SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6238, 8 February 1882, Page 1

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL NEWS.

(Per United Press Association.) An attempt to spread smallpox through the UuitedStatesinailswasreported to the Washington postal authorities on January 14th. An undated and unsigned letter, postmarked Cincinnati, was received by a farmer at tha Lynn (Virginia) Post-office, and in it were two smallpox scales. The letter read—" I havo sent you the smallpox; go home and die." The Pope refusing- to fill the census-paper as required by law, a monsignor took upon himself to _do so. The return shows 500 persons living in the Vatican, one-third of whom are females. The restriction of the freedom of the German Press increases daily. Thecase of the Marquis of Huntly was under investigation at the London Mansion House on January 12th. He is charged with obtaining £2374 from Beni Nicholson under false pretences. The Marquis of Huntly has disappeared. The difficulty arose from a racing affair. The coronation of the Czar has been postponed until July. The Ultramontane disputes continue in the Spanish Cortes, and the bishops are organising a great pilgrimage to Eome. The Pope has given it his approval. Mr T. O'Connor, M.P., has been received with open hands all over America. His lectures are largely attended. The story that Jefferson Davis stole the Confederate treasure-chest is now emphatically contradicted. A railroad from Texas to Brazil, through Mexico and Central America, and by the Isthmus of Panama to Rio Janeiro, is projected.. It is said that John W. Mackay, the Bonanza capitalist, is to be the president, and has promised to devote his best energies and a large part of his capital bo its completion. Iroquois and Foxhall are to try conclusions in the spring over the Newmarket course. The latest form of lawlessness in Ireland is "Land League hunts." In some instances the authorities had no time to interfere before quantities of game in preserves . were destroyed. Mr Gladstone declined to interfere with the Mormon missionaries in England. In referring to the matter he said that those who go to Utah at their solicitation go, it is presumed, voluntarily. Two Mormon missionaries wero mobbed in London. A growing distrust of the electric light has been shown in London since the Hatfield House affair. Electricians are trying to allay and advocates of gas to fester it. An English company takes up Mr .Lorillards scheme for rapid transit between the United States and England. Milford is chosen as the port by an influential association, headed by Earl Dunraven, Emigration from Germany to America is assuming vast proportions. One thousand five hundred tickets have already been taken for vessels leaving Bremen in the spring, and an equal number go from Hamburg. A person supposed to be the Hatton Garden Post-office robber was arrested at Bangor. He answers the description of one Banderstein. Th# census of Paris shows the population to be 2,225,900, against 1,998,900 in 187 C At a banquet iii Rome given in honour of the veteran soldiers, the Mayor declared the people of Rome would rather see the city laid in ashes than again be subjected to Papal.domination.

James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, has started for Witteinburg to confer with the Russian Government as to the

feasibility of starting another Polar expedition.

A very clever and partly successful swindle was recently discovered at Havannah. A telegram.purporting- to be forwarded from Madeira, through the News Agency, signed S. S. Spencer, was printed in the Havannah papers on December 24th, announcing that ticket 34,754 had drawn the capital prize of 500,000d01. in the national lottery at Madeira. Four days afterwards the ticket was presented to the house of J. N. Barges and Co. for negotiation. After they had telegraphed to Madrid for confirmation of the dispatch, it turned out that the whole correspondence was forged, and the job put up by a lot of smart swindlers. The Pans banking house discovered the fraud in time to save 211,000d0l of money. The Supreme Court of Minnesota has lately decided that one who negligently sets a fire on his own land, and keeps it negligently, is liable to an action for an injury done by the spreading or communication of the fire directly from his land to the property, of auothor, whether through the air or along the ground, and whether he might or might not have reasonably anticipated the particular manner and direction in which it is actually communicated. . The Earl of Shrewsbury, who eloped with Mrs Millar Mundy last summer, is before the public again in a discreditable rsle. Not satisfied with receiving his tenantry with her on Mb arm when they came to; congratulate him in November last on his attaining his majority, he ha 3 saddled himself with her graceless brothers, four in number. A fifth (Mr C. A. Palmer-Monvood, "of Alfredton) was terribly assaulted by these four on Christmas night, and beaten witkin an inch of his life, because he refused to sign a document conveying to them certain properties. They <then fled, and took refuge with the Earlo'f Shrewsbury and their sister, but were arrested and put under £1000 bail each. The Earl went bail for one of these worthies, who helped to give him a sound thrashing when he was discovered with his sister on the Continent. The Earl is evidently of an easy and fondly loving disposition. ■ ■ The revelations in the Lawson caso, and some others, have caused a scare in London about poisoning, and means are being taken to restrict the sale of poisons. A movement is on foot to bring a colony of Jews fronvßussia,to Canada. New York advices of December 21st state that the American exploring steamer Jeannette was crashed by the ice on June 23rd in latitude 77 degrees north, and 157 degrees east longitude. The survivors left in three boats, 50 miles from the mouth of the Lena, and lost sight of each other during a dense fog and violent gale. No. 3 boat, under the command of Engineer Melville, reached the eastern mouth of the Lena on September 29th, and was stopped by an iceberg near the village of Idioliciro. _ In October No. 1 boat, having on board two sailors, reached Volonegu. They brought information that Lieutenant Dr Long, Dr Ambler Rose, and other survivors had been landed at the northern mDuth of the Lena, where they were in a distressing state, many having their limbs frozen and in danger of death. An expedition was sent from Volonegu to search for the unfortunates. The other boat is still missing. Prompt monetary and pther assistance was rendered by the Russian Governor of Gakutsk. The Jeannette was wrecked 500 miles from the mouth of the Lena. Her crew numbered 35. The American papers consider it probable that No. 2 boat is safe, surmising that she reached one of the isolated fishing-stations east of Lena. A terrible railway collision happened on the Hudson River railway-road, near Albany, New York, on January 13th'. The Chicago express train, having on board many members of the Legislature, was run into by the Larrytown special,- the two rear carriages being telescoped and set on fire. Nine were killed, and several fatally or seriously injured. It appears that the train reached Albany 20 minutes late, but the run was made safely to Springton, Dulford' station, which was reached at 7 o'clock, when a stoppage to cool a heated axle was necessary. . The brakes- | man was instructed to signal the Larrytown special, which was due at Springton at seven past 7, The brakesman made some n^istake, and tho special ran into the rear car ,of the express with terrific, foree, A stove and lamp were upset and ignited the upholstery of the carriages and woodwork. The passengers; who were jammed between the seats, were roasted to death. Amongst the dead were Senator Wagner and a bride and bridegroom on 'their wedding tour, The groom's father esqapod, and the young groom might have beon safe but for his bride clinging desperately to him. The brakesman, Malms, to whose carelessness tho^accident is attributed, has been arrested. ....... Oscar Wilde, the aesthetic poet, has arrived in New York. Mi- Healy^ M,P. for Wex.ford, has thrived in San Francisco. During his trip overland he made speeches at several points in favour of the Irish Land League. The look-out of crops in California this season is very gloomy. Raia is greatly needed in the southern portion of the State. Meantime the sheep are dying. Fitzgerald, now walking a match in Now York, is making a record of 582 miles in six ' days, beating tne best previous records. Jjaigo quantities of Irish potatoes are being exported to the United States. A famine is imminent among the Frenoh camps in Tunis. London has given £10,000 to the Vienna sufferers. ■ - ■ ■ • . Mr James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, has started for St. Petersburg, to confer with the Russian Government as to rescuing the crew of the Jeannette. Mrs Langtry made her first appearance as a regular member of tho Haymarket Company on January ISth. Tlio Russian military authorities will organise an armed settlement on the Chinese frontier of Siberia. The Italian Government is determined to guarantee more efficient liberty with independence to the Pope in Rome, Mormon proselytising in London is reported unsuccessful, but many converts havo been mado in tho provinces—nearly' 1500 since August, Mrs Langtry in her theatrical debut has provoked a terrific outburst of professional jealousy. Mrs Langtry is said to receive £500 a week at tho Haymarket. Application has been made by outside parfcios to assist Guitoau to take an insurance on his life not exceeding 100,000dol. The scarlet fever epidemic is prevalent in New York. Smallpox is increasing in Chicago. Tho churches at Port Cherers, hear New York, havo beon closed on account of smallpox. The reports of the General Post-office Department at Washington indicate that the disease is spreading throughout the country. The largest steel sailing vessel afloat, one of 2200 tons, was launched on the 9th at Belfast for the managers of the White Star Line. The vessel is named the Garfield, and will be placed in the Californian and Australian trade. Mormon missionaries are actively prose lytising in the State of Pennsylvania, and accessions to the ranks of polygamy are rapidly increasing. While Congress are devising ways and means to suppress the practice in far-off-Utah, the Mormons are carrying it into the heart of the country.