SAN FRANCISCO HAIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4774, 14 October 1893, Page 6

SAN FRANCISCO HAIL.

'— ; «- - ' ■ ■ i - . (Per s.s. Alameda at Auckland.) YPeb Pbbsb Association.! ' AMERICAN SUMMARY. 1 San Fbanoibco, Sept. 22. The new Opera Houae at Canton, Illinois, was completely destroyed by fire on Sept. 19, owing to the explosion of BOrne fireworks used on the stage in the play o£ Michael Strogoff. The aotors were' nil scorched, some or them badly, and many of the women and children in the audience were trampled upon and. seriously injured in the panic. A tgilor known as " Pat " was bo terribly burned that one leg fell off when he was picked up. The project oE an international midwinter fair in San Francisco is gradually assuming Bhape. The ground was broken for the Vienna Prater building on Sept. 21, in the presence of thousands of people, and the collections for the fair fund are becoming easier. The site of the exposition will be the Golden Gate Park. One of the attractions oE the time will be a notable racing season. Several stables are now on their way to California from the Eastern Stato,Bv Marshfield, Wisconsin, was, according to a despatch dated Sept. 4, surrounded by a sheet of flame, and the people in the country fled for their lives. It is said that at least twenty-five persons were cut off from escape. Two children, while trying to escape with their parents from a burning house, were lost in the demo smoke and cremated. Latsc news is to the effect that both Marsbfield and Junction City were destroyed, as well as several other villages and towns of importance. A national congress of business .men was convened at Washington on Sept. 11. Its object was to call for tho immediate repeal of the purchasing of silver, clause in the Sherman Act, and to consider the principal interests of the country. One hundred representatives of Boards of Trade in tho principal cities of the United States were present. The congress was measurably a failure, as scarcely one-tenth of those who responded to the invitation sent out by the New York Board of Trade and Transportation put in an appearance. Those who did, came to work for gold, as was supposed, but a strong sentiment in favour of silver was found to prevail among the delegates. After some inconsequential business the meeting adjourned sine die. Three men rode up to the bank at Delta, Colorado, at half-past ten a.m., killed A. T. Blackley, the cashier, and secured about SOOdole and then made off. A hardware merchant named Bay Simpson, hearing firing, got his Winchester and killed two of the robbers. The third got away. A frightful collision occurred at Eußhwick Junction, Long Island, New York, in which twenty or more persons were killed. Among the number were Mr C. A. Buck, editor of the New York Spirit of the Times for many years, and a great patron of the American turf. Antpnio Banhebich died at the Seamen's Boarding-House, Philadelphia, on August 27, after having fasted seventy-Bix days. Nothing but water had passed his lips during that time. When he went to breakfast on June 11, there was neither knife, fork nor spoon placed for him. He felt insulted, and. refused to eat from that time till midnight of Augußt 26, when he called for food. A little beef tea was given him, and he died after taking a few mouthfula. He was a stalwart man, weighing over 1901 b when he began hiß fast. At his death, only his frame remained. A curious circumstance was reported from Indianapolis on August 22. A woman named Earhart wbb arrested on that date, charged with attempting to kill her husband by means of chloroform. Her explanation, made with many tears, was that a lady friend had advised her to get her husband: soundly asleep, and then pour water on to the palmß of his hands, whereupon he would talk freely of his choicest secrete. The son, who called in the police, found' his mother sitting by the prostrate form of his father, holding to his nostrils a handkerchief saturated with chloroform. Captain Eirmain, a German aeronaut, fell into Lake Michigan out of a balloon on Sept, 6. Fortunately he was observed from a schooner, and was picked up after being ninety minutes in the water. The buildings of the Exposition at Chicago are to bo sold. They will Boon be advertised, and will be knocked down to the highest bidder. About the only things of any uee in them are the iron and steel arohes and the timber. It is thought that not more than a million will be realised from the auction. The Manufactures and Liberal Arts buiiding, whioh cost 1,600,000 dollars, wilJ, it is believed, be given to a man who will demolish and carry the debris away. Each arch of thiß building contains twenty car-loads of steel, all firmly riveted together. The Panama Catial Company has paid into the United State of Columbia Treasury the first instalment of 500,000 francs of the remuneration promised when the canal concession was extended at the request; of M. Manges. There was great rejoicing when the news was published. There is considerable interest in Buffalo, New York, in the proposed attempt by Stanley Matthews, of Cincinnati, to go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel of peculiar construction. ' It is believed that that the attempt will be made about the middle of September. The barrel ia conical in shape, and is made of 'hard wood, four inohes thick. This is bound with iron hoops set close to eaoh other. Over all is a sheath of pure rubber, six inohes in thickness. This is an element of safety which has not been used in trips over the great cataract heretofore. Matthews will ba safe from aotual physioal danger during the trip, but there is a possibility of the shock of that 169 ft fall killing him.