Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1897 — TROOPS RUSHING IN. [ARTICLE]

TROOPS RUSHING IN.

Soldiers from Japan Begin to Invade Hawaiian Islands. If the stories told by the passengers and crew of the steamship City of Pekin, which arrived in Sun Francisco from Hong Kong via Honolulu, be true a state of affairs exists in Hawaii which demands the attention of the State Department. When the City of Pekin arrived at Honolulu the attention of the other passengers on board that steamer was attracted by the remarkably symmetrical movements of 174 Japanese steerage passengers who were disembarking. Although classed as laborers, their well-drilled and military appearance was too palpable to escape observation and occasioned considerable comment. The Japanese were apparently under the command of a veteran sergeant and divided into squads of twenty under noncommissioned officers. During the voyage a military discipline" was observed which created comment among the other steerage passengers and steamer’s crew, and many conjectures were hazarded as to the meaning of their being shipped to the islands. It was generally believed that they were sent to the islands for the purpose of forcibly resisting annexation if necessary. Rumors of the presence of the Mikado’s soldiers are not new on the islands, and it is said that over 1,000 well-drilled men have already been landed there and 400 veterans of the Japan-China war are expected upon the next steamer. Ostriches, which are supposed to flourish only in very warm climates, have been raised successfully in Southern Russia, the feathers being of good quality and the birds healthy. The Society of Art of Stuttgart has had a memorial tablet placed upon the house in that city which Rubinstein occupied in the early part of his career, and where many of his compositions were written. The tablet bears a bronze medallion portrait of Rubinstein in his youth. Bulgaria has produced this year 527,750 muscals of rose oil, a muscal being equal to 642 ounces, and an ounce being valued at >1.40. The quality of thia year's oil is considered good, but the quantity is 72,250 muscals less than last year.