American Summary.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 265, 14 November 1885, Page 7

American Summary.

San Francisco, Oct. 24,

Owing to a short crop in England, large contracts have been made by dealers there for California hops.

There is a great excitement in the petroleum market of New York, due to a struggle between Wall-street and the Standard Oil Company.

John McCullough, the tragedian, is now confined to bed at the Bloomdaie Insane Asylum, and his death is daily expected.

The widow of Junius Brutus Booth, the great English actor, died in New York on October 22nd.

The New York "Times" of the 23rd thinks the Grant Memorial Fund will be a failure. There is little or no interest taken In it.

Mapleson and his opera troupe arrived in New York on the 23rd.

A Chinese Freemason died in New York on the 23rd October, and was buried with full Masonic honours.

The Chinese cigav makers of San Francisco have struck against the employment of white labour iv the same establishments with themselves.

The Archbishop of Baltimore will shortly be named a Cardinal, and take the place in the American Catholic hierarchy vacated hy the death of Cardinal McClosky.

Irish-Americans of New York have sent 10,000 dols. to the Parnell Parliamentary Fund, and 5,000 dols. additional were subscribed on the 21st at a mass meeting, over which Charles A. Dana of the " New York Sun" presided.

The Hudson river, N.Y., where no salmon was supposed to run, is now reported swarming with them as the result of the Fish Commissioners' experiment.

Miss R. B. Stuart, an actress, committed suicide in San Francisco, on Oct. 14th. Her real name was Kitty

Bryant.

H. W. Shaw (better known as "Josh Billings,") the humourist, died of apoplexy at the Hotel del Monte, Monte ray, Cal., on the 14th. He was nearly 70 years of age. Importantdiseoveries of fraud among officials in operating the Chinese Restriction Act at San Francisco, have been discovered, and a number of the offenders dismissed.

There was a sensational report in New York, on the 17th, that the Prince of Wales had entered into oil speculation, and purchased half a million barrels of petroleum. The order was executed by the principal broker for the Standard Oil Company. If the report be true, the Prince made a tidy lot of money.

Dr. Theodore Canisius, of Illinois, for three years U.S. Consul at Samoa, has returned to Washington in broken health. He brings a letter from the present king, Malietoa, protesting against the German or any other nation attempting to annex his territory. The Apache hostiles, under the lead of the bloodthirsty Gerouimo,are having it all their own way in Arizona. The papers are full of accounts of outrages committed by the savages, and the United States troops appear powerless to oppose them.

A type-setting invention, which lias been long perfecting, and which, it is said, will revolutionise type-setting, has been introduced in New York. It is claimed that anyone capable of using a type-writing machine will be able to set type and stereotype at the same time the typo required for printing a newspaper.

Ten thousand barrels of American apples were sold in Liverpool, Eng., on Oct. sth, at remunerative prices—16s,

145., and 12s. per barrel. Apples are a drug in the American markets this season.

The racing yacht Genesta sailed from New York for England on October 3rd. The crew refused to return in her except she made the trip under jury rig. An oner of $20,000 for the craft was refused by the owner, Sir Richard Sutton.

Hon. Charles Clayton, a leading mercantile man of San Francisco, died suddenly in Oakland on October 4th. The impression is that he committed suicide on account of being financially involved.

By an accident to John Robinson's Circus train on the Fergus Branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad, October 4th, five tent hands were killed, and many others wounded. The train broke in two going up an incline, and all the circus men were in the rear cars.

The town of Westwood, N.Y., was demolished be a tornado on the sth October.

Some 10,000 Irish-Americans met in mass meeting at Chicago on October 3rd, and sent $10,000 to the Parliamentary campaign fund for Irish members, on the plan originated by Parnell.

The establishment of H. S. Crocker and Co., the most oxtensive in the way of printing, engraving, and lithographing iv San Francisco, was destroyed by fire on the morning of Oct. 8. It was known as the Cosmopolitan Block, Bush Street. Loss about $500,000. Two men lost their lives by falling Avails. The great explosion by which Flood Rock, which interfered with navigation at Hell Gate, East River, New York, was reduced to fragments took place on the forenoon of Oct. 10. Tons of water, v wreckage of timber, and boulders were uplifted in air over 200 feet. The spectacle is said to have been grand beyond description. Navigation is now entirely free iv this locality. Nearly 300,000 pounds of dynamite were used in the blast.

Postmaster-General Vilas is besieged with psotests against the present arrangements for carrying the foreign mails, and petitions praying for an immediate return to the old system.

Steps have been taken by Nellie Sartoris, daughter of the late President Graut, to procure a divorce from her English husband, Algernon Sartoris, on account of his cruelty and neglect.