AMERICAN NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 369, 1 July 1874, Page 3

AMERICAN NEWS.

San Francisco, May 27. The details of the partial destruction of three villages ia Massachusetts, by the bursting of reservoirs, are of an appalling character. The reservoirs were in the mountains, and were used for mill purposes in the villages below. They broke away from ti e dams, and a torrent of water rushed down on the villages, sweeping away everything in its course. One hundred and eighty persons were drowned, and the damage to property is estimated at one million dollars. Four hundred families are rendered homeless. Adding to the confusion and distress, as soon as the catastrophe was known, robbers and roughs from the neighboring towns poured ia, eager for plunder. The women'a crusade against the. liquor traffic is being suppressed by the authorities. Forty women were arrested in Pittsburg for obstructing the road. They still express their determination to continue their work. The steamer Sivatore, carrying scientists for $ observation of the transit of v enus, is ready to leave New York. It will land parties at Crozet Islands and Desolation Island. They take elaborate instruments and eighteen months' provisions aboard. A man and his wife and an old woman and her son were burned in Mexico for sorcery by Senor Castello, .Alcade of Jacomimo. They were tested by compelling them to swallow holy water. The Mayor of New Orleans telegraphs for further aid towards the sufferers of the great Louisiana inundation. He says 45,000 rations are distributed daily. Contributions of a million dollars will be required to prevent the horrors of famine and great loss of life. The fall of a building at Buffalo killed eight persons, ' By a fire at Toronto 200,000 dollars' worth of property was destroyed. Four ruffians fought their way out of the Indiana State prison with revolvers and bowie knive3, killing the turnkey. The American .steamer Mancba was wrecked during a gale on the Japan Seas. Forty-seven persons were drowned, chiefly Chinamen. A strike of the stage drivers in New York caused the disappearance of vehicles from the streets. Over forty leading places of business in Independence, Ohio, have been burned down. The loss is estimated at 500,000 dollars. A great icebeig at Quebec damaged and wrecked a large number of steamer and other vessels. Damage, 1,500,000 dollars. The New York police are making raids on gamblers. Seventy were arrested. The police of San Juan, Porto Rico, are arresting freemasons, on the ground that they favor the separation of "the Colonies from Spain. Intelligence from Japan states that the chief of the rebels and ten leaders were caught and extcuted,