OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blackmail

Edition of 1920. See also Blackmail on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
BLACKMAIL, originally rent paid in labor, grain or baser metal as distinguished from silver or white money; a certain rate of money, corn, cattle or the like, anciently paid, in the north of England and in Scotland, to certain men who were allied to robbers, to be protected by them from pillage. It was carried to such an extent as to become the subject of special legislation by the English Parliament in 1601, and also in Scotland. Blackmail was levied in the unsettled districts bordering the Highlands of Scotland till the middle of the 18th century. In the United States, in common language and in general acceptation it is equivalent to and synonymous with extortion — the exaction of money, either for the performance of a duty, the prevention of an injury or the exercise of an influence. It supposes the service to be unlawful and the payment involuntary. Not unfrequently it is extorted by threats, or by operating upon the fears or the credulity or by promises to conceal, or to expose, the weaknesses, the follies or the crimes of the victim. There is moral compulsion, which neither necessity nor fear nor credulity can resist. The New York statutes upon the subject have been adopted in substance by many other States of the Union. These statutes provide, substantially, that a person who, knowing the contents thereof, and with intent, by means thereof, to extort or gain any money or other property, or to do, abet or procure any illegal or wrongful act, sends, delivers or in any manner causes to be forwarded or received, or makes and parts with for the purpose that there may be sent or delivered, any letter or writing threatening to accuse any person of a crime, or to do any injury to any person or to any property or to publish or connive at publishing any libel, or to expose or impute to any person any deformity or disgrace, is punishable by imprisonment for a term usually not exceeding five years. In New York and in various other States it is also a misdemeanor for any person who, under circumstances not amounting to robbery, or an attempt at robbery, with intent to extort or gain any money or olher property, verbally makes such a threat as would be criminal under the statute mentioned above; and it is immaterial whether a threat made as specified in the statute is of things to be done or omitted by the offender, or by any other person.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blackmore, Sir Richard

Edition of 1920. See also Richard Blackmore on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
BLACKMORE, Sir Richard, court physician and poet: b. about 1650; d. 1729. He was educated at Westminster School and Saint Edmund Hall, Oxford; first took up teaching, but after graduating in medicine at Padua settled in London as a physician, holding appointments in the court of King William and Queen Anne. He had a gift for writing epics, all lengthy and written on the most exalted themes. He published ‘Prince Arthur’ (1695) and six other lengthy poems before 1723. His ‘Creation’ received high praise from such competent contemporary critics as Addison, Johnson and John Dennis, but the cooler judgment of posterity has pronounced all alike to be uniformly dull, heavy and tedious.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blackleg

Edition of 1920. See also the disclaimer.
BLACKLEG, a cattle disease. See Black-quarter.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blacklegs

Edition of 1920. See also Blackleg on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
BLACKLEGS, a name commonly applied in England to cheating gamblers; during the labor agitation in 1889 and 1890 the name was given to non-unionist workmen by the members of trade unions. In this latter sense the
word is now exclusively used, and corresponds with the American epithet “scabs.”
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blacklisting

Edition of 1920. See also Blacklist on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
BLACKLISTING. A method employed in various countries to place upon record for the guidance of others the names of persons or firms whom it might not be desirable to employ or to have business relations with. Lists of those against whom unsatisfied judgments are standing, or whose credit is poor, or who have given chattel mortgages on stock in trade and lists of a similar nature have been published by mercantile agencies and are not only regarded as of great benefit to the business world but also fair and lawful. The publisher or compiler of such list must be careful that in printing a person's name, he do not subject himself to a libel suit. He must be able to prove that his statements about the blacklisted person are true, or that they were correctly transcribed from some public record, or that they constituted a fair and accurate report of some judicial proceeding, or that the information contained in the statements was secured in a privileged manner, such as a report of financial standing of a person or firm asking credit of another. But the blacklist is more widely known for its use in labor controversies. For many years railroads kept lists of employees dismissed for any reason so that they could not be re-employed. Manufacturers and dealers who have formed an association or combination to control a certain line of industry have blacklisted others who refused to enter the association. The blacklist of the early period of labor controversies was a printed list of the names of workmen, circulated among employers, who had previously agreed not to employ those so listed. Labor unions have kept lists of non-union workmen with the object of preventing the laborers or of employers of non-union employment of the workmen or of boycotting the employer. Such lists are now termed a misdemeanor in the statutes of some States,
and offenders are punishable by a fine or imprisonment. The central offices of employers' associations keep a list from which information regarding workmen is exchanged, thus coming within the law. See Blacklist; Boycott; Strikes and Lockouts; Trade Unionism; Labor Legislation; Libel; Conspiracy.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Story of Gösta Berling, The

Edition of 1920. See also Gösta Berlings Saga on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STORY OF GÖSTA BERLING, The, a novel by Selma Lagerlöf, appeared about Christmas-time 1891. In the summer of 1890 a Swedish magazine, the Idun, had offered a prize for the best novel of a certain length. Selma Lagerlöf entered the contest with a few chapters from ‘Gösta Berling,’ a story which was then beginning to take shape in her mind, and won the prize. In ‘Gösta Berling’ Selma Lagerlöf is a romanticist and represents a reaction against the realism which prevailed at the time. As a child she had absorbed the folk tales of her surroundings, and later on in life it occurred to her like a lightning flash that it was her particular mission to give these stories expression. ‘The Story of Gösta Berling’ has been called the “prose epic of Swedish country life.” The scene is laid on the shores of Lake Fryken (Lake Löven in the story) in Värmland. The hero, Gösta Berling, is a deposed minister, who has been saved by the Mistress of Ekeby from freezing to death and thereupon becomes one of her pensioners in the manor at Ekeby. As the pensioners finally get power in their own hands, they manage the property as they themselves see fit, and their lives are filled with many wild adventures, Gösta Berling is the leading spirit, the poet, the charming personality among a band of revelers. But before the story ends, Gösta Berling is redeemed, and even the old Mistress of Ekeby is permitted to come to her old home to die. In this as in her other works, the authoress shows a marvelous simplicity of style. Everything she touches quickens with new life and takes on a deeper meaning. Consult Ruben Berg, ‘Svenska
skalder från nittiotalet’; Johan Mortensen, ‘Selma Lagerlöf.’
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Straus, Nathan

Edition of 1920. See also Nathan Straus on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STRAUS, Nathan, American merchant and philanthropist: b. Rhenish Bavaria, 31 Jan. 1848, brother of Oscar Solomon and Isidor Straus (qq.v.) He came to the United States in 1854 with his family who settled in Tolbolton, Ga., where he attended school. He afterward went to New York and graduated at Packard's Business College. He joined his father in the firm of L. Straus and Sons, importing pottery and glassware; from 1888 was partner in R. H. Macy and Company, New York; from 1892 of Abraham and Straus, Brooklyn, and retired in 1914 to devote his time to charity. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, he donated an ice plant to Santiago. He originated, in 1890, and has since maintained at his own expense, a system of distribution of pasteurized milk to poor of New York City, which, statistics of health department show, is saving many thousands of lives annually. He also originated and maintained a system of depots for distribution of coal to poor of New York in winter; and in the panic of the winter 1893-94, maintained a system of lodging houses for poor and homeless. He was appointed by President Taft sole United States delegate to the International Congress for Protection of Infants, Berlin, 1911, also delegate to the Tuberculosis Congress, Rome, Italy, 1912. In 1912 he established soup kitchens in Jerusalem for relief of destitute, and a health bureau for the elimination of conditions causing malaria, in Palestine. During winter of 1914-15 served for the unemployed 1,135,731 penny meals from his milk depots in New York City, was chief contributor in sending a food ship to war sufferers in Palestine, and extended his Jerusalem health bureau to care for sick and wounded, under auspices of the Palestine government. He has delivered numerous addresses on pasteurization and published ‘Disease in Milk, the Remedy, Pasteurization’ (1913).
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Stone, Harlan Fiske

Edition of 1920. See also Harlan F. Stone on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STONE, Harlan Fiske, American law scholar and educator: b. Chesterfield, N. H., 11 Oct. 1872. He was graduated at Amherst College (1894), received the degree LL.B., Columbia University of Law (1898), and LL.D., Amherst (1913). He was admitted to the New York bar in 1898, was lecturer on law (1899-1902), professor of law (1902-05) and was dean from September 1910, of Columbia University School of Law. He is a member of the law firm of Satterlee, Canfield and Stone. He wrote ‘Law and its Administration’ (1915).
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Stone, Witmer

Edition of 1920. See also Witmer Stone on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STONE, Witmer, American naturalist: b. Philadelphia, 22 Sept. 1866. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and was assistant curator in charge of the Academy of Natural sciences, Philadelphia. He has published ‘Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey’ (1894); ‘Mammals of New Jersey’ (1908); ‘Birds of New Jersey’ (1909); ‘Flora of Southern New Jersey’ (1912); ‘Birds of Yucatan and Southern Mexico’; ‘The Molting of Birds’, etc.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Storey, Moorfield

Edition of 1920. See also Moorfield Storey on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STOREY, Moorfield, American lawyer: b. Roxbury, Mass., 19 March 1845. He was graduated from Harvard University in 1866 and from the Harvard Law School three years later. He was private secretary to Charles Sumner 1867-69, and from 1873-79 was editor of the American Law Review. He was active in the “Mugwump” movement in 1884 and was president of the American Bar Association in 1896. He has published ‘Life of Charles Sumner’ (1900), and a ‘Memoir’ of E. R. Hoar (1911).
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Straus, Isidor

Edition of 1920. See also Isidor Straus on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STRAUS, strows, Isidor, American merchant and communal worker: b. Rhenish Bavaria, 6 Feb. 1845; d. with his wife in the Titanic disaster, 1912. He arrived in America in his ninth year and settled in Tolbolton, Ga., and was preparing to enter the West Point Academy, when the Civil War intervened. In 1865 he removed to New York, where his father founded the firm of L. Straus and Sons a year later. In 1888 he and his brother Nathan associated themselves with R. H. Macy and Company of New York, and in 1893 with Abraham and Straus of Brooklyn. Always interested in tariff and currency reform, he was elected 3 Jan. 1894 from the 15th District, New York, to fill the unexpired term of A. P. Fitch
to Congress. He was president of ‘The Educational Alliance’ and a prominent worker in charitable and educational movements, and was very much interested in civil service reform and the general extension of education. He declined the portfolio of Postmaster-General which was offered him by President Cleveland.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Straus, Oscar Solomon

Edition of 1920. See also Oscar Straus (politician) on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STRAUS, Oscar Solomon, American merchant and diplomat, brother of Isidor and Nathan Straus (qq.v.); b. Otterberg, Bavaria, 23 Dec. 1850. A resident of Georgia from 1854 to 1865, he was graduated from Columbia University in 1871 and from its law school in 1873. He engaged in mercantile life for a time with his father's firm, but found leisure for literary and educational work. He was appointed United States Minister to Turkey 1887-98 and 1898-1900, in 1902, a member of the Permanent Counrt of International Arbitration at The Hague and in 1906 he became Secretary of Commerce and Labor in the Roosevelt Cabinet. He was Ambassador to Turkey (1909-10); and Progressive candidate for governor of New York State; and he arbitrated the dispute between the engineers and managers of the eastern railroads (1914). The following year he became chairman of the public service commission of New York State. He is president of the American Jewish Historical Society and has published ‘The Origin of Republican Form of Government of the United States’ (1886);
‘Roger Williams’ (1894); ‘The Development of Religious Liberty in the United States’ (1896); ‘Reform in the Consular Service’ (1897); ‘United States Doctrine of Citizenship’ (1901); ‘Our Diplomacy with Reference to our Foreign Service’ (1902); ‘The American Spirit’ (1913).
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Stone, Lucy Blackwell

Edition of 1920. See also Lucy Stone on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STONE, Lucy Blackwell, American reformer: b. West Brookfield, Mass., 13 Aug. 1818; d. Boston, 18 Oct 1893. She was graduated at Oberlin College in 1847 and in 1855 was married to Dr. Henry B. Blackwell, retaining, however, her own name. In 1848 she toured the New England States and Canada lecturing against slavety. In 1869 she helped organize the American Woman's Suffrage Association of which she was president until 1872; became connected with the Women's Journal in 1872, and was editor after 1888. Her lectures on woman suffrage made her known throughout the country.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Stone, William Leete

Edition of 1920. See also William Leete Stone, Jr. on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STONE, William Leete, American historical writer: b. New York, 4 April 1835; d. Mount Vernon, N. Y., 11 June 1908. He graduated from Brown University in 1858 and in 1859 was admitted to the bar. He was centennial historian for New York and made the speech at Independence Hall, 10 May 1876. He published ‘The Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, Bart’; ‘Revolutionary Letters’; ‘History of New York City’; ‘The Saratoga Battle Grounds’; and ‘Life of Governor George Clinton.’
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Stevens, Ebenezer

Edition of 1920. See also Ebenezer Stevens on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STEVENS, Ebenezer, American soldier: b. Boston, 1751; d. 1823. He was one of the Massachusetts colonists who look part in the memorable demonstration in Boston harbor in 1773, and was an active revolutionist from 1775 to the close of the war, during which he raised three Massachusetts companies for the siege of Quebec, and served as a commander in the battles of Ticonderoga, and later in the Virginia campaign. In 1778 he became lieutenant-colonel. He was also an officer in the War of 1812, engaged in the defense of the New York frontier. Later he was successful as a merchant in New York.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Sterne, Adolphus

Edition of 1920. See also Adolphus Sterne on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STERNE, stêrn, Adolphus, Texan pioneer: b. Cologne, Germany, 5 April 1801; d. New Orleans, La., 27 March 1852. Leaving his birthplace in his 16th year to escape military duty, he came to the United States, going first to New Orleans and then visiting Texas in 1824. A lover of adventure and proficient in many languages and dialects, he joined the English settlers in their early struggles against the Mexicans, and took part in the Fredonian War. Saved from being sentenced to death by an amnesty, he went into business at Nacogdoches, and became a notable figure in eastern Texas. He studied law, was court interpreter, and after Texas won her independence he served in both Upper and lower houses of Congress.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Stevens, John Austin (author)

Edition of 1920. See also John Austin Stevens on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STEVENS, John Austin, American author: b. New York, 21 Jan. 1827; d. 16 June 1910. He was graduated at Harvard in 1848, when he entered commercial life, becoming secretary of the New York Chamber of Commerce (1862-68), and later, librarian of the New York Historical Society. He was founder of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution and the Loyal League, and was the founder and for many years editor of The Magazine of American History (1877-83). He wrote ‘The Expedition of Lafayette against Arnold’; ‘The Burgoyne Campaign’; ‘Progress of New York in a Century’; ‘The French in Rhode Island’ and ‘Life of Albert Gallatin,’ ‘The Valley of
the Rio Grande’; ‘Colonial Records of the New York Chamber of Commerce’; ‘New York City.’
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Stevens, John Austin (banker)

Edition of 1920. See also John Austin Stevens (banker) on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STEVENS, John Austin, American banker, son of Ebenezer Stevens (q.v.): b. New York, 22 Jan. 1795; d. there, 19 Oct. 1874. He was graduated at Yale University in 1813, and became his father's partner in the mercantile business in 1818. He was president of the New York Bank of Commerce in 1839-66. As chairman of a committee of bankers of New York, Boston and Philadelphia he greatly assisted the United States government in negotiating its loans during the Civil War, and he was frequently called into consultation by the Treasury Department. He was for many years secretary of the New York Chamber of Commerce and was of the organizers of the New York Merchants' Exchange, of which he was the first president.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Sternburg, Herman von Speck

Edition of 1920. See also Hermann Speck von Sternburg on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STERNBURG, Herman von Speck, German diplomat: b. Leeds, England, 21 Aug. 1852; d. Heidelberg, Germany, 24 Aug. 1908. He was educated in the Fürstenschule Saint Afra, Meissen, Saxony, and the military academy of Potsdam, fought through the Franco-Prussian War in the Second Saxon dragoons, and remained in the military service until 1885. In 1890 he entered on his diplomatic career, being made successively first secretary of legation at Peking, charge d'affaires at Belgrade, Servia, and first secretary of the embassy at Washington. In 1898 he was high commissioner on the Samoan commission; became consul-general for British India and Ceylon in 1900, minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to the United States in 1903, and ambassador in July 1903.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand, Baron von

Edition of 1920. See also Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STEUBEN, stū'bĕn (Ger. stoi'bĕn), Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand, Baron von, Prussian soldier and American general: b. Magdburg, Prussia, 15 Nov. 1730; d. Steuben, Oneida County, N. Y., 28 Nov. 1794. Before coming to America he had attained the rank of lieutenant-general in the Prussian army, and had won distinction in the Seven Years' War. At its close he retired from military life, but was persuaded by colonial representatives in France to come to the assistance of the American people. He at once became an enthusiastic supporter of the American cause, and, tendering his services to Congress in 1777, was assigned to the main army under Washington at Valley Forge. His splendid discipline and ability as an organizer were at once recognized by Washington, who recommended his appointment as inspector-general of the entire army. Unable to attain a separate command in the open field, he spent most of his time recruiting the forces sent to those who took a more prominent part in the war; but it was undoubtedly due to his almost unrecognized efforts that the American troops were from the first so well organized and disciplined a body. He attained at last his coveted place as an officer in the line, and as major-general of the forces at Yorktown received the first offer of capitulation from Lord Cornwallis. Refusing to be relieved by Lafayette, he was allowed to remain with his command until the complete surrender of the enemy. At the close of the war he was refused pecuniary remuneration which he had asked of the colonics in the event of their success, but to recuperate his fortunes, abandoned for their cause, was subsequently awarded several grants of land, among them a township in northern New York, where he spent the remainder of his life in a log-cabin, within the present limits of Utica, N. Y., and where a monument to his memory was unveiled 3 Aug. 1914. Consult Sparks, ‘American Biography’; Kapp, ‘Life of Steuben’ (1860).
STATUE OF BARON VON STEUBEN
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Steunenburg, Frank

Edition of 1920. See also Frank Steunenberg on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STEUNENBURG, Frank, American statesman: b. Keokuk, Iowa, 8 Aug. 1862; d. December 1905. He removed to Caldwell, Idaho, in 1887 and engaged in the newspaper business. In 1889 he was a member of the convention which framed the State constitution, and in 1890 he was elected to the State legislature. He was elected governor of Idaho by the Populist party in 1898, and served in that capacity until 1901. He was assassinated by Harry Orchard (q.v.) in 1905, because of enmity engendered by his handling of the miners' strikes during his administration.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Sterne, Simon

Edition of 1920. See also Simon Sterne on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
STERNE, Simon, American lawyer and economist: b. Philadelphia, 23 July 1839; d. New York, 22 Sept. 1901. He studied at the University of Heidelberg, was graduated from the law department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1859, and was admitted to the bar of New York in 1860. He represented many corporate interests, and paid special attention to real estate and constitutional law. He found time to lake part in social and civic reform, lectured on political science at Cooper Institute (1861-63), and was secretary of the committee of 70 for the overthrow of the Tweed Ring. (1870). He was appointed in 1875 on a commission to devise plans for the government of cities, and in 1895 on a commission to recommend changes in methods of administration; and by President Cleveland in 1896 to report as to the relations of western European governments to railways. Besides a large number of articles on historical and political economic subjects, he published ‘Representative Government’ (1871); ‘Suffrage in Cities’ (1878); ‘Hindrances to Prosperity’ (1879); ‘Constitutional History and Political Development of the United States’ (1882); ‘Railways in the United States’ (1912). Consult Foord, ‘Life and Public Services of Simon Sterne’ (1903).