AMERICAN ITEMS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2100, 18 September 1890, Page 3

AMERICAN ITEMS.

La grippe has reappeared in New York. Three deathe by it occurred in the hospital recently. It has also appeared in Alaska, and prevailed to such a degree as to interfere with the United States census-takers’ work. Gold has been discovered on a farm in West A nsonia, Connecticut, owned by S. H. Platt. It is claimed that the find is a rich one, A joint resolution has been reported favorably in the United States House of Representatives from the committee on education and labor, proposing an amendment to the Constitution to for ever prohibit in the United States the manufacture, importation, transportation, or sale of all alcoholic liquors used as beverages. A syndicate has been formed in the United States, the centre in Baltimore, controlling 5,000,000 dollars, to buy up the coSee, plantations in, Brazil and regulate prices. A genuine case of leprosy, the victim being Manuel Garulia, twenty years of age, has been discovered in New York. He was attending a military academy at Chester street, and belongs to a noble family in Spain.

A hailstorm that occurred in the southern part of North Dakota on July 30 th almost ruined the crops of 5000 acres of land. A caterpillar plague has invaded the cotton and wheat fields near Austin, Texas, and the crops will be seriously damaged. Pour thousand dollars* worth of postage stamps were stolen from the Post Office at Newport, Rhode Island, on August Ist. The thief got clear off.

Up to Augnet Ist heavy shipments of gold from New York to Europe were begining to excite apprehension among conservative business houses. President Harrison has sent a message to Congress urging measures of relief for the settlers in the recently acquired territory of Oklahoma. The suffering is wide-spread, and many are dying of starvation. Desertion from the Navy of the States has become so serious an evil as to attract the attention of the Secretary of the Navy. Nearly all the warships are short-handed. Charles Cosgrove, an aeronaut, was killed al Portland, Maine, on August 10th, while making a descent from a balloon by a parachute. He had taken the place of the regular balloonist, Ronig, who was ill, and consequently was a little new in the business. The balloon ascended 1000 ft before he trusted himself to the parachute, which descended rapidly at first, and when about 200 ft from the ground Cosgrove’s grip loosened, and he fell, striking on the right shoulder and head. Ihe body was mangled out of recognition, and death was instantaneous.

A dispatch from Indianopolis, on August list, says a log fire which had been set a-blaza in the middle of a 10-acre field, led to remarkable results. Without warning the earth belched forth flame, great trees were hurled skyward, and a large creek converted into foam and steam. Birds, snakes, rabbits, and fish were thoroughly cooked in the heat of the heated waters. A vast, but unsuspected reservoir «f natural gas had taken fire. Great holes were blown in the earth, besides a vast cavern into which the body of water of the creek drops, making a miniature Niagara,. The ground for acres round has b?en rendered useless for farming naynQses The town of Texas; was sacked on August 4th by twentv Mexicans, and afterwards burned. It is stated that Banger G. V Graves was killed, and Sheriff Lee seriously wounded. J

The Chinese Exclusion Bill has been reported to . Congress, which contemplates barring from entrv to the United States all natives of China excepting diplomats and their servants.

July 31st is said to have been the hottest day ever felt in New York. The mercury was above the 96th mark after 2 o’clock, and the sun blazed down with consuming power. The streets wore the ‘appearance of those of a southern city. Several cases of sunstroke were reported before noon, some ending fatally. The exact record of these it was not easy to secure, because, in addition to the great number of eases cared for at the hospitals, many victims were taken from the streets to stores and offices and sent directly to their homes m private conveyances. At the hospitals the house and ambulance surgeons had their hands full. Thousands of people fled from the city, and it was really dangerous for the people to venture into the streets, especially in the commercial part of the town. The ambulances from Bellevue, Chambers street, Gouverneur, and other hospitals were dashing everywhere, picking up persons prostrated by the heat and conveying them to the hospital for treatment. In the New England cities the heat was excessive, and much suffering was experienced, j