SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 17, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 16.

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SECULAR.

—Chas. Reade, the English author, is dead.

—The recent revolution in Hayti is said to have caused the loss of 7,000 lives.

—The scaffold on which John Brown was hung has been sold to relic-hunters for $900.

—Cuban insurrectionists are gaining adherents, and several outrages have been committed.

—Nine buildings in the business center of Tacoma, W. T., were burned last Sunday morning; loss, $150,000.

—The California Legislature has memorialized Congress in favor of the Sumner Postal Telegraph Bill.

—The Monterey railroad bridge over the Salinas River has been washed away for the third time this season.

—California, with less than half the population of Indiana, pays to the Government more money for postal service.

—Cincinnati's late riot cost the county over $2,000,000; it was more expensive in proportion to time than the flood.

—Mormon statistics show 132,705 adherents to the faith in Utah and Idaho; 4,593 in Arizona, and 1,578 in Colorado.

—John Daly, an American, was arrested at Birkenhead, England, on the 11th inst., with three explosive bombs in his possession.

—Citizens of Wallulu Junction, W. T., sentenced a tramp to death, and as he has since been missing, it is supposed the sentence was executed.

—A New York dispatch says foreign immigration for California is increasing rapidly. The arrivals are mostly Swiss, Italians, Danes, and North Germans.

—A Washington dispatch says that ex-Governor Pacheco of California has become a citizen of Mexico, and will probably become Minister to the United States.

—The Secretary of the Corn Exchange reports enormous quantities of wheat, barley, and maize in the London waterside granaries—much more than last year.

—Prominent physicians are advising students and others of sedentary habits, to walk more for exercise instead of unnaturally straining themselves in the gymnasiums.

—Emperor William is rapidly failing and going into dotage, and his physicians think he will not last long. He is to have a meeting with Queen Victoria at Darmstadt on the 21st inst.

—The English Government is making arrangements for an autumn expedition toward Khartoum, a summer campaign having been abandoned. The latest rumors are that Khartoum has fallen, and that General Gordon is a prisoner.

—The Turkish Government having decided to put the new tariff into effect on June 6th, the Governments of England, France, Germany, Russia, Belgium, and the United States have informed the Porte that they will not consent to the abolition of their commercial rights.

—The famous Sharon divorce case, which has been on trial several weeks in San Francisco, has become so warm that the Judge declines to commence proceedings from day to day till parties concerned, including counsel and witnesses, have been searched for concealed weapons.

—Latest advices from Shanghai report a serious political crisis at Peking. The Empress has publicly degraded Prince Kung and four members of the Privy Council. They were stripped of all their honors for the dilatory manner in which they have dealt with Tonquin affairs.

—The Dominion Government has failed to ratify the British Columbia Anti-Chinese Bill, but there is a strong disposition to enforce it at all hazards. In consequence a steamer at Hongkong, announced for Victoria, has been withdrawn.

—The French army in Tonquin has occupied Hung-hoa, without resistance further than the firing of the town. The English Government will resist the occupation of Chusan by the French for indemnity, by virtue of an Anglo-Chinese treaty of 1846.

—The American Minister has demanded of the Haytian Government the payment of $400,000 indemnity for American losses on account of the riots in September last, and the surrender of the mole of Saint Nicholas as guarantee that the money be paid.

—Governor Murray, of Utah, has been exonerated upon every charge against him regarding his official career while Marshal of Kentucky. The charges were trumped up by Mormon influence, and although a Republican, his character was vindicated principally by the testimony of prominent Democrats.

—A cable dispatch says that depression in English shipping has become extreme. Ports are crowded with destitute and suffering sailors. In Shields alone are 4,000 seamen out of employment. Hundreds of seamen are lying idle upon the Tyne, and 10,000 laborers in the Tyne shipyards are out of work, and many more in the Sunderland shipyards.

—Almost a panic of opposition has arisen against lofty apartment houses in New York. The late fire in the St. George, which was supposed to be fire-proof, and the narrow escape of its inmates, has created quite a scare. Some of the papers demand a law forbidding the building of houses over eighty feet high. Several are in contemplation to be 140 feet.

—Regarding the many opinions of prominent politicians as to the probable Republican nominee for President, the S. F. Chronicle says: "There is nothing more uncertain, nothing more idle than presidential predictions. Of the columns which were printed on this subject four years ago, not one correspondent or editorial writer mentioned the man who gained the coveted honor."

—The Mexican Government has imposed a very heavy stamp tax upon liquors, chinaware, jewelry, hardware, boots and shoes, medicines, hats and caps, preserves, and several other articles in common use. On some of these the tax amounts to fifteen per cent. of their value. As a consequence merchants are closing their stores, and if they hold out, and the tax law be not repealed, there is strong probability of serious trouble.

—Further severe storms have occurred in this State during the past week. Along the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad there have been damages equal to those reported during the previous storms. Between the Tehachepi Mountains and Los Angeles the disasters have been greatest, Soledad Canyon being the scene of special devastation. In the region of San Francisco Bay the rainfall was unusually heavy on the 11th and 12th. At Fresno, on the 10th, a whirlwind about twenty feet wide passed through the edge of town, unroofing and otherwise damaging several buildings. The storm appeared like a black ball rolling upon the ground. On the same day there was what is called the heaviest shower ever seen in the vicinity of Santa Barbara, accompanied by lightning and thunder. At the latter place over thirty-four inches of rain have fallen this season.