Secular News | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 30, 1879

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 5, No. 41.

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Secular News.

—Monroe, La., and Richmond, Va., report ice formed Oct 25.

—A great fire in the French quarter at Shanghai, consumed 991 houses.

—Frost having come, the yellow fever has been declared at an end in Memphis.

—A fire in the village of Azua, Hayti, destroyed one hundred houses and stores.

—A fire in the suburbs of Montreal, Oct. 23, destroyed 20 houses, and left 200 persons homeless.

—The anti-rent agitation in Ireland is greatly increasing. The counties are effecting a solid organization.

—The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has decided that Alleghany county is liable for the damage by the Pittsburg riots.

—The Baptist ministers of New York disapprove of the practice of advertising the subjects of sermons; and so do many others.

—The Governor of Alexandria has delivered Cleopatra's Needle to the United States Navy, and it will soon be removed to New York.

—A man in Buffalo, N. Y., abducted a school girl to extort money from her father. He goes to the penitentiary for seven years.

—One thousand and twenty emigrants arrived at Castle Garden, N. York, Oct. 25. The emigration this season is unprecedented in point of numbers.

—The authorities say the loss of life by the floods in the districts of Murcow, Alicante, Almeria, and Carthagena, in Spain, will exceed two thousand.

—A dispatch from Strasburg says there has been an immense fire at Ulfa. More than a fifth part of the town was consumed, and many persons killed. The loss of property is enormous.

—A freight train was wrecked on the Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad, Oct. 21; engineer, fireman, and brakeman killed; also one on the Connellsville road, Oct. 22, one man killed.

—The war in Afghanistan is far from being ended, various tribes lately uniting against the English. There is great complaint of the heavy war bills in England, while so many are suffering in want.

—Weather in the east was unusually hot the first part of October. The change was sudden and severe. Snow is reported in many places, but Meadville, Pa., takes the lead; twelve inches fell there the 24th.

—An oil well sunk near Lexington, Santa Clara Co., Cal., penetrated true oil sand rock at a depth of about 700 feet. The rush of gas threw the oil one hundred feet into the air; it flows sixty barrels a day of oil of first quality.

—From Oct. 18 to 22, $4,541,000 in gold arrived in New York from Europe. Nearly $55,000,000 of specie has come into the country since the resumption of specie payments, and nearly nine-tenths of the whole amount arrived since August 1st.

—An oil well in Cattaraugus Co., N. Y. ceased to yield oil, when a rumbling was heard, the ground trembled, and a shower of stones, ashes, and dry dust was thrown out, the stones being dry and light like pumace stone. Since this volcano-like eruption it has returned to yielding oil.

—The members of Agent Meeker's family, taken captive by the Utes, have been delivered up to Gen. Adams. It is now learned that the Utes were on the eve of a great battle with Gen. Merritt, when they received orders from Chief Ouray to cease fighting, and they retired.

—The steamer Nuevo Pajaro del Oceano, from Algiers, Africa, was burned Oct. 18, in Bahama Straits. She had a crew of 42, and about 20 passengers. Seventeen were rescued by the steamer Louisa H., after they had been in the water 18 hours, and suffered greatly. Some of the missing are supposed to have been destroyed by sharks, as some were seen.

—The distress in Hungary, on account of bad harvest, is very great. The Government has suspended the collection of taxes until the next harvest shall have been gathered. In 57 towns and villages in the Temes country, the greatest distress prevails. In Saros county, where several cases of starvation have occurred, forty Parishes are threatened with famine. Frightful accounts have also been received from the counties of Ahanj, Heves, and Zemplin.

—Walker, statistician for the Produce Exchange, after careful estimate, places the wheat crop of the United States this year at $425,000,000 bushels. The spring wheat crop was over estimated, Minnesota producing only 38,000,000 bushels. The amount consumed by 48,000,000 persons, plus the amount required for seed and other purposes, is placed at 250,000,000 bushels, leaving 160,000,000 for export to Europe and 15,000,000 for other ports.

—A daily paper has the following: "Russia is giving enormous orders for implements of war, and is increasing the number of her cruisers. Germany is increasing her army, strengthening fortifications and adding to her artillery. France and Austria are perfecting their military systems. Italy maintains a considerable army. England is jealously watching Russia's encroachments on Asia. All the great powers are standing with their hands in their pockets, as it were, waiting for a chance to 'get the drop on' one another. The Treaty of Berlin was only a truce."