanied, in many places, by strong winds. Here, the wind began last night, and the rain came this morning, changing to sleet, and then to snow, which, at 11 o'clock this evening, is still falling. In the city, it melts a good deal, forming a disagreeable slush; but on the hill-tops, it lies to a depth of two inches. At Mentor, Ohio, it twenty inches, and at Wilmington and Millersburg, six inches.
- Dayton, March 29.—The heaviest snow-storm of the winter set in this morning, at about 4 o'clock, and has continued all day, with but little cessation, and is still falling this evening. The snow is wet and heavy and has caused great impediment to business. About ten inches have fallen.
- At Youngstown, Ohio, on the 30th of March, sixteen and one-half inches of snow fell between the hours of 5 A. M. and 3 P. M.
- St. Paul, March 30.—A Bismarck special to the Pioneer Press says: The Missouri broke here to-day. The lower part of the city is overflowed, and a great sea of ice and water extends for five miles. Three government warehouses on the landing are wrecked. The river rose ten feet in a few hours. It is now thirty feet above low water mark. Wood-choppers and settlers in the low lands are all washed out, and many are probably drowned. Mandarr, on the west side of the river, is under three feet of water. The greatest loss, aside from life, will be in cord-wood, thousands of loads being swept away.
- Thirty feet of water are in the channel at Yankton. The whole of the lower part is entirely overflowed, driving the inhabitants to the hills. This is the greatest flood ever known. The damage will be immense. The City of Vermillion, Dakota, is also under water up to the second story of the houses. The occupants have taken to the bluffs in boats, and will probably be landed in places of safety before morning.
- Bloomington, Ill., March 31.—It is snowing lustily to-night and has snowed all day in Central Illinois. The wind is cold and raw from the north. Many complaints are received that the winter wheat has been alternately frozen and thawed until it is destroyed. A large amount will be ploughed and resown in this, and in adjacent counties. Some fields, which were too well along to be much affected, will get through without putting in another crop. Corn in some points of Central Illinois is very scarce.
- Chicago, March 31.—The Inter-Ocean's special from Iowa City says: One of the severest snow-storms of the winter has been raging since nine o'clock this morning. The wind is blowing furiously and the snow is damp. Ice in the Iowa river is breaking up. The water is high, and serious damage is feared to the railroad bridge on the C. R. I. and P. Road. Some railroad timbers have been carried off.
- Erie, Pa., March 31.—Ten inches of snow have fallen. It is still storming.
- Louisville, March 31.—There was another snow-storm to-night.
- Chicago, March 31.—A general snow-storm is reported in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northern Michigan. The fall in the Lake Superior region is very heavy. In Chicago it is light, and only began about 2 o'clock.
- Bismarck, April 1.—The river has fallen three or four feet. About 250 people went over on the steamer Eclipse to-day, but could not get within three miles of the town, because of the ice. Several from the ill-fated city came on the boat. The ice is about six feet deep all over the town.
- New Orleans, April 2.—Specials to the Democrat report heavy frost and ice throughout this entire section last night. Early vegetables in Northern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are considerably damaged, and it is feared that the peach crop is entirely cut off.
- Galveston, April 2.—Specials to the News report a heavy frost in the northern part of the State. The fruit crop is considerably injured.
- Madrid, April 3.—For several days a series of gales and heavy rains have swept from the ocean coasts, causing many shipwrecks and much loss of life. So severe has been the weather that for four days the mail steamers in Cadiz, Tangier, Algezares, and Gibraltar were detained.
- In Madrid the rains caused a very unusual rise in the waters of the Manzares river, which covers the valley under the Palace. The flood reached the houses and gardens of Campo Moro, in the provinces south of the capital. The authorities report an immense destruction of property in cattle and crops. Trains were stopped, telegraph posts were leveled, and several important towns in Adalusia are flooded.