i: 1ST AFIMCA. 



20. Bad railway wreck caused by a runaway 

 freight engine at Altoona. Pa. 



22. Explosion of fire damp in a nun, 

 iiiund, I'riw*ia,8 killed. 7 A succession 



of earthquake in the \MI. .. Asia. 



uses several death*. 



.*ion MI acetylene gas work*, in Jersey 

 N. I. 2 deaths. 



85. A numlM-r ..f |n-r-'iis m. hiding French i 

 and military oflWr*. killed in railway collision in 

 Fraiuv. Kirv destroys the Colis,. U m at Chicago, 1 

 death. Explosion during a I'hristmas salute at 





 ing party triirk by a train near Little Falls, .V V. 



ed,5ioju 

 26. A woman and her ! children [H-nsh in a fire 



i.-nts of a Christian 

 in IVifin I iy Kurdish rai 



29. A fire destroyed 800 building in I'.-rt an 

 it was followed, a few hours later. 

 bran earthquake. A further Outbreak of tin- plague 

 report. -1 in the Mand\ it- district. India. Hun 

 on ili.- llrm-li roast. 



Summary of fires in December: Philadelphia, 

 Pa., carpet store and other business houses burned, 

 . - '-: . : I- rks N. !>.. various build- 

 ings, loss, $750,000; St. Louis. .Mo., jewelry and 

 , , : - : -. . ~. s::::.V'NM. : Kansai City, M.... 

 Auditorium Hot.-l, loss, $225.1KM : Cleveland, Ohio, 

 tl business blocks, lose, $675,000 ; Chicago. 111., 

 urn Building, loss. $7?2.(KK>: and 186 other-; 

 totnl loss for th,- month. $1 



The aggregate loss l,v Jin- in tin- vear 1897 was 

 $110.319,ft50 



Summary of train accidents in December: 

 r-'Hisions, 85 derailments, 6 others: total. 208. 

 Kill.-.l: 1" employees. 2 passengers, 8 others; total, 

 28. Hurt : i:;:> employees, 50 passengers, 10 others; 

 total, 195. 



IHs< in. |s n| ( II KIM. The General Mi- 

 sionary Conventions of the I>i-<-jpl,-> of Christ were 

 held in Indianapolis, Ind.. U-ginning with the 

 meeting of the Woman's Board, Oct. 1~>. The re- 

 /at ion, $62.601, showed a sub- 

 stantial increase over those of any previous \, ,,r. 

 Tin- l*ard hail '2*\ missionaries in India. Japan, and 

 Mexico, and 36 in thr I i It had und.-r- 



taken to establish Bible chairs in secular colleges 

 and universities. One such chair at th- ( Hi\ 

 of Michigan was in successful operation, and other's 

 were contemplated at the I'nivcrsities of Virginia 

 and Georgia. One of the means of raising m 

 that were adopted by the board was through a regu- 

 lar assessment of 10 cents a month on each member. 



The receipts of th- home board (Am-ri<-an 

 Christian Missionary Soci.-tv) had l>een $:',- 

 showing a gain of $8,000. aside from a special d< l,t 

 . : HjOOU The board WM Ml of ,i,.i,t. 

 and liH<l a balance of x m j s - 



skmaries had been employed in 21 States; and 

 under their labors 2i! ehnrahes had l>-.-n h-ip.-.|. 

 84 churches organized, and :U7l mrmhers added 

 by baptism. The missions had raised $44,865 for 



self-support. In the process of the unihYation of 

 the im-Mon work through bringing the State and 



."ii the majority 



t-f the State DOB t hemsehv- 



iliarv to t ; iii ( 'liri-tian Mi>-ioiiar\ S. 



and ha<l thi> \ear filed their rep ( irt^ for ihr tir>t 

 time. Tl. -:,l distrirt nu i<.na: 



had enipl urin-d !'.!> 



rhnrrhes orgalii/-i. ;.iitioii 'f ninnl'erx. 



and | \ new phi. 



adopted I iy ti I'oard of inlet. 



;al congregations or group-* ..f con 

 t<. make particular mi-- ion |.oint th.:r .p,.-ial 



, them through the home i 



With the i uri-iian Mi^j,,- v the 



year had U-en the m..>t Mi.-<-e-^ful iii it> h; 



ti had been > I more 



than in the pr i.cn.iit un 



lii-eii ^il.l Ji.'. The Sunday whool* hail ...nlnl- 

 nt.-.i ,,| the Christian Mn 



$8 t 35H. Of the receipts, $6^00 belonged to I I, 



unity fund, no part of which was available for eur- 

 and would le >pent on lniii>. 



Permanent fund had been im reaM>d by $8,050. 



-urn f .< s . : >" had b. i fr.nn bequests. 



One him. Ired and >i\ty-t wo mi ioiiarie-. had been 

 employi-d in the various lieMs. Two n.-w mis-ioii- 



arieS Dfjd been sent toll,' \\here 



the agents of the American Baptl-t " 

 I'nion gave them all the assiManre in their | 

 The St-andinaviiin niissi,,n- had been e\i.-nded into 

 Sweden. Ten other missionaries had been sent to 

 China. India. .Japan, and Tuii 



All th- missions showed increase in their r- 

 live totaK .f church membership: India of -I::. Japan 

 of 88. China of 1'2. Turkey of 7^. Si-andina\ 

 80, and Kngland of :J1. The number of children 

 in the schools exceeded the membership of the 

 churches. In China l^.TJo patients hal 

 treated by tin- physicians; in India 5,000 patients 

 had been treated', hundreds of >;ar\ini; children 

 had been inhered into orphanages 4."i leper- 

 been cared f>r. and \,W2 persons hud been t: 

 at the disixinsary of a native physician. 



A steadily growing iin manifested in 



.the work of colored evangeli/ation. which had been 

 be-un seven years befor' ntrilntion< i 



this cause had amounted to $s,l(in. |-'.vaiiL'eli>tx- 

 were aided or wholly sustained in the States of 

 Mi i^ippj. Kansas. 'Virginia. Honda. Mi ,, U ri. 

 Alabama, and other States; and thn-e school- 

 maintained a Bible sc||, ,,il in Louisville. Ky.. for 

 the education of ju-eachiTs ami teacher-: a collegi- 

 ate institute at KdwanU. Mi . : and a gl 

 school at Linn. Ala.: while a -\i<,\ had been be- 

 gun at Martinsvjllc. Va.. and other schools v 

 i rat ion in Texas and South Carolina. Tl 



ceipts for church extension had been $82^80, and 



the receipt- f. .r ministerial relief $ll.ur,^. A table 

 was presented at the meetings showing that the 

 total amount of the year's contributions of the 

 Di-<iples f..r missionary and benevolent work had 



DOMINION 01 ( \.\AUA. See CANADA. 



E 



RAKT AFRICA. The coast of Afri- 

 Cape Guardafui ami rpe Delgado. over which the 

 Sultan of Aanzilwr formerly .-x.-rcised sovereign 

 righu, has been divided, by agreement between 

 Germany, Great Britain, and Italy, among those 

 powers. German Kart Afrioa'i.H divid-d from 

 the Portuguese possessions on the south by the 

 river Kovuma; from britiah East Africa oh the 



north entional boundary running north- 



west fnim the Umbe river to the shore of Victoria 

 Nyan/a. deflected SO as to include the Kilimanjaro 

 district in the German territory: and continued 

 west of the Victoria lake along - ii latitude 



to \)\f boundary of the ite, which 



forms the western limit of the (ierman .sphere. 

 Uritish Hast Africa, according to the agreement. 



