Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/590

576 O'CONNOR OCTOPUS of the lower classes, made many public ad- dresses, edited the " Northern Star," and was regarded as the head of the chartist party, which returned him to parliament for Notting- ham in 1847. On the failure of his efforts, he visited America, but became insane in 1852, and spent the rest of his life in an asylum. O'COMOR, William Douglas, an American au- thor, born in Boston, Mass., in 1833. He studied art for several years in Boston, but in 1853 became associate editor of the "Com- monwealth " newspaper in that city. From 1854 to 1860 he was connected editorially with the "Saturday Evening Post" in Philadelphia. In 1861 he became corresponding clerk of the lighthouse board at Washington, and in 1873 was appointed chief clerk. He resigned this post in 1874, and became librarian of the trea- sury department. He has published " Har- rington," a romance (Boston, I860); "The Good Gray Poet," a pamphlet in vindication of Walt Whitman (New York, 1866); and " The Ghost " (New York, 1867) ; besides numerous poems and stories contributed to magazines, the most noted of the latter being " The Carpenter " and " What Cheer? " O'CONOR, Charles, an American lawyer, born in New York in 1804. Shortly before his birth his father emigrated from Ireland, and soon after his arrival lost a handsome property which he had inherited. This prevented the son from receiving a liberal education ; but he learned at school the primary English branches, and received some instruction in Latin from his father, who also procured for him lessons in French. He studied law, and in 1824 was ad- mitted to the bar. His first reported argument is in the case of Divver v. McLaughlan, in the supreme court in 1829. His chief cases are the slave Jack case (1835), the Lispenard will case (1843), the Forrest divorce case (1851), the Mason will case (1853), the Lemmon slave case (1856), the Parish will case (1862), and the litigation concerning the Jumel estate ; and he has been employed in many other important cases, some of which involved sums varying from $100,000 to millions. He was prominent in prosecuting the so-called " ring " cases against the late municipal officers of New York in 1873. A zealous democrat, he has been repeatedly urged by his party to accept nominations to the highest offices, but refused. He consented to serve for 15 months as United States district attorney for New York under President Pierce, and was a member of the New York state con- stitutional conventions of 1846 and 1864. He was nominated for the presidency by the labor reform convention in Philadelphia, Aug. 22, 1872, and by the so-called straight-out demo- crats in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 3. He declined both nominations, but in the subsequent presi- dential election received 29,489 votes. OCONTO, a N. E. county of Wisconsin, bound- ed N. E. by Michigan, from which it is separa- ted mostly by the Menominee river, and S. E. by Green bay ; area, 2,268 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 8,321. It is drained by the Oconto, Peshtego, Wolf, and other rivers, and is covered with pine forests. It is intersected by the Wiscon- sin division of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 22,113 bushels of wheat, 25,481 of oats, 36,300 of potatoes, 46,300 Ibs. of butter, and 3,566 tons of hay. There were 352 horses, 522 milch cows, 746 other cattle, 274 sheep, and 729 swine. Capital, Oconto. OCOSINGO, a town in the Mexican state of Chiapas, 65 m. S. E. of Ciudad Keal; pop. about 4,000. It derives its principal interest from a series of extraordinary aboriginal monu- ments in its vicinity, which closely resemble those of Palenque. They have been in part described by Mr. Stephens in his "Incidents of Travel in Central America," and by Capt. Dupaix in his report to the Spanish crown on the antiquities of Mexico. OCTAVIA, sister of the emperor Augustus and wife of Mark Antony, died in 11 B. 0. She was married to Claudius Marcellus, from whom Julius Caesar was anxious to have her divorced, that she might marry Pompey; but the lat- ter declined, and she continued to live quietly with her husband until his death in 41 B. 0. The alliance between Octavius and Antony was now strengthened by the marriage of Octavia to the latter. She accompanied her husband on his eastern expedition, and by her media- tion effected a reconciliation between him and her brother in 37. Antony, now underta- king an expedition against the Parthians, fell again under the influence of Cleopatra; and when in 35 Octavia went to the East with reinforcements of men and money, he accept- ed the aid, but refused to meet her. On her arrival home she would not take any part against her husband, but remained at his house and educated his children ; yet in 32 Antony sent her a bill of divorce. After his death she brought up his children by Fulvia, and even those by Cleopatra. Octavia had five children, three by Marcellus and two daughters by An- tony ; from the two latter were descended the emperors Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. She was possessed of great accomplishments, and was universally considered the superior of Cleopatra in beauty. OCTAVIUS. See AUGUSTUS. OCTOBER (Lat. octo, eight), the tenth month of the year. In the Roman calendar it was originally the eighth, whence its name, which it retained after the beginning of the year had been changed from March to January. It was sacred to Mars. OCTOPUS, or Poulpe, a cephalopod mollusk, having a round purse-like body, without fins, and eight arms united at the base by a web, by opening and shutting which it swims back- ward, after the manner of the jelly fishes. Each arm has a double alternate series of suck- ers, by which they seize their prey, and moor themselves to submarine objects. Swimming is also effected, backward, forward, or side-