title
stringlengths 1
80
| section
stringlengths 1
623
| text
stringlengths 0
40.4k
|
|---|---|---|
Basil (disambiguation) | Wiktionary | Basil is the common name of a number of plants often used for seasoning. It is typically used for a number of species of the genus Ocimum, in particular the widely cultivated O. basilicum.
Basil may also refer to:
Clinopodium vulgare, another species of plant within the Lamiaceae family commonly known as wild basil.
Basil (name), people named Basil
Basil, California, former name of Redwood Valley, California
Basil (novel), by Wilkie Collins
Basil (film), a 1998 film by Radha Bharadwaj starring Jared Leto
Basil (Sesame Park), the main character on the Canadian children's show Sesame Park
Basil Fawlty, the main character in Fawlty Towers
Saint Basil (disambiguation)
The Great Mouse Detective, also known as Basil the Great Mouse Detective, an animated film by Disney
BASIL, a character in the 2020 role-playing video game Omori
A type of leather tanned with redoul
Basil Brush, fox puppet from British children's TV |
Basil (disambiguation) | See also | See also
Basel, Switzerland
Basal (disambiguation), referring to a base or minimum level
Basilica (disambiguation)
Bazel (disambiguation)
Vasily (disambiguation), the Slavic form of the name |
Basil (disambiguation) | Table of Content | Wiktionary, See also |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Short description | Emperor Xiaowu of Jin (; 362 – 6 November 396According to Sima Yao's biography in Book of Jin, he died aged 35 (by East Asian reckoning) on the gengshen day of the 9th month of the 21st year of the Taiyuan era of his reign. This corresponds to 6 November 396 in the Julian calendar. [(太元二十一年)九月庚申，帝崩于清暑殿，时年三十五] Jin Shu vol. 09. Thus by calculation, his birth year should be 362.), personal name Sima Yao (), courtesy name Changming (),In Zizhi Tongjian, Emperor Xiaowu was known by this name before he received any title. was an emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in China. During his reign, Jin saw his dynasty survive a major attempt by Former Qin to destroy it, but he would nevertheless be the last Jin emperor to actually exercise imperial power, as his sons Emperor An and Emperor Gong would be controlled by regents and warlords. Emperor Xiaowu died an unusual death—he was killed by his concubine Honoured Lady Zhang after he insulted her. |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Early life | Early life
Sima Yao was born in 362, when his father Sima Yu was Prince of Kuaiji and prime minister for his grandnephew, Emperor Ai. Sima Yao's mother, Li Lingrong, was originally a servant involved in textile production but, based on a magician's words that she would bear his heir (his sons all having died early by that point), Sima Yu took her as his concubine and she gave birth to Sima Yao. As he was born at dawn, she named him Yao, with the courtesy name Changming, both meaning "dawn". A year later she gave birth to his brother, Sima Daozi. As the oldest surviving son of Sima Yu, Sima Yao was designated as the heir apparent early in his life, and in 365, when he was just three years old, Emperor Fei offered the greater title of Prince of Langya to his father and the title of Prince of Kuaiji to him. Sima Yu declined, both personally and on his son's behalf, and Emperor Fei did not insist on them taking on the greater titles.
In 371, having lost a devastating battle to the Former Yan general Murong Chui in 369, the paramount general Huan Wen accused Emperor Fei of impotence and of not being the biological father of his sons. He then deposed him and made Sima Yu the new emperor (as Emperor Jianwen), although actual power was in Huan's hands. In 372, Emperor Jianwen grew ill and he named Sima Yao crown prince on 12 Septemberji'wei day of the 7th month of the 2nd year of the Xian'an era, per vol. 103 of Zizhi Tongjian but in his will, he offered the throne to Huan, if he wanted it. When his official Wang Tanzhi () objected, Emperor Jianwen gave approval for an amendment, written by Wang, wherein Huan was only compared to the statesmen Zhuge Liang and Wang Dao. Nevertheless, when Emperor Jianwen died, many officials were apprehensive of Huan, and not immediately willing to declare Crown Prince Yao as the new emperor. Finally, at the instigation of Wang Biaozhi (), Crown Prince Yao took the throne as Emperor Xiaowu. |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Early reign | Early reign
The new emperor was only 10 years old. Therefore, his cousin Empress Dowager Chu (Emperor Kang's wife and niece of Xie Shang) served as regent, but the decisions were actually being made by Xie An and Wang Tanzhi; Huan Wen, apparently fearful of being entrapped, declined an offer to be regent. In 373, Huan Wen died and the fears of a Huan usurpation dissipated as his brother and successor, Huan Chong, was committed to the survival of the imperial government.
A major issue for the Jin government was the continued military pressure exerted by the powerful northern rival, Former Qin. In 373, Former Qin attacked and seized Jin's Liang (梁州, modern southern Shaanxi) and Yi (益州, modern Sichuan and Chongqing) provinces. Internally, however, Jin was apparently well-governed by Xie and Huan Chong.
On 1 October 375, Emperor Xiaowu married Wang Fahui (the daughter of the official, Wang Yun ()) as his empress.gui'si day of the 8th month of the 3rd year of the Ningkang era, per vol. 103 of Zizhi Tongjian He was 13 and she was 15. He also started studying the Chinese classic texts and writing poetry. In 376, Empress Dowager Chu officially removed herself from the regent position and returned her powers to Emperor Xiaowu, although the decisions were still largely being made by Xie.
In 376, the Jin vassal, Former Liang, was attacked by Former Qin. Jin forces, under Huan Chong's command, attempted to relieve the pressure on Former Liang by attacking Former Qin, but Former Liang fell quickly and Huan Chong withdrew his forces. In apprehension of a Former Qin attack, Jin evacuated much of its population north of the Huai River to regions south of the river.
In 378, Former Qin made major attacks against the important Jin cities of Xiangyang, Weixing (魏興, in modern Ankang, Shaanxi), and Pengcheng. While general Xie Xuan was able to immediately recapture Pengcheng after it fell, Xiangyang and Weixing were taken by Former Qin forces in 379.
On 24 October 380, Empress Wang died. Emperor Xiaowu did not have another empress for the rest of his life.
In 381, Emperor Xiaowu began to study Buddhist sutras and he established a Buddhist study hall inside his palace, inviting monks to live within.
In 383, Huan Chong made a counterattack against Former Qin, hoping to recapture Xiangyang and the southwest. However, after initial losses, Huan abandoned the campaign. |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | The Battle of Fei River | The Battle of Fei River
In November 383, Former Qin's emperor, Fu Jiān, launched a major attack against Jin, intending to destroy it and unite China. At the Battle of Fei River, however, his forces panicked after trying to retreat to draw Jin forces across the river, and his army was routed with great losses, including his brother and prime minister, Fu Rong. Former Qin began to collapse after this defeat and never again posed a threat to Jin. |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Middle reign | Middle reign
After defeating Former Qin forces, Xie Xuan spearheaded a campaign to regain lost territory, and Jin captured most of the Former Qin provinces south of the Yellow River, as well as regaining Liang and Yi provinces. However, Prime Minister Xie An, who was most credited with the victory, began to lose favor in Emperor Xiaowu's eyes; Xie's son-in-law, Wang Guobao (), unhappy that Xie did not give him important posts, began to flatter both Emperor Xiaowu and his brother, Sima Daozi, the Prince of Kuaiji, as a means of undercutting Xie. Xie remained prime minister, however, until his death in 385; he was replaced by Sima Daozi. Both Emperor Xiaowu and Sima became obsessed with feasting and drinking, and neither spent much time on affairs of state.
In 387, Emperor Xiaowu named his oldest son, five-year-old Sima Dezong, crown prince, notwithstanding the fact that Sima was developmentally disabled—so severely that even after he grew older, he was described as not being able to talk, dress himself, or to tell whether he was full or hungry while eating.
In 390, Emperor Xiaowu began to tire of how his brother, Sima Daozi, was taking his favors for granted, and he decided to look for counterbalancing forces. He made the officials Wang Gong (王恭, Empress Wang's brother) and Yin Zhongkan () key regional governors, despite warnings that both Wang and Yin were talented but narrow-minded, and might create issues later. |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Late reign | Late reign
By 395, the conflict between Emperor Xiaowu and Sima had flared into the open, but because of the intercession of Empress Dowager Li, Emperor Xiaowu did not remove his brother. After further mediation by Xu Miao (), the relationship between the brothers seemed to be restored.
By 396, Emperor Xiaowu was spending so much of his time on drinking and women that he was not tending to important matters of state. His favorite consort was the beautiful Honoured Lady Zhang. On 6 November 396, when she was almost 30 years old, Emperor joked at a feast saying, "Based on your age, you should yield your position. I want someone younger." That night, after Emperor Xiaowu fell drunk, she ordered all the eunuchs away, bribing them with wine, and then ordered her servant girls to suffocate Emperor Xiaowu by putting a blanket over his face. She further bribed the attendants and claimed that the emperor died suddenly in his sleep. The death was not investigated and the next day, Sima Dezong assumed the throne as Emperor An, with Sima Daozi as regent. |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Era names | Era names
Ningkang (寧康, níng kāng): 9 February 373 – 8 February 376
Taiyuan (太元, tài yuán): 9 February 376 – 12 February 397 |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Family | Family |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Consorts and issue | Consorts and issue
Empress Xiaowuding, of the Wang clan of Taiyuan (; 360–380), personal name Fahui ()
Empress Dowager Ande, of the Chen clan (; 362–390), personal name Guinü ()
Sima Dezong, Emperor An (; 382–419), first son
Sima Dewen, Emperor Gong (; 386–421), second son
Guiren, of the Zhang clan ()
Unknown
Princess Jinling (; d. 432)
Married Xie Hun of Chen, Duke Wangcai (; d. 412)
Married Wang Lian of Langya () |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Ancestry | Ancestry |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | References | References
Sima, Guang: Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance (Zizhi Tongjian)
Category:362 births
Category:396 deaths
Category:Jin dynasty (266–420) emperors
Category:Jin dynasty (266–420) Buddhists
Category:Chinese Buddhist monarchs
Category:4th-century Chinese monarchs |
Emperor Xiaowu of Jin | Table of Content | Short description, Early life, Early reign, The Battle of Fei River, Middle reign, Late reign, Era names, Family, Consorts and issue, Ancestry, References |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Short description | The Cleveland Torso Murderer, also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, was an unidentified serial killer who was active in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, in the 1930s. The killings were characterized by the dismemberment of thirteen known victims and the disposal of their remains in the impoverished neighborhood of Kingsbury Run. Most victims came from an area east of Kingsbury Run called "The Roaring Third" or "Hobo Jungle", known for its bars, gambling dens, brothels, and vagrants. Despite an investigation of the murders, which at one time was led by famed lawman Eliot Ness, the murderer was never apprehended. In 2024, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office teamed up with the DNA Doe Project to exhume some of the victims and use investigative genetic genealogy to identify them. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Murders | Murders
thumb|left|Cleveland police searching for human remains, September 1936.
The official number of murders attributed to the Cleveland Torso Murderer is twelve, although recent research has shown there could have been as many as twenty or more. The twelve known victims were killed between 1935 and 1938. Some investigators, including lead detective Peter Merylo, believed that there may have been thirteen or more victims in the Cleveland, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh areas between the 1920s and 1950s. Two strong candidates for addition to the "official" list are the unknown victim nicknamed the "Lady of the Lake," found on September 5, 1934, and Robert Robertson, found on July 22, 1950.
The victims of the Torso Murderer were usually drifters whose identities were never determined, although there were a few exceptions. Victims numbers 2, 3, and 8 were identified as Edward Andrassy, Florence Polillo, and possibly Rose Wallace, respectively. Andrassy and Polillo were both identified by their fingerprints, while Wallace was tentatively identified via her dental records. The victims appeared to be lower class individualseasy prey during the Great Depression. Many were known as "working poor," who had nowhere else to live but the ramshackle shanty towns, or "Hoovervilles," in the area known as the Cleveland Flats.
The Torso Murderer always beheaded and often dismembered their victims, occasionally severing the victim's torso in half or severing their appendages. In many cases the cause of death was the decapitation or dismemberment itself. Most of the male victims were castrated. Some victims showed evidence of chemical treatment being applied to their bodies, which caused the skin to become red, tough and leathery. Many were found after a considerable period of time following their deaths, occasionally in excess of a year. In an era when forensic science was largely in its infancy, these factors further complicated identification, especially since the heads were often undiscovered.
During the time of the "official" murders, Eliot Ness, leader of The Untouchables, was serving as Cleveland's Public Safety Director, a position with authority over the police department and ancillary services, including the fire department. Ness contributed to the arrest and interrogation of one of the prime suspects, Dr. Francis Sweeney, and personally conducted raids into shantytowns and eventually burned them down. Ness's reasoning for doing so was to catalogue fingerprints to easily identify any new victims, and to get possible victims out of the area in an attempt to stop the murders.
Four days after the burning, on August 22, 1938, Ness launched an equally draconian operation where he personally dispatched six two-man search teams on a large area of Cleveland, stretching from the Cuyahoga River to East 55th Street to Prospect Avenue, under the guise of conducting city fire inspections. While the search never turned up any new or incriminating information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the Torso Murderer, it did serve to focus renewed public attention on the inadequate and unsanitary living conditions in the downtown area. Teams uncovered hundreds of families living in hazardous fire traps without toilets or running water. The interests of social reform did ultimately come to light even if those of law enforcement did not. At one point, the Torso Murderer taunted Ness by placing the remains of two victims in full view of his office at City Hall. The man who Ness believed to be the killer would later also provoke him by sending postcards. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Victims | Victims
Most researchers consider there to be twelve victims, although some have counted as many as twenty or forty. Evidence suggests a woman dubbed the "Lady of the Lake" could be included. There was a second victim who was also considered to be a victim of the Torso Murderer in 1950 named Robert Robertson due to the fact that his head was also cut off in a manner very similar to the confirmed victims. Only three victims were positively identified; the other ten were six John Does and four Jane Does. Exhumations of unidentified victims started in August 2024 after the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office partnered with the DNA Doe Project to identify the victims through genetic genealogy. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Edward Andrassy | Edward Andrassy
thumb|upright|left|Edward Andrassy
Edward Anthony Andrassy, age 29, was discovered on September 23, 1935, in a gully at the base of Jackass Hill where East 49th Street dead-ends into Kingsbury Run. Andrassy's head was discovered buried near the rest of his body, which was found to be emasculated and only wearing socks. The autopsy report stated that Andrassy was decapitated in the mid-cervical region with a fracture of the mid-cervical vertebrae. The coroner also noted that he had rope burns around his wrists. The cause of death was decapitation; hemorrhage and shock. He had been dead for two to three days. At one time, Andrassy had been an orderly in the psychiatric ward at Cleveland City Hospital. However, at the time of his death, he was unemployed and had no visible means of financial support. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | John Doe I | John Doe I
The decapitated remains of another white male were also located in weeds at the foot of East 49th Street and Praha Avenue next to Andrassy. Evidence suggested that the unidentified victim's body was saturated with oil and set afire after death, causing the skin to become reddish and leathery. It also appeared as though the victim's body hair had either been shaved or burned off. The unidentified male became known as John Doe I. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Florence Polillo | Florence Polillo
thumb|upright|left|Florence Polillo
Florence Genevieve Polillo, age 44, was discovered at 2315 to 2325 East 20th Street in Cleveland. Florence was found dismembered and had been wrapped with paper and packed into half-bushel baskets, but her head was never discovered. The autopsy report stated that her cause of death was a slit throat. Due to the lack of the head, the coroner could not definitively rule her death a homicide. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | John Doe II (The Tattooed Man) | John Doe II (The Tattooed Man)
thumb|upright|left|The Tattooed Man
The decapitated torso of an unidentified man was located on June 5, 1936, between the New York Central and Nickel Plate Road tracks next to an old freight shed in front of the Nickel Plate Road police building. His head was found near the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit tracks.
The victim's body was nude but unmutilated and found only about fifteen hundred feet away from the head. There was no blood on the ground, indicating he had been killed elsewhere. A railroad worker testified that the head was not in the vicinity at 3:00 p.m. that day, and an eyewitness described seeing a late-model Cadillac close to the crime scene at about 11:00 p.m. that same night.
The physical evidence of the decapitation suggested it had been done while the victim was alive, and the autopsy report stated that the body was drained of blood. The head had been cut off between the first and second cervical vertebrae. There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in the victim's body, and nothing to suggest that he had been tortured or bound before being killed. John Doe II had six tattoos, hence the nickname "The Tattooed Man". |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | John Doe III | John Doe III
On July 22, 1936, the severely decomposed, decapitated remains of a white male were located near a homeless camp in the Big Creek area of Brooklyn, west of Cleveland. This was the only known West Side victim of the Torso Murderer. Police conducted a thorough search of the area and found the man's head, which was a skull at that point. Cheaply made, bloodstained clothing was found nearby. A pathologist discovered a large quantity of dried blood that had seeped into the ground beneath the man's body, indicating he was killed at that location.
For the first time the murderer had ventured far away from Kingsbury Run, and instead of transporting the victim, he had killed him in the place he was discovered. The victim's long hair, poor clothing and location near a homeless camp suggested he was one of the many vagrants who rode in and out of Cleveland on the nearby railroad tracks. However, the advanced state of decay of the body made it impossible to get any fingerprints, and the head would have been decomposed and unrecognizable by that point. Searches through missing persons reports were unsuccessful. The unidentified male became known as John Doe III. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | John Doe IV | John Doe IV
A homeless person discovered two halves of a male torso and lower legs floating in a stagnant pool near East 37th Street while waiting for an eastbound freight train. The torso was removed and sent to the morgue, where the coroner noted the body had been severed between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae as well as between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae. A search was made for the rest of the body. Police found a dirty felt hat labelled 'Laudy's Smart Shop, Bellevue, Ohio', which appeared to have blood spots on the top. A blue work shirt, covered with blood, was found wrapped in newspaper along the bank of the creek where the body was found. A fire crew dredged the water in the creek in attempt to locate more parts of the body. The head was never found, nor the body identified. The victim's kidneys and stomach were removed, as were his genitals. The coroner declared the probable cause of death as decapitation. The unidentified male became known as John Doe IV. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Jane Doe I | Jane Doe I
On February 23, 1937, the upper portion of an unidentified female victim was found washed up on Euclid Beach on 156th Street. The legs, arms, and head were never found, likely because they were less buoyant than the torso and possibly sank to the bottom of the lake. Three months later the lower half of the torso washed ashore at East 30th Street. The upper extremities were disarticulated at the level of the glenoid fossa, better known as the socket of the shoulder joint. The neck and head were also disarticulated between the seventh cervical and first thoracic vertebrae. Multiple hesitation knife marks at the surface of the skin were present. There was considerable water and gravel found in both pleural cavities. The probable cause of death was officially undetermined via the coroner's case file. The unidentified female became known as Jane Doe I. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Jane Doe II | Jane Doe II
The eighth victim was located beneath the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge on June 6, 1937. Lying in a rotting burlap bag, along with a newspaper from June 1936, was the partial skeleton of a woman who had been dead approximately one year. The body was decapitated and missing a rib. She was tentatively identified as 40-year-old prostitute Rose Wallace, who had vanished from the same bar Polillo had, but this could not be confirmed. Wallace was known to have disappeared ten months earlier on August 21, 1936, while it was estimated that the victim had been dead for one year when found. Officially the victim remains unidentified and is known as Jane Doe II. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | John Doe V | John Doe V
On July 6, 1937, the upper portion of a man's torso wrapped in a burlap sack for chicken feed, plus his two thighs, were discovered floating in the Cuyahoga River in the Cleveland Flats just below Kingsbury Run. The head, as well as the internal organs within the abdominal cavity and the heart, were never found. The unidentified male became known as John Doe V. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Jane Doe III | Jane Doe III
On April 8, 1938, a woman's leg was located in the Cuyahoga River in the Cleveland Flats. A month later on May 2, two burlap bags containing a woman's nude bisected torso; thighs and feet were discovered floating in the river to the east of the West 3rd Street Bridge. Her head and arms were never found. She was the only victim to have morphine in her system, estimated at 0.002 gm. per 100 gm. sample. The unidentified female became known as Jane Doe III. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Jane Doe IV and John Doe VI | Jane Doe IV and John Doe VI
On August 16, 1938, a dismembered body was found at a dump at the end of East Ninth Street in Cleveland, Ohio, by men combing for pieces of scrap metal. The body of a woman was wrapped in rags, brown paper, and cardboard. Uncharacteristically, the head and hands were found with the rest of the body. The victim's head had been disarticulated at the level of the third intervertebral disc. The unidentified female became known as Jane Doe IV.
On the same day, the body of John Doe VI was discovered at a nearby location on the Cleveland lakefront, in plain view of Safety Director Eliot Ness's office at City Hall. Similar to the other victims, the head was severed from the body and the victim remains unidentified. The head was disarticulated at the level of the third inter-vertebral disc and had knife marks on the dorsum of the second and third cervical vertebrae. Extremities at all the major joints were all disarticulated as well. The coroner ruled the cause of death as undetermined though he noted it was probably a homicide. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Possible victims | Possible victims |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Lady of the Lake | Lady of the Lake
The lower half of a woman's torso, thighs still attached but amputated at the knees, washed up on the shores of Lake Erie just east of Bratenahl on September 5, 1934. A subsequent search yielded only a few other body parts. The head was never found. She was nicknamed the "Lady of the Lake". She had an abdominal scar from a likely hysterectomy, which was common and made it more difficult to identify her. After she was found, several people reported seeing body parts in the water, including a group of fishermen who believed to have seen a head.
The Lady of the Lake was found virtually in the same spot as Jane Doe I. Both victims had on their skin a chemical which was believed to have been lime chloride. It is supposed that the killer meant to use a quickening lime to decompose the bodies quicker, but mistakenly used lime that would preserve the bodies instead. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Robert Robertson | Robert Robertson
On July 22, 1950, Robert Robertson, age 41, was discovered at 2138 Davenport Avenue in Cleveland. Police believed he had been dead six to eight weeks and appeared to have been intentionally decapitated, fitting the profile of other victims. Robertson was estranged from his family, had an arrest record, and was an alcoholic on the fringes of society. Despite widespread newspaper coverage linking his death to the Torso Murderer, detectives treated it as an isolated crime. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Other possible related murders | Other possible related murders
Between 1921 and 1942, nine people, eight of them unidentified, were found dead and dismembered in swamps or around train yards near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The so-called "Murder Swamp Killings" have been theorized to be additional victims of the Torso Murderer. The almost identical similarities between the Pittsburgh victims to those in Cleveland, both of which were directly connected by a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line, were enough to convince Cleveland investigator Peter Merylo that the Pittsburgh murders were related.
The headless body of an unidentified male was found in a boxcar in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on July 1, 1936. Three headless victims were found in boxcars near McKees Rocks on May 3, 1940. All bore similar injuries to those inflicted by the Torso Murderer. Dismembered bodies were also found in the swamps near New Castle between 1921 and 1934 and between 1939 and 1942. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Possible link to Black Dahlia Murder | Possible link to Black Dahlia Murder
In December 1938, the Torso Murderer allegedly sent a letter to Ness, claiming that he had moved to California and killed a woman there and had buried the head in Los Angeles. In the letter, the killer referred to himself as a "DC" or Doctor of Chiropractic. An investigation uncovered animal bones.
A decade later, this "confession" resulted in authorities considering the possibility that the Torso Murderer had some connection to the Black Dahlia case, in which the bisected remains of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short were found in the unfinished Leimert Park housing development of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Both Short and the Torso Murderer victims had been thoroughly cleaned after death, and a butcher knife was believed to have been used in both cases. However, Short was not decapitated, as was a signature for the Cleveland victims. Furthermore, the murder took place a near-decade after the letter was received. Aside from circumstantial evidence and sheer speculation, there is nothing connecting Short to the Torso Murderer. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Suspects | Suspects
Authorities interrogated around 9,100 people during the search to find the Torso Murderer. There were only two main suspects: Frank Dolezal and Francis Sweeney. On August 24, 1939, a 52-year-old Cleveland resident named Frank Dolezal (May 4, 1887 – August 24, 1939), who at one point lived with Polillo and also had connections to Andrassy and Wallace, was arrested as a suspect in Polillo's murder; he later died under suspicious circumstances in the Cuyahoga County jail while in the custody of Sheriff Martin O'Donnell. Dolezal was later posthumously exonerated of involvement in the Torso slayings.
The other lead suspect, Dr. Francis Edward “Frank” Sweeney (May 5, 1894 – July 9, 1964), was a veteran of World War I who was part of a medical unit that conducted amputations in the field and at one point suffered nerve damage from a gas attack.Maggie Coomer, "The Cleveland Torso Murders," Unresolved: The Cleveland Torso Murders, Podcast. Published on July 11, 2021, Accessed on May 26, 2022. After the war, Sweeney became an alcoholic due to pathological anxiety and depression derived from his wartime experiences. His heavy drinking began in 1929; by 1934 his alcoholism led to a separation from his wife.
Sweeney was personally interviewed by Ness. Before the interrogation, Sweeney was found to be so intoxicated that he was held in a hotel room for three days until he sobered up. Under questioning, he is said to have "failed to pass" two very early polygraph machine tests. Both tests were administered by polygraph expert Leonarde Keeler, who told Ness that Sweeney was the culprit. Ness apparently felt there was little chance of obtaining a successful prosecution, however, especially as Sweeney was the first cousin of one of Ness's political opponents, U.S. Congressman Martin L. Sweeney, who had hounded Ness publicly about his failure to catch the killer.Congressman Sweeney's daughter married the son of Cuyahoga County Sheriff Martin O'Donnell (1886–1941) (See Dolezal case)
After Sweeney committed himself to an institution, there were no more leads or connections that police could assign to him as a possible suspect. From his confinement, Sweeney sent threatening postcards and harassed Ness and his family into the 1950s; the postcards only stopped arriving after his death. Sweeney died in a veterans' hospital in Dayton, Ohio, on July 9, 1964.
While Sweeney was considered a viable suspect, the evidence against him was purely circumstantial. In 1929, Sweeney was a surgical resident at St. Alexis Hospital in the Kingsbury Run area. He also had an office on the same street where a man named Emil Fronek claimed a doctor had tried to drug him in 1934. Fronek's story was ultimately discounted as he could not relocate the building with police the following day. Upon finding a victim with drugs in her system and looking through buildings, it was found that Sweeney did have an office next to a coroner, in the area where Fronek had suggested he had been drugged. Sweeney would practice in their morgue, which would have been a clean and convenient location to kill victims.
In addition to Dolezal and Sweeney, authorities also considered Willie Johnson, an African-American male who committed a similar murder in June 1942. Johnson had been spotted by a young girl while disposing of a trunk, which was later found to contain the torso of 19-year-old Margaret Frances Wilson. Wilson's head and arms were found in nearby bushes, while her legs would be found at Johnson's home two weeks later. It was claimed that Johnson was acquainted with Wallace and, possibly, Polillo, but, while Coroner Samuel Gerber touted him as a suspect, he was never conclusively linked to the Torso Murders. Johnson was tried and convicted of Wilson's murder and, after a lengthy psychological evaluation, executed by electric chair on March 10, 1944.
In 1997, another theory postulated that there may have been no single Torso Murderer—that the killings could have been committed by different people. This was based on the assumption that the autopsy results were inconclusive. Merylo believed that the Torso Murderer could have been a transient who was riding the rails, as most of the murders occurred near railroad tracks, and believed this was why there were murders in other states that were similar to the killings in Cleveland. Merylo went undercover as a hobo to investigate this idea. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | In popular culture | In popular culture
The 2018 film The Kingsbury Run was based on a modern copycat of the murders. The murders and the hunt for the perpetrators were also covered in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. The award-winning graphic novel Torso written by Brian Michael Bendis tells the hunt for the killer by Eliot Ness. March 19, 2012 February 20, 2013
American author John Peyton Cooke wrote a fictionalized account of the murders in his novel Torsos, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men's Mystery for 1993,Cooke, John Peyton (1993). Torso, Headline, London. .Cooke, John Peyton (1994). Torsos, Mysterious Press, New York. . and was noted by Marilyn Stasio in The New York Times Book Review for its atmospheric depiction of Cleveland, Ohio, during the Great Depression.Badal, James Jessen (2001). In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders . The Kent State University Press. .
The Unknown Beloved by Amy Harmon is a fictionalized treatment of the Cleveland Torso Murders.
American Demon, written by author Daniel Stashower, details the murders and the subsequent investigation by Eliot Ness.
Trail of Cthulhu, a tabletop role-playing game inspired by the works of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, contains an introductory adventure in the first edition rulebook entitled The Kingsbury Horror which is based on the Torso Murders. |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | See also | See also
Orley May – detective who worked on the case.
Thames Torso Murders – another series of murders in which the torsos of victims were left behind.
General:
List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
List of serial killers in the United States |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | References | References |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Notes | Notes
(His tattoos suggested that he may have been either in the Coast Guard; US Navy or the merchant Marine service) |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Citations | Citations |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Bibliography | Bibliography
Paperback.
Hardback.
Paperback.
Collins, Max Allan and A. Brad Schwartz. Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America's Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology. New York: HarperCollins, 2020.
Paperback.
Paperback, second edition 2002.
Paperback
Paperback..
Stashower, Daniel (6 September 2022). American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper. Minotaur Books. . |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | External links | External links
Cleveland Torso Murders
Google Map of the Torso Murders
The Kingsbury Run Murders
Category:1935 in Ohio
Category:1935 murders in the United States
Category:1930s in Cleveland
Category:Cleveland Division of Police
Category:Crimes in Cleveland
Category:Murder in Ohio
Category:Serial killers from Ohio
Category:Unidentified American serial killers
Category:Unsolved murders in the United States
Category:Year of birth unknown |
Cleveland Torso Murderer | Table of Content | Short description, Murders, Victims, Edward Andrassy, John Doe I, Florence Polillo, John Doe II (The Tattooed Man), John Doe III, John Doe IV, Jane Doe I, Jane Doe II, John Doe V, Jane Doe III, Jane Doe IV and John Doe VI, Possible victims, Lady of the Lake, Robert Robertson, Other possible related murders, Possible link to Black Dahlia Murder, Suspects, In popular culture, See also, References, Notes, Citations, Bibliography, External links |
Jarrell, Texas | Use mdy dates | Jarrell is a city in Williamson County, Texas, United States. The total population is 1,753 according to the 2020 census. |
Jarrell, Texas | History | History
Founded in 1909 by real estate developer O.D. Jarrell, along with E. C. Haeber, the town was settled at the intersection of an old stagecoach road and the Bartlett Western Railroad that was under construction. Soon after the railroad was completed, a saloon, two stores, a post office, and a bank were built. Because of the proximity of Jarrell to the railroad, Jarrell received all of the people and most of the buildings of nearby Corn Hill, Texas, thus killing that town. The city reached a population peak of 500 residents in 1914. The closing of the railway in 1935 and the decline of the cotton industry, however, led to a long-term recession. At one point, Jarrell had only 200 residents. After this low point, the city experienced a recovery that increased its population to 410 by 1990. Over 15 new businesses opened in Jarrell in 2009.
In 2001 Jarrell incorporated as a city. Wayne Cavalier became the first mayor for the City of Jarrell. |
Jarrell, Texas | Geography | Geography |
Jarrell, Texas | Climate | Climate
thumb|left|1997 F5 Tornado
The climate in the area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Jarrell has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Jarrell, Texas |
Jarrell, Texas | Tornadoes | Tornadoes
Jarrell has been affected by two major tornadoes in its history. The first one was an F3 that occurred on May 17, 1989, killing one person and injuring 28 people. Damage was incurred mainly on the southern side of town.
On May 27, 1997, an F5 tornado devastated the northern side of town. The hardest-hit area was the Double Creek Estates subdivision, which was completely obliterated, with all of the homes in the neighborhood being destroyed. Twenty-seven people were killed in this tornado. |
Jarrell, Texas | Demographics | Demographics
+Jarrell racial composition as of 2020 (NH = Non-Hispanic)RaceNumberPercentageWhite (NH)98155.96%Black or African American (NH)482.74%Native American or Alaska Native (NH)80.46%Asian (NH)120.68%Pacific Islander (NH)20.11%Some Other Race (NH)30.17%Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH)573.25%Hispanic or Latino64236.62%Total1,753
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,753 people, 417 households, and 365 families residing in the city. |
Jarrell, Texas | Government | Government
Jarrell is a type A General-Law city. |
Jarrell, Texas | Education | Education
Jarrell is served by the Jarrell Independent School District. The district currently has three elementary schools, one middle school and one high school.
Between 2012 and 2019, student enrollment more than doubled. The district's middle school was built in 2014, but underwent an expansion in 2018–2019 to gain more classroom and science labs so that it could better accommodate the growing population of students. The high school is also being expanded, including the addition of a performing arts center.
In 2023, Jarrell ISD formed its own ISD Police Department. |
Jarrell, Texas | Infrastructure | Infrastructure
Jarrell sits directly along Interstate 35, with access to Ronald Reagan Boulevard.
Emergency services are provided by the Jarrell Fire Department, operating under Williamson County ESD#5.
The Jarrell Police Department was created in 2006. In 2014, Chief Andres Gutierrez was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to a wire fraud/theft of honest services charge. |
Jarrell, Texas | Notable People | Notable People
Preston Smith, 40th Governor of Texas: born in Corn Hill which later was absorbed by Jarrell. |
Jarrell, Texas | References | References |
Jarrell, Texas | Notes | Notes |
Jarrell, Texas | External links | External links
Official City of Jarrell website
Category:Cities in Texas
Category:Cities in Williamson County, Texas
Category:Greater Austin |
Jarrell, Texas | Table of Content | Use mdy dates, History, Geography, Climate, Tornadoes, Demographics, Government, Education, Infrastructure, Notable People, References, Notes, External links |
Theodor Adrian von Renteln | [[file:Adrian von Renteln.jpg | thumb|Theodor Adrian von Renteln
Theodor Adrian von Renteln (15 September 1897 – 1946 (disputed)) was a German Nazi Party official and politician. During World War II, he was General Commissioner of Generalbezirk Litauen and was involved in perpetrating the Holocaust in Lithuania. The circumstances surrounding his fate are disputed.
Of Baltic German origin, Renteln studied law and economics in Berlin and Rostock, but became a journalist. In 1928, he joined the Nazi Party and, the following year, he became the founder and head of the National Socialist Schoolchildren's League (NSS). In 1931, he was appointed the head of the Hitler Youth. However, he gave up the leadership of both these organizations upon his election to the Reichstag on the Nazi Party electoral list at the July 1932 election. Losing his seat at the November 1932 election, Renteln was returned to the Reichstag in November 1933 from constituency 5, Frankfurt an der Oder. At the 1936 election, he switched to constituency 4, Potsdam, and he retained this seat until the fall of the Nazi regime.Theodor Adrian von Renteln entry in the Reichstag Members Database
In 1932–1933 Renteln led the Combat League of the Commercial Middle Class (NS-Kampfbund für den Gewerblichen Mittelstand), an organisation allegedly "Deflecting Jewish Atrocity and Boycott-Mongering", participating in the boycott of Jewish businesses and other forms of persecution. In June 1933, he was appointed President of the National Socialist Council of Industry and Trade (Nationalsozialistische Handwerks-, Handels-, und Gewerbeorganisation or NS-HAGO), holding this position until 1935, when this organisation was merged with the German Labor Front (DAF). Renteln became a staff leader of the German Labor Front. In 1940, he was appointed the Reich Leader of the Trade and Artisanship Section of the NSDAP (Hauptamtsleiter Handel und Handwerk in der Reichsleitung der NSDAP). He was also the head of the Supreme Court of the Reich Labor Front.
In July 1941, Renteln was appointed the Generalkommissar of Generalbezirk Litauen (roughly modern Lithuania), where he took harsh measures against the Jewish population. On 26 August 1941, he ordered that all telephones and lines were to be stripped, postal service be cut off, and bridges to the Kaunas (Kovno) Ghetto be surrounded with barbed wire fences to prevent people from jumping off. This order also forbade the Jews of the Kovno ghetto to use doors, window frames, or houses for fuel. In 1943, he was implicated in the clearing of the Vilna Ghetto, deporting 20,000 Jews to concentration or death camps, as well as in plundering.
According to some accounts, after World War II, Renteln was captured by the Russians, tried, and hanged for war crimes in 1946. According to other sources, he lived under a false identity in South America and died there. His death has never been fully confirmed. |
Theodor Adrian von Renteln | References | References |
Theodor Adrian von Renteln | External links | External links
Category:1897 births
Category:1946 deaths
Category:Executed German people
Category:German untitled nobility
Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Lithuania
Category:Kovno Ghetto
Category:Members of the Reichstag 1932
Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936
Category:Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938
Category:Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945
Category:Nazi Party politicians
Category:Nazis executed by the Soviet Union by hanging
Category:Nazis executed for war crimes
Category:Nobility in the Nazi Party
Category:People from Dzau District
Category:People of Baltic German descent
Category:Vilna Ghetto |
Theodor Adrian von Renteln | Table of Content | [[file:Adrian von Renteln.jpg, References, External links |
Fidelity Investments | short description | Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), owned by FMR LLC and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, provides financial services. Established in 1946, the company is one of the largest asset managers in the world, with $5.8 trillion in discretionary assets under management, and $15.1 trillion in assets under administration, .
Fidelity operates a brokerage firm, manages mutual funds, provides fund distribution and investment advice, retirement services, index funds, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, asset custody, and life insurance. It offers brokerage clearing and back office support and software products for financial services firms. It also offers a donor-advised fund, Fidelity Charitable, for clients seeking to donate securities. It processes 3.5 million daily average trades. It is one of the largest providers of 401(k) plans and manages employee benefit programs for more than 28,800 businesses.
Abigail Johnson, granddaughter of founder Edward C. Johnson II, and her family and their affiliates own a roughly 40% interest in the company. The remainder is owned by current and former executives. |
Fidelity Investments | History | History
The Fidelity Fund incorporated in Massachusetts on May 1, 1930, with Edward C. Johnson II serving as president. The corporate structure changed in 1946 and became known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR).
In 1969, the company formed Fidelity International Limited (FIL) to serve non-U.S. markets and subsequently spun it off in 1980 into an independent entity owned by its employees.
In 1982, the company began offering 401(k) products. In 1984, it offered computerized stock trading.
In 1991, Fidelity launched the first commercial donor-advised fund.
In 1995, Fidelity became the first mutual fund company to offer a webpage.
In 1997, Robert Pozen was named CEO.
In 2001, Geode Capital Management was established to run and incubate investment strategies for FMR. In 2003, it was spun off as an independent company.
In September 2003, the company launched its first exchange-traded fund, the Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index Tracking Stock Fund (ONEQ).
In 2007, the company changed its legal structure to a limited liability company; FMR LLC became the owning entity.
In 2010, Fidelity Ventures, its venture capital arm, was shut down, and many of the employees created Volition Capital.
In 2011, Fidelity changed the name of its international division from Fidelity International to Fidelity Worldwide Investment and a new logo was introduced.
In 2012, the company moved its Boston headquarters to 245 Summer Street.
In 2014, Abigail Johnson became president and CEO of Fidelity Investments (FMR) and chairman of Fidelity International (FIL). She reduced dependence on open-ended mutual funds, instead having the company focus on financial advice, brokerage services, and venture capital.
In October 2018, Fidelity launched Fidelity Digital Asset Services, a separate entity dedicated to institutional cryptoasset custody and cryptocurrency trading.
In August 2018, Fidelity introduced mutual funds with no mutual fund fees and expenses.
In May 2019, Fidelity launched cryptocurrency trading to institutional customers.
In September 2019, Fidelity completed the corporate spin-off of Eight Roads Ventures, its venture capital division. It was known as Fidelity Growth Partners until 2015. In 2018, Eight Roads launched a $375 million European fund.
In August 2021, Fidelity announced plans to hire 16,000 employees in 2021, including 9,000 during the second half of the year.
In April 2022, Fidelity announced that it will start offering Bitcoin as an investment option in 401(k) plans to participants whose employers have elected to include it in their plan.
In January 2024, after receiving approval, Fidelity was one of several issuers that launched a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
In July 2024, after receiving approval, Fidelity was one of several issuers that launched a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund.
In April 2025, Fidelity launched no-fee cryptocurrency trading in individual retirement accounts. |
Fidelity Investments | Notable mutual funds | Notable mutual funds
Fidelity has three fund divisions: Equity (headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts), High-Income (headquartered in Boston) and Fixed-Income (headquartered in Merrimack, New Hampshire). |
Fidelity Investments | Fidelity Contrafund | Fidelity Contrafund
The company's largest equity mutual fund is Fidelity Contrafund, which has $145 billion in assets, making it the largest non-index fund in the U.S. and the largest fund managed by an individual. William Danoff has managed Contrafund since 1990. |
Fidelity Investments | Fidelity Magellan | Fidelity Magellan
Fidelity Magellan has $25 billion in assets. Its current manager is Jeffrey Feingold, who also manages the Fidelity Trend Fund. Founded by Ned Johnson in 1963 as the Fidelity International Fund during what Peter Lynch called the "great fund boom", it was renamed the Magellan Fund in 1965. As Lynch recounted, the early sales staff of the Magellan Fund was mostly part-time, traveling employees until the 1973–1974 stock market crash led to a severe decline in interest.
Magellan was managed by Johnson from May 2, 1963, to Dec. 31, 1971, Lynch from May 31, 1977, to May 31, 1990, and Harry W. Lange from 2005 to 2012. Under Lynch's leadership Magellan averaged 29% a year, more than doubling the growth rate of the benchmark S&P 500, and remains the best-performing mutual fund in history over such an extended period. |
Fidelity Investments | Devonshire Investors | Devonshire Investors
The company's Devonshire Investors arm is a division that gives the owners of the company the ability to make other investments outside its funds.
Investments include:
Seaport Center and 2.5 million square feet of office space in Boston.
COLT Telecom Group
Former investments include:
MetroRed
Community Newspaper Company, the largest chain of newspapers in suburban Boston, Massachusetts, sold to the Boston Herald in 2000 and now owned by GateHouse Media.
Fidelity paid $1.14 billion for Lanoga, the third-largest U.S. professional materials dealer, and $548 million for Hope Lumber, an Oklahoma-based supplier of trusses and other wood products.
In 2013, it sold Boston Coach, a limousine and black-car service, founded in 1985 by Ned Johnson after waiting too long for a taxi, to Harrison Global.
It formed ProBuild in 2006 and sold it to Builders FirstSource in 2015. |
Fidelity Investments | Legal issues and controversies | Legal issues and controversies |
Fidelity Investments | Conflict of interest with employee/owners' personal investments | Conflict of interest with employee/owners' personal investments
Owners and employees of the company are able to invest in pre-IPO startup companies via the company's subsidiary, F-Prime Capital Partners. An investigation by Reuters in 2016 identified multiple cases where F-Prime Capital Partners was able to make investments in shares at a fraction of the price later paid by funds managed by Fidelity Investments. Because of regulations, the funds are not allowed to make the same early venture capital investments as F-Prime Capital Partners. However, the funds allegedly made large investments in companies after they go public in which shares are already owned by Fidelity employees via F-Prime Capital Partners. An example included William Danoff's personal purchase of shares of Alibaba Group for 7 cents each; many shares were later purchased by the fund he manages. While the practice is not illegal, it poses a corporate conflict of interest. The same Reuters investigation documents six cases (out of 10) where Fidelity Investments became one of the largest investors of F-Prime Capital companies after the start-up companies became publicly traded. Legal and academic experts said that major investments by Fidelity mutual funds - with their market-moving buying power - could be seen as propping up the values of the investments made by F-Prime Capital, to the benefit of Fidelity insiders. |
Fidelity Investments | Document retention fines | Document retention fines
In February 2007, the NASD, a division of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, fined four FMR-affiliated broker-dealers $3.75 million for alleged registration, supervision and e-mail retention violations. The broker-dealers settled without admitting or denying the charges.
In 2004, Fidelity Brokerage paid $2 million to settle charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that employees altered and destroyed documents in 21 of its 88 branch offices between January 2001 and July 2002. Fidelity has internal inspections every year to make sure it is complying with federal regulations. Management was accused of pressuring branch employees to have perfect inspections and gave notice of the inspections and that at least 62 employees destroyed or altered potentially improper documents maintained at branch offices including new account applications, letters of authorization and variable annuity forms. |
Fidelity Investments | Misrepresentations | Misrepresentations
In May 2007, NASD fined two Fidelity broker-dealers $400,000 for preparing and distributing misleading sales literature promoting Fidelity's Destiny I and II Systematic Investment Plans, which were sold primarily to U.S. military personnel. As part of the settlement, the FMR affiliates were required to notify Destiny Plan holders who want to increase their investments in existing Destiny Plans that additional shares of the underlying fund can be purchased outside the Destiny Plans without paying the additional sales charges. |
Fidelity Investments | Employee stealing | Employee stealing
In 2025, the company was fined $600,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for lax supervision after an employee stole $750,000 from the accounts of 37 international clients over an eight year period from 2012 to 2020. |
Fidelity Investments | Accepting gifts from brokerages | Accepting gifts from brokerages
In December 2006, the company was fined $42 million after some employees accepted gifts from salespeople of Jefferies Group in violation of the company's policies. The firm was fined an additional $3.75 million in February 2007 and $8 million in 2008. Gifts included private chartered flights, tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl, Wimbledon Championships and the US Open tennis tournament; tickets to Justin Timberlake, U2, and Christina Aguilera concerts; and high-end wines such as 1993 Château Pétrus. |
Fidelity Investments | Marketing | Marketing |
Fidelity Investments | Paul McCartney marketing campaign | Paul McCartney marketing campaign
Fidelity has experimented with marketing techniques directed to the baby boomer demographic, releasing Never Stop Doing What You Love, a compilation of songs by Paul McCartney. McCartney became the firm's spokesman in 2005 in a campaign entitled "This Is Paul". On the day of the disc's release, company employees were treated to a special recorded message by Paul himself informing them that "Fidelity and [he] have a lot in common" and urging them to "never stop doing what you love". |
Fidelity Investments | See also | See also
List of US mutual funds by assets under management
Mutual funds:
Fidelity Contrafund
Fidelity Magellan
Fidelity International
Mutual fund fees and expenses
Wealth Lab
Asset management in Singapore
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. v. Manning, a 2016 Supreme Court case involving naked short selling claims against National Financial, a subsidiary of Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, and others. |
Fidelity Investments | References | References |
Fidelity Investments | External links | External links
Category:1946 establishments in Massachusetts
Category:Companies based in Boston
Category:American companies established in 1946
Category:Financial services companies established in 1946
Category:Financial services companies of the United States
Category:Privately held companies of the United States
Category:Investment management companies of the United States
Category:Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Category:Mutual funds of the United States
Category:Online brokerages
Category:Online financial services companies of the United States
Category:Privately held companies based in Massachusetts
Category:Fidelity International |
Fidelity Investments | Table of Content | short description, History, Notable mutual funds, Fidelity Contrafund, Fidelity Magellan, Devonshire Investors, Legal issues and controversies, Conflict of interest with employee/owners' personal investments, Document retention fines, Misrepresentations, Employee stealing, Accepting gifts from brokerages, Marketing, Paul McCartney marketing campaign, See also, References, External links |
Tahir ibn Husayn | Short description | Ṭāhir ibn Ḥusayn, (, Tahir bin al-Husayn), also known as Dhul-Yamīnayn (, "the ambidextrous"), and al-Aʿwar (, "the one-eyed"), was a general and governor during the Abbasid Caliphate. Specifically, he served under al-Ma'mun during the Fourth Fitna and led the armies that would defeat al-Amin, making al-Ma'mun the caliph.
Tahir bin al-Husayn was then appointed governor of Khorasan as a reward, which marked the beginning of the Tahirids. |
Tahir ibn Husayn | Early life | Early life
260px|thumb|left|Map of Khurasan and its surrounding regions
Tahir was born in Pushang which was a village near the ancient city of Herat in Khorasan. He was from a Persian dehqanSectarian and national movements in Iran, Khurasan and Transoxanial during Umayyad in early Abbasid times, F. Daftary, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV, 57. noble family who had distinguished themselves since the Abbasid Revolution, and were previously awarded minor governorships in eastern Khorasan for their service to the Abbasids.The Tahirids and Saffarids, C.E. Bosworth, The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4, 91. His great-grandfather Ruzaiq was a mawla of Talha ibn Abd Allah al-Khuza'i, an Arab nobleman from the Khuza'a tribe, who served as the governor of Sistan. Ruzaiq's son Mus'ab was the governor of Pushang and Herat. Mus'ab's son, Husayn, who was the father of Tahir, continued to his father's role as the governor of Pushang and Herat.
Under the governor of Khorasan, Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan, there were riots in the province because of the latter's cruelty and persecution of other noble families, which included the family of Tahir; Tahir was imprisoned for some time and was mistreated. When he was released he fought on the side of Harthama ibn A'yan against Rafi ibn al-Layth in 808 when the latter rebelled at Samarkand, but when the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid deposed Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan, and sent general Harthama ibn A'yan against Rafi, he returned to obedience. During the event, Tahir lost an eye after an accident, which gained him the nickname al-A'war ("the one-eyed"). Tahir seems to have been quickly offended if someone picked him about his eye, even threatening a poet, who had humiliated him about his lost eye in a poem. The caliph Harun al-Rashid later died in 809, and was succeeded by his son al-Amin. |
Tahir ibn Husayn | Abbasid civil war | Abbasid civil war
250px|thumb|right|Map of Iraq and surrounding regions in the early 9th-century
In 810, the caliph al-Amin, and his brother, Al-Ma'mun, came in conflict which each others, which later led to a civil war; in January 811, al-Amin formally began the Great Abbasid Civil War when he appointed Ali ibn Isa as governor of Khurasan, placed him at the head of an unusually large army of 40,000, drawn from an elite group known as abna′, and sent him to depose al-Ma'mun. When Ali ibn Isa set out for Khurasan, he reportedly took along a set of silver chains with which to bind al-Ma'mun and carry him back to Baghdad.Kennedy (2004), p. 148Rekaya (1991), pp. 332–333 The news of Ali's approach threw Khurasan into panic, and even al-Ma'mun considered fleeing. The only military force available to him was a small army of some 4,000–5,000 men, under Tahir. Tahir was sent to confront Ali's advance, but it was widely regarded as almost a suicide mission, even by Tahir's own father. The two armies met at Rayy, on the western borders of Khurasan, and the ensuing battle (3 July 811) resulted in a crushing victory for the Khurasanis, in which Ali was killed and his army disintegrated on its flight west.El-Hibri (2011), p. 285Rekaya (1991), p. 333
Tahir's unexpected victory was decisive: al-Ma'mun's position was secured, while his main opponents, the abna′, lost men, prestige and their most dynamic leader.Kennedy (2004), p. 149 Tahir now advanced westwards, defeated another abna′ army of 20,000 under Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabala after a series of hard-fought engagements near Hamadan, and reached Hulwan by winter.Daniel (1979), pp. 179–180 Al-Amin now desperately tried to bolster his forces by alliances with Arab tribes, notably the Banu Shayban of Jazira and the Banu Qays of Syria. The veteran Abd al-Malik ibn Salih was sent to Syria to mobilize its troops along with Ali ibn Isa's son, Husayn. However, al-Amin's efforts failed due to the long-standing intertribal divisions between Qaysis and Kalbis, the Syrians' reluctance to get involved in the civil war, as well as the unwillingness of the abna′ to cooperate with the Arab tribes and to make political concessions to them. These failed efforts to secure Arab support backfired on al-Amin, as the abna′ began to doubt whether their interests were best served by him. In March 812, Husayn ibn Ali led a short-lived coup against al-Amin in Baghdad, proclaiming al-Ma'mun as the rightful Caliph, until a counter-coup, led by other factions within the abna′, restored al-Amin to the throne. Fadl ibn al-Rabi, however, one of the main instigators of the war, concluded that al-Amin's case was lost and resigned from his court offices. At about the same time, al-Ma'mun was officially proclaimed caliph, while his vizier Fadl ibn Sahl acquired the unique title of Dhu 'l-Ri'asatayn ("he of the two headships"), signifying his control over both civil and military administration.
In spring 812, Tahir, reinforced with more troops under Harthama ibn A'yan, resumed his offensive. He invaded Khuzistan, where he defeated and killed the Muhallabid governor Muhammad ibn Yazid, whereupon the Muhallabids of Basra surrendered to him. Tahir also took Kufa and al-Mada'in, advancing on Baghdad from the west while Harthama closed in from the east. At the same time, al-Amin's authority crumbled as supporters of al-Ma'mun took control of Mosul, Egypt and the Hejaz, while most of Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan fell under the control of the local Arab tribal leaders.Rekaya (1991), p. 334 As Tahir's army closed on Baghdad, the rift between al-Amin and the abna′ was solidified when the desperate Caliph turned to the common people of the city for help and gave them arms. The abna′ began deserting to Tahir in droves, and in August 812, when Tahir's army appeared before the city, he established his quarters in the suburb of Harbiyya, traditionally an abna′ stronghold.
250px|thumb|right|Map showing the domains of the Tahirid dynasty
The Islamic scholar Hugh N. Kennedy characterized the subsequent siege of the city as "an episode almost without parallel in the history of early Islamic society" and "the nearest early Islamic history saw to an attempt at social revolution", as Baghdad's urban proletariat defended their city for over a year in a vicious urban guerrilla war.Kennedy (2004), pp. 149–150Rekaya (1991), pp. 333–334 Indeed, it was this "revolutionary" situation in the city as much as famine and the besiegers' professional expertise, that brought about its fall: in September 813, Tahir convinced some of the richer citizens to cut the pontoon bridges over the Tigris that connected the city to the outside world, allowing al-Ma'mun's men to occupy the city's eastern suburbs. Tahir then launched a final assault, in which al-Amin was captured and executed at Tahir's orders while trying to seek refuge with his old family friend Harthama.Kennedy (2004), p. 150 |
Tahir ibn Husayn | Governor of Khorasan and death | Governor of Khorasan and death
Tahir was afterwards transferred out of the public eye to an unimportant post in Raqqa. However, he was later recalled from the post, and was rewarded with the governorship of Khorasan. Tahir then began consolidating his authority over the region, appointing several officials to certain offices, including Muhammad ibn Husayn Qusi, who was appointed as the governor of Sistan. Tahir later declared independence from the Abbasid empire in 822 by omitting any mention of al-Ma'mun during a Friday sermon. However, he died the same night. According to some sources, he was poisoned by the orders of al-Ma'mun. Nevertheless, al-Ma'mun appointed Tahir's son to continue at his father's post. Tahir is said to have said his last words in Persian, his native language. |
Tahir ibn Husayn | References | References |
Tahir ibn Husayn | Sources | Sources
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:822 deaths
Category:Tahirid governors of Khurasan
Category:Amirs of Nishapur
Category:9th-century governors
Category:Generals of the Abbasid Caliphate
Category:Abbasid governors of Khurasan
Category:Abbasid governors of Mosul
Category:People of the Fourth Fitna
Category:8th-century Iranian people
Category:9th-century Iranian people
Category:Dehqans
Category:770s births
Category:9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate |
Tahir ibn Husayn | Table of Content | Short description, Early life, Abbasid civil war, Governor of Khorasan and death, References, Sources |
Naoto Ohshima | Short description | (born February 26, 1964) is a Japanese video game designer and artist, best known for designing Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Although Yuji Naka made a tech demo around which Sonic gameplay was based, the character in his prototype was a ball that lacked any specific features and was based on Ohshima's game proposal. Sonic Team considered numerous potential animal mascots before deciding on Ohshima's design, with an armadillo or hedgehog being the top choices because their spikes worked well with the concept of rolling into enemies.
After leaving Sonic Team, Ohshima formed an independent game company called Artoon in 1999. There he went on to work on such games as Pinobee (2001), Blinx: The Time Sweeper (2002), and Blinx 2: Masters of Time & Space (2004). In 2010, Artoon was absorbed into AQ Interactive, and Ohshima and other key members of Artoon left to form Arzest. Early in his career, he was credited under the nickname "Big Island" in a number of games, which is a literal translation of his family name. |
Naoto Ohshima | Works | Works
YearGameRole 1987Phantasy Star Designer1988Space Harrier 3-DArtist SpellCaster Designer1989 Phantasy Star II Tommy Lasorda BaseballLast Battle Art director1990Fatal LabyrinthDesigner1991 Sonic the Hedgehog Creator, Character designer1993Sonic CDDirector 1995Knuckles' ChaotixOriginal character concept1996Nights into DreamsDirector, character designerSonic 3D BlastAdvisor1997Sonic JamSupervisorSonic R Graphic advisor1998Burning RangersDirector, character designer, graphic artistSonic AdventureEvent motion designer, story event coordinator2001Pinobee: Wings of AdventureDirector, character designer2002The King of Fighters EX: Neo Blood Art directorGhost VibrationGame designerBlinx: The Time SweeperDirector, game designer2004Blinx 2: Masters of Time and SpaceYoshi's Universal GravitationProducer2006Yoshi's Island DSSenior producerBlue Dragon Executive producer2007Vampire RainProducer2008Away: Shuffle DungeonProducer, character designer2009Ju-On: The GrudgeChief producer2010FlingSmashSenior producerEchoshiftProducer2011Wii Play: MotionDirector2014Yoshi's New Island Development producer2015Terra BattleSpecial character illustration2016Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Supervisor2017Hey! PikminDevelopment producer2021Balan WonderworldDevelopment producer, character designer2023 Sonic SuperstarsTBA HypergalacticWriter |
Naoto Ohshima | References | References |
Naoto Ohshima | Further reading | Further reading
|
Naoto Ohshima | External links | External links
Sega Stars: Naoto Ohshima
Category:1964 births
Category:Japanese video game designers
Category:Japanese video game directors
Category:Living people
Category:Sega people
Category:Japanese video game artists
Category:Artists from Osaka |
Naoto Ohshima | Table of Content | Short description, Works, References, Further reading, External links |
Minot AFB, North Dakota | # | redirect Minot Air Force Base |
Minot AFB, North Dakota | Table of Content | # |
MFS Investment Management | Short description | MFS Investment Management (MFS) is an American-based global investment manager, formerly known as Massachusetts Financial Services.
Founded in 1924, MFS is one of the oldest asset management companies in the world and has been credited with pioneering the mutual fund. The first mutual fund, the Massachusetts Investors Trust fund, is still in operation today. MFS had $645.3 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2024. |
MFS Investment Management | History | History
The company was founded in 1924 by Sherman Adams, Charles H. Learoyd and Ashton L. Carr. L. "85 Innovations 1917-1983", December 23, 2002, Forbes.com, Retrieved June 2011 The company's oldest fund is the Massachusetts Investors Trust, a mutual fund created with $50,000 at the company's inception and reported to be "the world's first open-end investment fund". The company used "brokerage channels" to market its shares to the public and later expanded to $14 million in assets over the next five years. During the stock market crash of 1929 the fund survived an 83% loss and went on to create a second fund in 1934. By 1959, the Massachusetts Investors Trust fund had become the largest mutual fund in the United States.
In 1969, MIT was reorganized as Massachusetts Financial Services (MFS) to reflect the firm's broadened scope of products and services.
In 1976, MFS offered one of the nation’s first national municipal bond funds (Managed Municipal Bond Trust) and in 1981, MFS launched the country’s first globally diversified fixed-income fund (Massachusetts Financial International Trust-Bond Portfolio). In 1986, MFS offered the first closed-end, high-yield municipal bond fund to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1982, the company was acquired by Sun Life Financial of Canada.
In 1998, MFS Chairman and Chief Executive, A. Keith Brodkin died, causing a major shift in top management. MFS's assets under management grew from $55 billion to $90 billion between 1997 and 1998, and was reported to be the fastest growing company amongst the twenty largest that funds sold through brokers.Amey Stone, "MFS MIT: A Fund That Epitomizes Long-Term Investing", Bloomberg, August 13, 1998, Retrieved July 19, 2011.
During the early 2000s, MFS and five other mutual fund companies in the Boston area were investigated by Massachusetts and New Hampshire regulators. That same year, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that MFS made "false and misleading" statements in its fund prospectus about its policy on market trading and market timing. This was part of a wide-ranging investigation; see 2003 mutual fund scandal for additional details. MFS paid $350 million to settle state and federal fraud charges. MFS appointed Robert Pozen as non-executive chairman from 2004 to 2010.Andrew Caffrey and Jeffrey Krasner, "Mass., N.H. broaden probe", Boston Globe, November 19, 2003, Retrieved July 19, 2011. MFS implemented company reforms to inform investors about fees, keep fund boards independent and create deterrents to market timing. This ended "soft-dollar" arrangements which allowed the swapping of brokerage commissions for market research and data.
From 2010 to 2020, assets under management grew from $253 billion to $528.4 billion.
In January 2025, MFS launched its first ETF products, including five different actively managed funds. |
MFS Investment Management | See also | See also
Mutual fund |
MFS Investment Management | References | References |
MFS Investment Management | External links | External links
Company web site
Category:Financial services companies established in 1924
Category:Companies based in Boston
Category:Investment management companies of the United States
Category:Mutual funds of the United States
Category:Privately held companies based in Massachusetts |
MFS Investment Management | Table of Content | Short description, History, See also, References, External links |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.