728 OTAHEITE OTHMAN IBN AFFAN hydraulic canals. The principal manufacturing establishments are 14 flouring mills, producing 600,000 barrels annually; the Oswego starch factory, the largest of its kind in the world ; the Ames iron works, manufacturing portable steam engines ; the Vulcan f oundery and iron works, producing chiefly steam shovels and dredges ; 2 ship yards, 3 boat-building yards, 12 cooperage establishments, 1 woollen facto- ry, 3 car works, 2 breweries, 3 furniture facto- ries, 2 carriage factories, &c. The starch fac- tory has fire-proof buildings seven stories high and covering four acres, with which are con- nected a box factory, a foundery and machine shop, and immense storehouses. There are four national banks, with an aggregate capital of $695,000 ; two state banks, $400,000 ; and two savings institutions. The city is governed by a mayor and aldermen, and has a police force and fire department. It is lighted with gas, and is supplied with water from the river, the water being pumped into two reservoirs, one on each bank, whence it is distributed through more than 20 m. of mains. The city contains the county prison, an orphan asylum, and a home for aged and indigent women. The city almshouse is on a farm about 2 m. to the west. The public schools embrace a high school and inferior grades, and the Koman Catholics have parochial schools, besides St. Louis acad- emy. The number of pupils enrolled in the public schools in 1874 was 4,249 ; Catholic schools, 1,675 ; private schools, 137 ; total, 5,961. The state normal and training school occupies a fine building, and has a model school connected with it. There are two daily and two weekly newspapers, and 16 churches, viz. : 2 Baptist, 1 Congregational, 2 Episcopal, 1 Lu- theran, 3 Methodist, 2 Presbyterian, and 5 Ro- man Catholic. A trading 'post was established by the English on the site of Oswego soon after 1720, and in 1727 a rude fort was built. In 1756 the place was captured by the French and Indians, and about 150 prisoners were massacred. During the war of 1812 it was taken by the British in May of that year. It was incorporated as a village in 1828, and as a city in 1848. OTAHEITE. See SOCIETY ISLANDS. OTFRIED, a German poet of the 9th cen- tury. He was a pupil of Eabanus Maurus, and became a Benedictine in the convent of Weis- senburg. He wrote Der Krist, one of the earli- est metrical translations of the Gospel. The best editions are by Graff (1831) and Kelle (1856). It has been translated into modern German by Rapp (1858) and Kelle (1870). See also OtfriecTs EvangelienbucJi und die ubrige althochdeutsche Poesie Karolingisclier Zeit, by Rechenberg (1862). OTHMAN, or Osman, surnamed "the Con- queror," the founder of the Ottoman empire, and of the present reigning dynasty of Turkey, born in Bithynia in 1259, died in 1326. He is said to have been the son of Orthogrul, the leader of a horde of Turkomans who had en- tered the service of the sultan of Roum or of Iconium. Othman succeeded his father in the command, and on the fall of the Seljuk dynasty received part of the province of Bithynia as his share in the division of the sultanate. Im- mediately afterward he attacked the Byzan- tine empire, leading his forces in July, 1299, through the unguarded passes of Mt. Olympus, and conquering the territory of Nicasa. The 27 years of Othman's reign were taken up with wars. He reduced the province of Marmora in 1307, and subdued the whole of Bithynia and neighboring provinces. Several times he had been repulsed in attacks upon Mcomedia (Ismid) and Prusa (Brusa) ; but the capture of the latter place by his son Orkhan, the news of which reached him on his deathbed, laid the foundation of the Turkish empire. From him it is called the Ottoman Porte ; yet it is doubtful whether he ever assumed the title of sultan, although he held a court at Kara-Hissar, and coined money. OTHMAN IBN AFFAN, the third of the caliphs, killed in Medina in 655. He was one of the earliest followers of Mohammed, whom he ac- companied in his flight from Mecca to Medina, and on his return became one of his secreta- ries. He was designated by Omar as one of the six individuals to choose his successor, and was himself selected at the close of 644, on con- dition that he would govern the country ac- cording to the rules of the Koran. In 645 one of his armies reduced the province of Hama- dan, and in 646 another completed the con- quest of Persia, while a third took the princi- pal cities of eastern Africa, after defeating near Tripoli Gregorius, who commanded in the name of the Greek emperor. Incursions were also made into Nubia, and in 648 the islands of Cyprus and Rhodes were plundered, these be- ing the first maritime expeditions undertaken by the Arabs. But although fortunate in war, Othman's domestic administration became un- popular on account of his partiality to his fam- ily and favorites. He lost the silver signet ring used by the prophet, and considered by the Moslems the palladium of their empire, and also gave offence by occupying the pulpit when in the mosque at prayers, instead of a few steps lower down, as had been the custom of the preceding caliphs, though not of Mohammed. The discontent broke out into an open insur- rection, which was quieted with some difficulty by concessions. But Ayesha, the widow of the prophet, bribed Othman's secretary to manage that an order to the governor of Egypt, com- manding him to put to death Mohammed, son of Abubekr. should fall into the latter's hands before its delivery to the governor ; where- upon Mohammed marched to Medina, entered it unopposed, and invested the palace. Deserted by his soldiers, Othman, putting the Koran in his bosom, calmly awaited his fate. He died at the age of 82, or according to some of 90 or 95. He was the first caliph who had an authentic copy of the Koran made.
