

DISASTERS IN 1894. 



241 



and for Iceland. J. M. V. Nellemann ; Minister 

 of War, Gen. Thomsen; Minister of Marine, 

 Vice-Admiral N. F. Ravn ; Minister of Public 

 Instruction and Worship, M. Bardenfleth ; Min- 

 ister of Public Works, H. P. Ingerslev. 



The elections of one half the Landsthing at 

 the end of August resulted in the return of 16 

 Conservatives, 7 Moderate Liberals, 4 Radicals, 

 strengthening the position of the Cabinet. 



Free Port of Copenhagen. On Nov. 9, 1894, 

 a free port was opened at Copenhagen. The Rigs- 

 dag in 1891 adopted the project of establishing 

 a free-port area, to save the trade of Copenhagen 

 from being diverted by the Elbe ship canal to 

 German ports. The engineers completed the 

 harbor works in two years. The free port has 

 3 large basins, deep enough for the largest ocean 

 steamers, and covers an area of 1.363 acres. It 

 is protected by an enormous mole and a break- 

 water. The great warehouses are provided with 

 elevators and cranes moved by electric power, 

 and are open on every side. Railroad tracks 

 branch out to all destinations. Goods arriving 

 in cars from any part of Europe are forwarded 

 daily to the Swedish port of Malmo without 

 breaking bulk, the cars being taken over on steam 

 barges. The cost of the new port was over 

 25,000,000 kroner, raised by a joint-stock com- 

 pany aided by the Government. The company 

 has the right to rentals and fees for the use of 

 cranes, elevators, etc., for eighty years, unless 

 the Government avails itself of its right to ac- 

 quire the property and franchises after a lapse 

 of twenty-five years. The port dues to be paid 

 by every vessel are 30 ore, or about 8 cents a 

 ton, and the dockage dues are 16i ore a regis- 

 tered ton. In the old port the ship's tax has 

 been abolished. The new free port is a depot 

 where goods can be cheaply stored or subjected 

 to processes of improvement or manufacture that 

 is open throughout the year, forming a natural 

 center of distribution for the Baltic trade, pre- 

 senting certain advantages over Bremen or Ham- 

 burg, which, as well as the Baltic ports of Rus- 

 sia, Sweden, and Finland, and the other German 

 ports, are sometimes closed by ice for long spells. 

 The establishment of the free port entails a loss 

 to the Government of about 1,000,000 kroner a 

 year in shipping dues. 



DISASTERS IN 1894. While the follow- 

 ing summary of accidents that have brought 

 death and distress to many thousands of the 

 human race can not fairly be regarded as ex- 

 haustive, it presents in a condensed form facts 

 that are attainable only by a daily search of the 

 newspapers. Such records were hardly attain- 

 able at all a generation or two ago, and in the 

 aggregate it must be confessed they present 

 nearly at their worst the conditions of life at 

 the end of the nineteenth century. Storms have 

 been unusually violent and destructive ; floods, 

 which are storms in another shape, have carried 

 desolation over wide tracts of country; forest 

 and prairie fires have counted their victims by 

 hundreds and thousands, and human careless- 

 ness, indifference, and malice have swelled the 

 list perhaps to unusual proportions. In this list 

 the devastation of war is not taken into the ac- 

 count, save where the accidental explosion of 

 some war ship or powder magazine is fairly 

 chargeable to accident. Nor are unreasonable 

 VOL. xxxiv. 16 A 



strikes counted as disasters proper, though they 

 are responsible for their full share of death and 

 misery. For the full monthly and annual sum- 

 maries of railroad accidents we are indebted to 

 the " Railroad Gazette," which persists in pub- 

 lishing complete returns in spite, if report be 

 true, of frequent protests on the part of the 

 great corporations. 



January 1. Locomotive explodes near Iligginson, 

 Ark., 2 killed, 1 hurt. Cattle train wrecked. 



2. Globe Theater burned in Boston, damage, $250,- 

 000. Trains in collision near Linwood, Kan., 5 

 killed, 4 hurt. 



3. Fire in Toledo, Ohio, damage, $850,000. Violent 

 storm in the English Channel, many vessels lost. 



4. Train wrecked near Warsaw, N. Y., 2 killed, 1 

 hurt. Fatally cold weather in Europe; many deaths 

 and much suffering. 



8. Several of the remaining World's Fair buildings 

 burned in Chicago, estimated loss nearly $1,000,000. 



9. Piano factory burned, Richmond, Ind., loss, 

 $250,000. 



11. Train wrecked near Watson's Run, Pa., 2 killed, 



1 hurt. 



12. Boat capsized near Baltimore, 6 drowned. 

 Jesuit College in Antwerp burned, loss, $200,000. 



13. Mill burned at Harrisville, R. I., estimated loss, 

 $500,000. 



14. Storm in Nova Scotia, great loss of life in the 

 fishing fleets. 



15. Trains in collision near Hackensack, N. J., 11 

 killed, 30 hurt. Trains wrecked in Cuba, 16 killed. 



16. Trains in collision near South Shaftsbury, Vt., 



2 killed, 2 hurt. 



17. Train wrecked near Fairview, N. J., by a bro- 

 ken bridge trestle, 2 killed, 28 hurt, 



20. Hurricane; much property destroyed near Dal- 

 las, Texas. 



21. Trains in collision near Steubenville, Ohio, 3 

 killed, 1 hurt. 



23. Destructive blizzard in Kansas and other West- 

 ern States. Steamer Norniannia. disabled at sea, re- 

 tuins to New York. 



24. County poorhouse burned in Iowa, 8 lives lost. 

 Lafayette, Ind., laboratory of Purdue University 

 burned, loss, $180,000. 



28. Buildings burned in Bath, Me., loss, $500,000. 

 Train wrecked by a rotary snowplow, near Como, 

 Col., 5 hurt. Another wreck near Curran, 111., 1 

 killed, several hurt. 



Summary of train accidents in January : 41 colli- 

 sions, 69 derailments, 6 others ; total, 116. Killed, 16 

 employees, 24 passengers, 4 others ; total, 44. Hurt, 

 49 employees, 74 passengers, 6 others ; total, 129. 



February 1. Great fire in Lyons, France, silk stores 

 burned. 



2. United States steamer Kearsarge wrecked on Ron- 

 cador Reef, Caribbean Sea. Fire in Niesse, Silesia, 52 

 farms, including buildings, nearly destroyed, esti- 

 mated loss, 2,000,000 marks. 



3. Fire in Omaha, Neb., loss, $350,000. 



5. Fire in Savannah, Ga., loss, $500,000. 



7. Stores and offices burned in Montgomery, Mo., 

 loss, $130,000. Earthquake near San Jose, Cal. 



8. Trains in collision near Sugar Notch, Pa. ; the 

 wreck takes fire, 1 killed. Train wrecked by robbers 

 near Houston, Texas, brakeman shot, others hurt; 

 wreck takes fire, but passengers extinguish the flames 

 with water carried in their hats. Floods in Cumber- 

 land river, Tennessee. Indian school building at 

 Pine Ridge Agency burned, loss, $50,000. Sandbank, 

 N. Y., tannery bui'ldings burned, loss, $125,000. 



11. Fire : Colt's pistol factory, Hartford, Conn., loss, 

 $250,000. Destructive blizzard in the Western States. 

 Tobacco factories at Henderson, Ky., burned, loss, 

 $200,000. Presbyterian mission buildings burned, 

 Cheyenne reservation. 



12'. Destructive storms from Kansas to the Atlantic 

 coast. Heavy storms also in England and on the 



