p. 191 | ITEMS OF NEWS

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 21, 1881

ITEMS OF NEWS.

—The Nihilists who murdered the Czar have been executed.

—Prince Pierre Napoleon, known as "Plon Plon," died recently. The family is fast becoming extinct.

—France is moving to take possession of Tunis whereat England and other European powers are displeased.

—Sitting Bull and his followers are about to surrender at Fort Buford. He is hungry and wants more guns and ammunition.

—A member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives stated that he had been offered a bribe to vote against prohibition.

—Rev. W. Morley Punshon, LL.D., the distinguished Wesleyan minister, died April 13, at Brixton, England, of complicated disorders.

—Durango, Colo., is held by the roughs. The citizens are in continual terror, and six marshals on duty are unable to control the place.

—The management of Secretary Windom receives the hearty endorsement of Ex-Secretary Sherman and of the business men of New York.

—The Boston school-girl who died of heart disease last week, had jumped a skipping-rope over 200 times just before entering the school-room.

—Heavy frost is reported from Galveston, throughout the State of Texas, and considerable damage done to corn, cotton, fruits and vegetables.

—The evening of April 13, three large petards were thrown into houses in Madrid, Spain, causing some damage to property. No persons were injured.

—A thousand people a month are immigrating into Chicago, and wages are expected to be good, as much building will probably be done the coming summer.

—Hopes are high for the speedy construction of the Atlantic and Pacific R. R., with a terminus at San Francisco. It will not be connected with the Central monopoly.

—The City Council of Los Angeles has refused to appropriate the money needed to lift the $8000 mortgage on the property selected as the site of the proposed Normal School.

—A Pesth, Austria, special states that five small streets and 170 houses are flooded at Chongrad. At Szegeden the water is a foot higher than at the time of the great disaster of last year.

—Miss Hattie Duell died of voluntary starvation, in Iowa City, April 11. She had taken no food for forty-seven days. A post mortem examination showed that no blood remained in her body.

—James O'Brien, who swore that he knew H. L. Morey, of the famous forged letter, when no such Morey existed, has been sentenced to eight years in the penitentiary. "Who'll be the next?"

—The Anti-Jewish petition was sent to Bismarck yesterday. It consists of 26 volumes, comprising 14,000 sheets, with 255,000 signatures, including those of noblemen, retired generals and officials.

—The widow of John Brown of Kansas fame is living in Santa Clara Co., Cal., on a farm covered by a mortgage of $1000. Subscriptions to a relief fund are received at the office of the S. F. Chronicle.

—The storm on the Atlantic coast, April 14 to 16, was as severe as any in the winter. Much damage was done to shipping. Heavy winds and snow were reported all along the New England coast.

—Turkish brigands, of whom there are too many, have captured an Englishman and hold him for a ransom. The British Ambassador has informed the Porte that he holds him responsible for his safety and the payment of the ransom.

—A correspondent of the Augusta Constitutionalist, speaking of H. W. Beecher, says: "I am convinced that Mr. Beecher is more dangerous to othodoxy than Robert Ingersoll, for he preaches the doctrine of rationalism in the garb of the minister of Christ."

—Reports of April 11 and 12 say that earthquake shocks of considerable violence have begun again in Scio. Barely twenty houses remain habitable in the whole island. Forty-five villages have been destroyed and the population in many localities has absolutely disappeared.

—A mammoth petition was sent to Albany April 13, from New York, praying the Legislature to include Good Friday among the legal holidays. Why not invite Bishop McClosky to take entire control of New York? "The church" would not gain much, nor the city lose much.

—The sect of Perfectionists has obtained a foothold at Los Angeles, and one of the professors of the peculiar faith is descibed as a real estate operator who says he has not committed a sin for thirty years. The S. F. Alta wishes that such a band might be opened for real estate operators in this section.

—Richmond, Va., has a population of 63,000, of whom about 26,000 belong to some one or other of the churches. Of these about 20,000 are Baptists—over 14,000 being colored Baptists. The leading colored church is the largest in the country, having a membership of between three and four thousand.

—A theological student of North Andover, Mass., was shot near Lawrence on the morning of the 13th. With his twin brother, also a student, he burglarized a house, where they had previously committed a robbery. He was preparing to enter Andover Theological Seminary with a view to the ministry!

—A lively Mexican breeze has sprung up in the State of Chihuahua over the Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe railroad, which has reached its border. The State claims a right granted from the Mexican Government to run a railroad on the line granted also to Atchison, Topeka, and Sata Fe road, and has ordered 500 troops to El Paso, presumably to prevent the laying of the track by the Atchison railroad.

—A Chinaman from New York to St. Louis had his trunk robbed while he held a check. He sued the Terre Haute and Indianapolis R. R. A Justice of the Peace gave judgment in his favor, which was reversed by the Circuit Court. But the Court of Appeals in Missouri reversed again, with the declaration, important to travelers, "that he could bring his action against either of the railroad companies over whose tracks he and his trunk had been conveyed."

—Henry Ward Beecher recently said: "If there is one thing I consider thoroughly indiscreet, it is the way in which criminals are cosseted and carried out of life. When a murderer is to be hanged, women send him flowers and would kiss an ulcer for his sake. Priests run to him, and philanthropists hurry after them. 'He's going to die!' We are not a hundred thousand persons dying all around us, and there is nobody to run to them? There is no sympathy for them; but if a monster is to die for a foul murder, the floodgates of sympathy are opened; and the newspapers tell us how he died, trusting in Jesus. Can a man, who has crept up to the gallows through the common sewers, at the last moment, just before the last effort to obtain pardon, suddenly blossom out into a fervent religious life? I don't believe it."

—The flood in the Missouri has partially subsided, but the regular "Spring flood" from the melting of snow has not yet come. The present is the result of severe freezing, or from ice gorges. But these are not all past. A gorge extends from Yankton to Vermillion, filling the river channel for over 30 miles with solid ice, sometimes 30 feet high. One hundred and thirty people were rescued from Marysville, April 13, where they had been surrounded by ice and water for two weeks. There were 20 families in a river bend, 15 miles below Yankton, who cannot be reached on account of the heavy ice surrounding them, and have not been heard of since the flood covered the bottom. Great anxiety is felt for them and heroic efforts are making to reach them. Fifty people are imprisoned also at Meckling. Twenty-five thousand people about Yankton need aid, and 5000 below Vermillion. The flood on the Dakota side covers 227,000 acres, the whole region being thickly settled. In conference with the President and Secretary Lincoln, Governor Ordway showed them a telegram from Acting-Governor Hand, received April 14, which says: "The victims of the late disaster are in no condition to repay anything loaned. They throw themselves on the charity of the Government. We need provisions, clothing, and blankets."