—During the last fiscal year there were 567,386,982 cigarettes taxed.
—Bishop Haven died in Salem, Oregon, August 2. He was sixty years of age.
—The national debt was reduced ten million dollars during the month of July.
—Deadwood, D. T., was damaged to the amount of $100,000, by fire, August 3.
—The corn crop in Illinois is liable to be much reduced on account of the drought.
—The Nihilists have decided not to attempt to murder the Czar until after his coronation.
—There are 45,000 post-offices in the United States, furnishing employment to 65,000 persons.
—In a recent actual canvass of 80 towns in Connecticut 50,000 people were found who never attend church.
—The Colorado Iron Works at Denver were recently destroyed by fire. Loss a quarter of a million dollars.
—It is reported that in the North Carolina election the anti-prohibitionists gained by a heavy majority.
—Postmaster-General James has reduced the expenditures of the post-office department about $2,000,000 a year.
—Wm. G. Fargo, President of the American Express Company and Mayor of Buffalo, died August 3, at the age of 63 years.
—A brewers’ war has begun in St. Louis, but unfortunately nothing will be destroyed but the rates. Beer will be more plentiful than ever.
—The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors have granted the Southern Pacific Railroad a wharf franchise for 3,000 feet front, at Wilmington harbor.
—The intense heat in the East continues. August 5 there were 39 cases of sunstroke in New York city. A proportionate number in other places.
—The strike among the driver boys and slate pickers of the Susquehanna coal company, has thrown two thousand miners and laborers out of employment.
—One of the two men who recently attempted to blow up the Liverpool Town Hall was sentenced to penal servitude for fifteen years, and the other for life.
—For offensive language, and for disregarding the authority of the Chair, Parnell was suspended from the House of Commons Aug. 1, by a vote of 112 to 14.
—Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr., late pastor of the church of the Holy Trinity, N. Y., is now resident director in Paris of the Equitable Life Insurance Company.
—During a severe storm along the Hudson river the evening of the second, the new Capitol at Albany, N. Y., was struck by lightning and several workmen were injured.
—The American ship Calcutta with a cargo of sugar and hemp valued at $200,000, was totally wrecked off the coast of Kaffraria, South Africa, June 3. Only three of the crew escaped.
—A Temperance Congress, under the auspices of the New York State Temperance Society, was held at Saratoga Aug. 4–8. Senator Blair, Neal Dow, and other speakers were present.
—Topeka, Kansas, with a population of 20,000 has had but one case of drunkenness since the prohibitory law went into effect. And yet some people say that prohibition is a failure.
—A railroad war in the East has been the means of furnishing many persons with cheap transportation. August 6, tickets from Indianapolis to New York were sold for ninety-five cents.
—Two steamers recently sailed from Yokohama, Japan, on the same day, each anxious to get its cargo of tea into New York first. So close was the calculation that both arrived in New York the same day.
—A dispatch from Newport R. I., Aug. 6, says: “The dense fog in this vicinity is doing great damage to shipping. Nine vessels have gone ashore at Block Island. Two came off this morning and sank immediately.”
—It is found that it costs the State of California $431 for each student instructed in the University, and $5000 for each graduate. The institution has doubtless been more profitable to the regents than to the State.
—Bradlaugh made an attempt recently to take his seat in the House of Commons, and was forcibly ejected, receiving some injury. The members have doubtless over-stepped their rights. Bradlaugh intends to make another attempt.
—A Peoria, Ill., man named Crowe has been arrested for manufacturing the infernal machines that were recently shipped to England. The manufacture of infernal machines is said to be quite a business at Peoria, and is still going on.
—The 100th anniversary of the San Louis Rey mission, San Diego Co., is to be celebrated the latter part of this month. Among the exercises there will be horse and foot races, bull and bear fights, Indian dances, and minstrel and circus entertainments.
—Quite recently some desperadoes, supposed to be burglars who had been concealed in the vicinity of McKeesport, N. Y., and had become starved out, visited that place and demanded food. This was refused, when they commenced firing on the citizens, killing several.
—Latest advices from Honolulu say that the volcano Mauna Loa still continues active. The destruction of the town of Hilo is considered inevitable. The stream of lava is from one-fourth to one-half a mile wide, and is steadily progressing toward the town, devastating the country in its track.
—The town of Truckee, Cal, was nearly destroyed by fire on the 3rd, nearly every business house being burned. The total loss of property is estimated at $50,000. The work of rebuilding has commenced vigorously, and it is thought that the damage will be fully repaired before winter.
—The Pope is uneasy over the recent disturbances in Rome over the remains of Pius IX. He says that he must now more than ever consider himself a prisoner in the Vatican. In a recent council he declared that the disturbances proved that the “Vicar of Christ” enjoyed neither liberty nor safety in Rome.
—Fresh outrages are reported of the Apaches in New Mexico. Government scouts report that Indians, supposed to be under the leadership of Nam, are coming north, killing everything in their way. A large number of defenseless whites are reported as killed already, and there can be no mercy expected for those yet to be encountered.
—August 1, an explosion occurred in a Government magazine at Mazatlan, Mexico. The explosion completely razed the magazine and destroyed many houses in the immediate vicinity, besides doing considerable damage to several others. The official report shows twenty-five deaths, thirty wounded, and twelve missing. The explosion was caused by sparks from the pipe of a guard.
—There is great excitement over the discovery of carbonates ten miles from Deadwood, D. T. Ore was brought in full of native silver and assayed $2,600 to the ton. Big strikes have been made in the Lawrence, Utica, Amsterdam, Greenland and Jefferson mines. Miners are flocking thither from all parts of the Hills. A thousand people are already in a new city, which has been named West Virginia.
—Judge Belden, of San Jose, has filed an opinion denying the motion for a new trial in the case of Bland against the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. The case was tried a few months ago and a verdict was then rendered in favor of the plaintiff for $7500 damages, for injuries alleged to have been sustained by being ejected from the cars of the defendants for refusing to pay 20 cents in addition to the regular fare, no ticket having been purchased.
—The investigation of the State prison at San Quentin reveals facts anything but flattering. It is testified that “gambling was going on among the prisoners; that they could always procure liquor; that gross favors from the outside were permitted to those criminals who possessed money; that some employes made as much as $300 or $400 a month in catering to those practices.” The same witness agreed with Judge Freelon that the State, through the existing prison system, was responsible in a great measure for the large criminal element in this State.