title: Los Ántrax

text: El Chino Ántrax was arrested by Dutch police on 30 December 2013 at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands at the request of the United States, which contacted Interpol to arrest him for charges relating to drug trafficking. On 20 February 2014, Mexican authorities arrested Jesús Peña (alias "El 20"), in Culiacán following a massive operative carried out to capture "El Mayo" Zambada. On 23 May 2014, Melesio Beltrán Medina (alias "El Mele") was killed in the Morelos neighborhood in Culiacán.


title: Los Ántrax

text: Following the arrest of Chino Antrax, some British sources claimed that Claudia Ochoa Félix was the new leader of the group. This information was not officially confirmed and she has denied her involvement in organized crime. Ochoa Félix was found dead in her private residence in Culiacán on the 14th of September 2019, due to apparent pulmonary aspiration caused by a drug overdose. The previous night she had been seen going home with an unidentified man after attending a party in the city centre. The morning after the unidentified man raised an alarm due to Félix not responding; she was pronounced dead at the scene.


title: Los Ántrax

text: On 3 March 2020, Chino Antrax was released from prison and transferred to house arrest. On May 9, however, his probation office reported him as missing. On 15 May 2020, Chino Antrax was found dead in Sinaloa, after being murdered alongside two other people, including his sister.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Sem "Semmy" Schilt (; born 27 October 1973) is a Dutch former kickboxer, Ashihara karateka and mixed martial artist. He stands 212 cm and weighs 171 kg. He is a four-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and one-time . He is the only fighter in K-1 history to win the world championship three times in a row, and also shares the record with Ernesto Hoost for most Grands Prix won, with four.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt began his professional career in 1996 as a mixed martial artist competing in Pancrase, where he is a former Openweight King Of Pancrase. He has also competed in Pride Fighting Championship and the UFC. Schilt is one of the most decorated heavyweight kickboxers in history, having won five major tournaments. He is widely regarded as one of the division's all-time greats.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt began practicing Kyokushin kaikan at 8 as both of his parents were practitioners. He later switched to Ashihara kaikan at 12 and earned the rank of black belt at the age of 18.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt debuted in mixed martial arts for Japanese promotion Pancrase, in which he debuted on May 16, 1996 at with an impressive rear naked choke victory over grappler Manabu Yamada.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: His second match, on July 22, 1996 was against rising star Yuki Kondo at the . Schilt would face Kondo three more times in his career. In the first of their matches, Kondo showed himself as the better wrestler, but Schilt's size enabled him to power out of his control and win some exchanges. They traded positions until the ring call at 15:00, with Kondo being declared the winner by split decision.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: With a short 2–3 record, Schilt was pitted against Pancrase co-founder Masakatsu Funaki on February 22, 1997 at . After circling around, Funaki scored a takedown, mounted Schilt and worked to an armbar, which Schilt had to spend a rope escape to get out from. Restarting the fight, Schilt reversed a takedown and got his own mount, but Funaki recovered guard and applied a toehold, forcing the karateka to spend another point. The two fighters then spent a few minutes clinched on a corner, until Funaki led him to the ground and locked in another toehold from half mount, making Schilt tap out.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: On January 16, 1998, he fought the other co-founder of Pancrase, Minoru Suzuki at . The Japanese wrestler took Schilt to the mat and kept side control for half of the match, but wasn't able to threaten him from the position aside from scarce armbar attempts, and Schilt eventually capitalized on one of them to escape. The situation repeated itself, but this time Suzuki successfully landed an armbar and Schilt barely reached the ropes to get an escape. Once standing again, however, Schilt went aggressively and landed a clean knee strike to Suzuki's chin, knocking him out for the win.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt had a rematch with Masakatsu Funaki on March 18, 1998 at , although he managed to take the bout to the judges, he lost on points due to spent rope escapes.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Months later, on September 14, he had his rubber match against Funaki at . This time, the karateka showed himself capable of stopping the wrestler's takedowns, blocking the first of them with the aid of the ropes and a guillotine choke and reversing the second into Funaki's guard. After pressing for some minutes and avoiding a kneebar attempt, Schilt got the fight standing and scored a knockdown by two clinched knees. Funaki stood up and looked to continue the fight, but the Dutchman landed another knockdown, and finally finished him with a combination of knees and palm strikes.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: On June 20, 1999, Schilt flew back to the Netherlands to face Gilbert Yvel in an interpromotional match. The bout was particularly intriguing because Yvel belonged to RINGS, Pancrase's rival promotion in Japan. They met under special rules, with Gilbert keeping his gloves for punching while Schilt preferred to go barehanded and use open palm strikes like it was done in Pancrase. When the match began, Schilt was knocked down by a shocking flurry of hooks from Yvel, but managed to recover before the eight count. Schilt came back and controlled Gilbert with open palms and knees to the body, but decided to take the fight to the ground, not wanting to risk another KO from the RINGS muay Thai specialist. However, Yvel was able to block all of his submission attempts on the mat, in large part due to the fast stand-ups of the format. In the second round, the RINGS fighter mounted Schilt and illegally eye-gouged him, but it wasn't called by the referee, and Schilt was left with his eye swollen shut. From that point, the two strikers exchanged hits until Yvel overpowered Schilt, landing multiple unanswered punches for the KO stoppage.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt returned for another interpromotional match against RINGS on June 4, 2000, facing Yoshihisa Yamamoto. Schilt won the match in under three minutes after a striking combination.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: On November 28, 1999, Schilt became the Openweight King Of Pancrase by winning against Yuki Kondo via rear naked choke at . He had two successful defenses against Kazuo Takahashi and Osami Shibuya before vacating it due to signing with the UFC.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt made his debut in Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 4, 2001, facing fellow Pancrase alumni Pete Williams at UFC 31. Schilt was taken down and mounted, but he used his height advantage to prevent Williams from applying ground and pound, and once they were back to standing he knocked out Williams with body kicks and punches.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: His second and last appearance in the promotion would be at the next event, UFC 32, where Schilt was pitted against Josh Barnett. Schilt was taken down and mounted again, but Barnett was able to land abundant strikes, some of which were answered by Schilt, cutting both of their faces and spilling a large amount of blood on the mat. Eventually, Schilt flipped Barnett over, but Barnett locked an armbar from the guard and made Schilt tap out.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: After his UFC tenure, Schilt returned to Japan for PRIDE Fighting Championship, making his debut on September 24, 2001 at PRIDE 16. His opponent was originally Igor Vovchanchyn, but Akira Shoji volunteered to fight him after Vovchanchyn withdrew from the match due to injuries. Shoji took Schilt to the ground, but Schilt reversed him and proceeded to land heavy strikes both on the ground and standing. Schilt finished him with a combination of knee, punch and kick for the KO. Schilt followed with two easy victories over K-1 legend Masaaki Satake and professional wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama at PRIDE 17 and PRIDE 18, knocking them both out.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: On June 23, 2002, Schilt faced Fedor Emelianenko, who was debuting in PRIDE after a solid career in Fighting Network RINGS at PRIDE 21. Although Schilt avoided a dangerous armbar attempt at the start of the match, Emelianenko pinned him and scored repeated punches and knees to his face until the end of the round. At the second round, Schilt managed to keep the Russian on his guard and minimize the damage of his ground and pound, but Emelianenko took over again and ended the fight punishing the dutchman with more punches on the ground. Fedor was declared the winner after 3 rounds.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt tried to bounce back on November 24, 2002 against Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at PRIDE 23. The match was originally a title bout for the Pride Heavyweight Championship, but it was changed to a non-title bout due to Schilt's loss to Emelianenko. Capitalizing on his superiority on the ground, the Brazilian pulled guard at several instances and eventually got mount. When Schilt flipped him over, Nogueira feigned an armbar from the guard and then locked in a triangle choke, making Schilt tap out in his second loss in PRIDE.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: At the end of 2003, he took part in the annual event Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye for a rematch against Josh Barnett. Schilt was defeated again by armbar, this time in the third round.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: On November 19, 2005 Schilt made his first appearance at the K-1 finals. Schilt beat Ray Sefo by decision in the quarter finals and the defending champion Remy Bonjasky via knockout in the semifinals. Schilt then met Glaube Feitosa in the tournament finals and won via knockout due to a knee strike to win his first K-1 World Grand Prix title.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: On December 31, 2005 at K-1 PREMIUM 2005 Dynamite!!, he defeated former four time K-1 World Grand Prix champion Ernesto Hoost via TKO.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt lost twice in 2006 against Peter Aerts and Choi Hong-man but still made it to the finals after beating Bjorn Bregy via knockout. He defended his title after defeating Jerome Le Banner, Ernesto Hoost and Peter Aerts all by unanimous decisions.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: On April 3, 2007 he defeated Ray Sefo by second-round KO to become K-1's first Super Heavyweight Champion at K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 Yokohama.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt faced and defeated the K-1 Hawaii GP Champion Mighty Mo by unanimous decision on June 23, 2007 at the K-1 Amsterdam GP, defending his Super-Heavyweight Title.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: At the 2007 K-1 World Grand Prix Final Eliminations in Seoul, South Korea, Schilt faced Paul Slowinski. He won via KO in the first round from a knee strike. With the win, he qualified for the World Grand Prix Finals.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: In the first round of the World Grand Prix 2007 Finals, Schilt was matched against Brazilian karateka Glaube Feitosa. Schilt survived a near knockdown from one of Glaube's famed Brazilian kicks to win by unanimous decision. This marked the third time he had defeated Feitosa in his career.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: In the semi finals he met Jerome LeBanner for the second time. Schilt was put on the defensive for most of the first round. Just before time expired, Schilt landed a knee strike which badly hurt LeBanner. Before the second round started, LeBanner was noticeably limping in his corner. Early in the second round, a low kick from Schilt sent him to the canvas in obvious pain. LeBanner was able to make it back to his feet however his corner threw in the towel to avoid further injury.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: The final match of the 2007 K-1 World Grand Prix was a rematch from the year before, with Schilt matched up against fellow Dutchman Peter Aerts for the third time. The match came to an abrupt end 1:49 in after Aerts injured his knee and could not continue. With the win Schilt became the third man to win the K-1 World Grand Prix three times, and the only man in history to win three consecutive Grand Prix crowns.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: In September 2008, Schilt faced Peter Aerts again and lost by decision at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Seoul Final 16.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: On May 16, 2009, Schilt lost to Badr Hari via first-round KO at the Dutch Kickboxing event It's Showtime 2009 Amsterdam, in his home country of the Netherlands. The fight was for the It's Showtime Heavyweight Championship.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: At the 2009 Final 16, Schilt beat the rising Romanian Daniel Ghita by unanimous decision. At the final selection he chose to fight Jerome LeBanner and went on to defeat him for the fourth time in his career in the first round via KO. In the second round he was matched against Remy Bonjasky, whom he also defeated for the third time via KO in the first round, after getting knocked down. In the finals he beat Badr Hari via KO in the first round to win his fourth GP title, also getting the record of fastest GP win with a total time over all 3 matches of 355 seconds. With the win he became the second man in history to win the K-1 WGP Title four times (Ernesto Hoost being the first).


title: Semmy Schilt

text: In April 2010, he successfully made his fourth title defence against teammate Errol Zimmerman by unanimous decision at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Yokohama. At the 2010 Final 16 he beat Hesdy Gerges by a close decision, after sustaining a cut to his shin in the fight that required 4 stitches. In the semi finals of the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final he was defeated for the first time in a tournament by Peter Aerts in a gruelling decision.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: In 2012 Schilt returned to the ring with a more aggressive style earning a convincing victories over Brice Guidon and Errol Zimmerman.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: At the sixteen-man in Saitama, Japan on December 31, 2012, Schilt rematched Brice Guidon at the first stage of the tournament. He floored the Frenchman with a left jab in the opening seconds of round two before finishing him with the same technique soon after. At the quarter-final stage, he went up against Rico Verhoeven and, as he won the first of the two rounds, was given his passage to the semi-finals via unanimous decision. There, he used his eleven-inch height and twenty-seven kilogram weight advantage to outpoint Gokhan Saki to another two-round unanimous points verdict. A highly anticipated match-up with Daniel Ghiţă awaited him in the final and, after a slow start to the three-minute first round, Schilt sent the Romanian bruiser to the canvas with a left high kick. Despite Ghiţă seemingly recovering from the blow, referee Joop Ubeda controversially called a halt to the contest, giving Schilt the TKO win and the inaugural Glory Grand Slam crown.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: It was reported on 26 June 2013, that Schilt retired immediately after being instructed to do so by his medical team due to a heart condition.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Standing close to 7 feet (2.13m) with an 88 inch reach, Semmy Schilt's sheer size made him a difficult task for any opponent. However, it was his technique that allowed him to stand out from the other giants of his time. Schilt's extensive background in karate gave him a wide arsenal of kicks—especially the front kick—which he often used to keep his opponents at a distance. His reach allowed him to post defensively with his arms whenever his opponents got too close, and at mid-close range he could throw powerful knees. While Schilt was not the most explosive fighter, his weight and size meant that his strikes were heavy and capable of inflicting damage even when they weren't thrown with speed. This was a problem for fighters who relied on the high guard; Schilt's weight in his strikes allowed him to stun or concuss opponents through their defense. His jabs also carried tremendous weight and he was capable of knocking down opponents with a single strike.


title: Semmy Schilt

text: Schilt's excellent conditioning and hulking size also lent him to attritional fighting, where he would wear his opponents down with strikes at range throughout the course of a fight. His careful, technical, style and toughness made him very difficult to knock out; he was only finished twice in his kickboxing career.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: The , also referred to as the or the , was the most brutal bear attack in Japanese history, killing seven settlers in Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: The incident took place from December 9-14, 1915, after a large brown bear woke up from hibernation and repeatedly attacked several houses in the area.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: At dawn in mid-November 1915, an Ussuri brown bear appeared at the Ikeda family's house in Sankebetsu Rokusen-sawa, about 11 kilometers inland from the west coast of Hokkaidō. The surprise encounter prompted the family horse into panic, but the bear fled after taking only harvested corn. In those days, Sankebetsu was newly settled; encroachment by wild animals was not uncommon.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: On November 20, 1915, the bear reappeared. Worrying about the safety of the horse, the head of the Ikeda family called on his second son, Kametarō, and two Matagi from his own village and a neighbouring village.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: When the bear reappeared on November 30, they took a shot at it, but failed to kill it. The next morning, they followed the bear's footprints, which led towards . Along the trail the hunting party discovered bloodstains, but a snowstorm forced them to turn back. They believed that the bear, having been injured, would now fear humans and would no longer raid settlements.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: On December 9, 1915, at 10:30 a.m., the giant brown bear turned up at the home of the Ōta family. Abe Mayu, the farmer's wife, and Hasumi Mikio, a baby being taken care of by Mayu, were at the house. Mikio was bitten on the head and killed. Mayu fought back, apparently by throwing firewood, and tried to escape. She was overtaken, knocked down, and dragged into the forest. According to contemporary descriptions, the scene resembled a slaughterhouse, with blood puddled on the farmhouse floor.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Early in the morning, Saitō Ishigorō and Miyoke Yasutarō left the village on their respective errands. Meanwhile, a search party comprising thirty men was organized to capture the brown bear and recover the remains of Mayu. This group entered the forest and had advanced no more than 150 meters when it met the brown bear. Five men shot at the bear, but only one managed to land a hit. The enraged animal nevertheless retreated, and the men escaped injury. After the bear had fled, the hunters scouted the area and discovered dried blood on the snow at the base of a Sakhalin fir tree. Beneath the snow was the corpse of Mayu with only the head and parts of the legs remaining. It was thus proven that this particular brown bear had attacked the Ōta family.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: The bear had stashed the body of Mayu in the snow in an attempt to preserve it, as well as to hide it from scavengers. The villagers believed that once the bear had a taste for human flesh, its return to the settlement was assured. Villagers gathered at the Ōta family's home with guns. Around 8:00 p.m. that night, the bear reappeared. Although the villagers had anticipated the bear's return, they were nonetheless panicked by it. One man did manage to shoot at the bear. By the time the corps of 50 guardsmen posted 300 meters away at the neighboring Miyoke house arrived, the bear had vanished into the woods. The corps reassembled and headed downstream on what was thought to be the bear's trail.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: When news of the Ōta family attack was first received by the Miyouke family, women and children sought refuge there, gathering in fear at the hearth fire while guardsmen patrolled outside. The guardsmen were having dinner when news of the bear's return to the Ōta farm reached them, and they marched off. The bear, having escaped death at the Ōta house, now fled to the Miyouke homestead.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Yayo, Miyouke Yasutarō's wife, was preparing a late meal while carrying her fourth son, Umekichi, on her back. She heard a rumbling noise outside, but before she could investigate, the bear broke through a window and entered the house. The cooking pot on the hearth was overturned, dousing the flames, and in the ensuing panic the oil lamp was put out as well, plunging the house into darkness. Yayo tried to flee the house, but her second son, Yūjirō, clung to her legs, tripping her as she ran. The bear attacked her and bit Umekichi.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Odo had remained at the house as the only bodyguard. When he ran for the door, the bear released the mother and child to pursue him. Yayo then escaped with her children. Odo attempted to hide behind furniture but was clawed in the back. The bear then mauled Kinzō, the third son of the Miyouke family, and Haruyoshi, the fourth son of the Saito family, killing them, and bit Iwao, the third son of the Saitō family. Next to be targeted was Take, Saitō Ishigorō's pregnant wife. She too was attacked, killed, and eaten. From later testimony, villagers heard Take begging the bear not to touch her belly but instead to eat her head. Later the fetus was found alive from her corpse but died shortly after.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: The guardsmen who had tracked the bear downriver realized that they were not, in fact, on its trail. As they hurried back to the settlement, a seriously injured Yayo met them and related news of the attack at the Miyouke family's house. The corps raced there to rescue any survivors. When they arrived, the house was dark but sounds of an attack emerged. Believing that the bear had killed everyone inside, some of the guardsmen proposed setting the house on fire. Yayo, hoping that some of the children still lived, forbade this.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: The guardsmen were divided into two groups: one, consisting of ten men, stood guard at the door while the other group went to the back of the house. When given a signal, the group at the rear set up a racket, shouting and rattling their weapons. As expected, the bear appeared at the front door. The men there had bunched up, with lines of fire blocked by the guard at their head, whose own rifle misfired. Amid the general confusion and risk of crossfire, the bear escaped into the night. Carrying torches made of birch bark, they entered the house and beheld the results of the attack.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Rikizō and Hisano, first son and daughter of the same relatives, were injured but lived. The village people gathered in the school, and seriously injured people were accommodated in the Tsuji family house near the river. In two days, six people had lost their lives, one of them pregnant. After the incident, only veterans of the Russo-Japanese War remained at their posts.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Meanwhile, Saitō Ishigorō, unaware of his family's fate, filed a report with authorities and the district police before returning to Tomakomai and lodging at a local hotel there.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Miyouke Yasutarō had heard that a man named Yamamoto Heikichi was an expert bear hunter and so paid a visit to his house. Yamamoto was certain that the bear was or "the diagonal slash from the shoulder", which had previously been blamed for the mauling and deaths of three women, but by now he had pawned his gun for money to buy alcohol and he refused Miyoke's request for aid. Unable to return home, Yasutarō stayed in Onishika (now Obira, Hokkaido).


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: On December 11, Miyoke Yasutarō and Saitō Ishigorō returned to Sankebetsu. Noticing the villagers gathered at the branch school, the two pieced together the story of the mauling. A group of men, including Miyoke and Saitō, was formed to kill the bear. Believing that the bear would reappear, they decided to wait for the bear at Miyoke's residence, but the night passed with no attack.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: The news of the bear's appearance in Sankebetsu reached the Hokkaidō Government Office, and under the leadership of the Hoboro (now Haboro town) branch police station, a sniper team was organized. Guns and volunteers for the team were gathered from nearby towns, and after getting permission from "Teishitsu Rinya kyoku" (the "Imperial Forestry Agency", now "Rin'ya chō"), the sniper team went to Sankebetsu that evening. Chief Inspector Suga, the branch office commissioner, went up the Rokusen sawa with the aim of viewing the Miyoke family house and assessing the state of the sniper team and met all those who got off the mountain pass.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: The brown bear did not appear on December 12. Thinking of the future, the team decided to exterminate the bear even if they had to mobilize every possible resource. It was decided that the bear would most probably try to retrieve the bodies of those it had killed, but there were no remains in the Miyoke family house. Therefore, a new plan was proposed: to attempt to lure out the bear with the corpse of a victim. The plan was widely condemned, especially by the Ōta, Saitō, and Miyoke families, but it was decided that for the future of the village it was the best plan.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Within the day, the strategy was executed. The six-member sniper team (which now included Yamamoto Heikichi) waited inside the house, but the bear stopped, appeared to check the inside of the house, and then returned to the forest. The bear did not appear again that night, and so the plan ended in failure.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: At dawn, a search team discovered that the Ōta family's house was ransacked. The bear had eaten the people's winter food stockpile and ransacked the houses. The bear had damaged at least eight houses, but so far no one could find it. Suga motivated the men by cheering from the village outside. Given that there were now 60 armed men, it was decided that they should hunt in the surrounding mountains.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Kesagake now seemed to lack prudence and stretched its territory downstream. The police captain, Suga, recognized the increasing risk of the situation. He made an ice bridge as a line of defense, then arranged snipers and guards.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: That night, a sniper at the bridge thought he saw something in the shadows of the tree stumps on the opposite shore. Receiving this information, Suga thought it might be a man's shadow. When he spoke to it, however, he received no reply and ordered the snipers to open fire. At that moment the shadow, apparently that of the bear, disappeared into the forest. They were disappointed, having failed to kill the bear, but the captain thought he had heard some response from it.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: The next morning, a team investigated the opposite shore and found a bear's footprint and blood there. Given that Kesagake had again been wounded, and that imminent snowstorms were threatening to cover any tracks, it was decided that this was the most critical opportunity to hunt down and kill the bear. Yamamoto and Ikeda Kamejirō, a guide, immediately set out after the bear. Yamamoto decided to track the bear with a team of two, as it would be quicker than a larger team.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Yamamoto was familiar with Kesagake's behavior and successfully tracked him down. Yamamoto spotted the bear resting near a Japanese oak. He approached to within 20 meters of the bear and shot at it. His first shot hit the bear's heart and the second shot hit his head, fatally wounding the animal. When measured, the bear was 340 kg (749 lbs) and 2.7 m (8.85 ft) tall. A necropsy was carried out on the bear, during which parts of his victims were found in his stomach. While at the time the skull and some of the fur of the bear were kept, they later were lost; no traces of Kesagake are left.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Yayo, who received head wounds in the attack, made a full recovery, but Miyoke Umekichi, who was bitten by the bear while being carried on his mother's back, died less than three years later from the wounds he had suffered.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Odo recovered from injury and returned to work, but next spring he fell into a river and died. After the attack, most of the villagers of Rokusen-Sawa soon left, and it rapidly transformed into a ghost town.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Ōkawa Haruyoshi, who was seven years old and the son of the Sankebetsu village mayor at the time of the incident, grew up to become a prolific bear hunter. He swore an oath to kill ten bears for every victim of the attack. By the time he reached the age of 62, he had killed 102 bears. He then retired and constructed , a shrine where people can pray for the dead villagers.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Takayoshi, Haruyoshi's son, in 1980—after an eight-year chase—hunted down a 500-kg brown bear who was nicknamed .


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Beginning in 1961, , Kimura Moritake, who was working in the district forest office in Asahikawa , undertook an examination of the case in order to leave a permanent record of it. Forty-six years had already passed, and little official material was left, so Kimura traced the people who had lived in Sankebetsu in those days and made careful records of their stories. Obtaining a full and accurate picture of events was not possible, as many of the villagers were already deceased and most of the survivors were not cooperative owing to the gruesome nature of the attack. Kimura's account of the attack was reprinted in 1980 and published in 1994 as by Kyōdō bunkasha.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Akira Yoshimura, a Japanese novelist, gathered information about this case and wrote about it in a novel.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: People believed that the attack occurred as a result of the bear waking early from hibernation because of hunger (in Japan, the term refers to failed hibernation). This would have resulted in increased ferocity. However, the bear did not actually attack any human beings until being shot by one.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: From the end of the Edo era, pioneers had deforested the area, using the firewood to process herring into fertilizer, and they reclaimed the inland area from the beginning of the Meiji era. The deforestation and increased settlement brought humans and bears closer. The lack of natural prey owing to deforestation and human depredation is a common reason for wild animals like brown bears (or leopards and tigers in India) to search for food in close proximity to human habitation.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: In Rokusen-sawa, where the attack occurred, there is now a shrine called the . The shrine, which is overgrown by trees, includes a restored house that reproduces life in those days, a signboard on which the case is explained, and a statue of the brown bear. The place is near , which spans the Sankebetsu River.


title: Sankebetsu brown bear incident

text: Hokkaidō Road 1049 was called a bear road, and there are many signboards showing a cute bear. These can be found at gates and at the wayside of the road. It is suggested that the posture expresses the symbiosis of wild animals and human beings. Since numerous tourists who visit there know the history of the area, they may possibly interpret it as an ironic or humorous statement.


title: Vicki Belo

text: Maria Victoria "Vicki" Gonzalez Belo-Kho (born January 25, 1956) is a Filipina doctor and television personality. She is the founder, CEO, and medical director of Belo Medical Group. Notably, she did not undergo the required 3 years of residency training under a certified institution, therefore, is not a board-certified dermatologist of the Philippine Dermatological Society, the only specialty society in Dermatology recognized by the Philippine Medical Association and the Philippine College of Physicians.


title: Vicki Belo

text: Maria Victoria Gonzalez Belo was born January 25, 1956. She attended Assumption College San Lorenzo for her secondary education. She earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of the Philippines, Diliman and completed her degree of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Santo Tomas. She obtained a Diploma in Dermatology from the Institute of Dermatology in Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Belo furthered her studies in Dermatologic and Laser Surgery in California, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in the University of California at San Francisco.


title: Vicki Belo

text: Belo is a speaker and guest lecturer in several organizations in the Philippines and abroad, such as the International Society of Cosmetic Laser Surgeons in Washington, D.C.; the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery in Portland, Oregon; the World Congress on Liposuction Surgery in Pasadena, California; the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery; and the International Farmstead Convention on Intense Pulsed Light Therapy (Quantum SR): Asian Experience in Frankfurt, Germany and United States of America.


title: Vicki Belo

text: Belo is a member of the following organizations: American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), American Society of Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (AACS), American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS), American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), International Society of Cosmetic Laser Surgeons (ISCLS), International Society of Dermatologic Surgery (ISDS), and Philippine Society of Liposuction Surgery.


title: Vicki Belo

text: Belo is also an active proponent of Philippine medical tourism. She is the founding officer for The Philippine National Society of Liposuction Surgery.


title: Vicki Belo

text: Belo is the CEO and medical director of the Belo Medical Group, which owns and operates 15 medical clinics in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao. The Belo Medical Group is the first accredited ambulatory cosmetic surgi-centre in the Philippines, certified by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) and endorsed by the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT). In 2013, Belo Medical Group became the first ambulatory clinic in the country to have been given international accreditation by the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH). Their accreditation was renewed in 2016. It remains the only clinic in the Philippines to have received such recognition.


title: Vicki Belo

text: Belo is known for being associated both professionally and personally with many Filipino celebrities and politicians. She divorced businessman and NU 107 founder Atom Henares. Quark Henares, film and music video director, and Cristalle Henares-Pitt, managing director of Belo Medical Group, are their two children. She is the adopted daughter of former Philippine Congressman and 1971 Philippine Constitutional Convention delegate Enrique Belo. She was engaged to her longtime boyfriend Hayden Kho in 2011, and were married in Paris in 2017. In May 2016, Belo and Kho introduced their daughter, Scarlet Snow Belo.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in the New York metropolitan area, the county's county seat and largest city is Jersey City, whose population as of the 2020 U.S. Census was 292,449.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: As of the 2020 United States Census, Hudson County was the fastest-growing county in New Jersey compared to 2010; the county reached total population of 724,854 as of 2020, representing an increase of 90,588 residents (14.3%) over the population of 634,266 counted in the 2010 U.S. Census, making Hudson the state's fourth-most populous county. Home to 15,693 residents per square mile (6,130/km2) in 2020, covering only 46.19 square miles of land, Hudson County is New Jersey's geographically smallest and most densely populated county as well. Its 2010 population in turn was an increase of 25,291 (4.2%) from the 2000 U.S. Census, when the county's population was established to be 608,975, Hudson County shares extensive mass transit connections with Manhattan, located across the Hudson River, as well as with most of Northern and Central New Jersey. The county is part of the North Jersey region.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Most of the county has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa") while East Newark, Harrison, and Kearny west of the western spur of the New Jersey Turnpike have a hot-summer humid continental climate ("Dfa"). The hardiness zone is 7a except from Bayonne up the east side of the Palisades to Route 495 where it is 7b.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Average temperatures in the county seat of Jersey City have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in February 1934 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in July.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: According to the 2010 Census, the county had a total area of , including of land (74.1%) and of water (25.9%). Based on land area, it is the smallest of New Jersey's 21 counties, less than half the size of the next smallest (Union County) and the eighth-smallest of all counties in the United States.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: It is bordered by the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay to the east; Kill Van Kull to the south; Newark Bay and the Hackensack River or the Passaic River to the west; its only land border is shared with Bergen County to the north and west.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The topography is marked by the New Jersey Palisades in the north with cliffs overlooking the Hudson to the east and less severe cuesta, or slope, to the west. They gradually level off to the southern peninsula, which is coastal and flat. The western region, around the Hackensack and Passaic is part of the New Jersey Meadowlands. Much of the land along the county's extensive shoreline and littoral zone was created by land reclamation.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The highest point, at 260 feet (79 m) above sea level, is in West New York; the lowest point is at sea level. North Bergen is the city with the second most hills per square mile in the United States behind San Francisco.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Ellis Island and Liberty Island, opposite Liberty State Park, lie entirely within Hudson County's waters, which extend to the New York state line. Liberty Island is part of New York. Largely created through land reclamation, Ellis Island covers a land area of , with the natural island and contiguous areas comprising a exclave of New York. Shooters Island, in the Kill van Kull, is also shared with New York. Robbins Reef Light sits atop a reef which runs parallel the Bayonne and Jersey City waterfront.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Much of the county lies between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers on a geographically long narrow peninsula, (sometimes called Bergen Neck), which is a contiguous urban area where it is often difficult to know when one's crossed a civic boundary. These boundaries and the topography-including many hills and inlets-create very distinct neighborhoods. Kennedy Boulevard runs the entire length of the peninsula. Numerous cuts for rail and vehicular traffic cross Bergen Hill.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: At the time of European contact in the 17th century, Hudson County was the territory of the Lenape (or Lenni-Lenape), namely the bands (or family groups) known as the Hackensack, the Tappan, the Raritan, and the Manhattan. They were a seasonally migrational people who practiced small-scale agriculture (companion planting) augmented by hunting and gathering which likely, given the topography of the area, included much (shell) fishing and trapping. These groups had early and frequent trading contact with Europeans. Their Algonquian language can still be inferred in many local place names such as Communipaw, Harsimus, Hackensack, Hoboken, Weehawken, Secaucus, and Pamrapo.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Henry Hudson, for whom the county and river on which it sits are named, established a claim for the area in 1609 when anchoring his ship the "Halve Maen" ("Half Moon") at Harsimus Cove and Weehawken Cove.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The west bank of the North River (as it was called) and the cliffs, hills, and marshlands abutting and beyond it, were settled by Europeans (Dutch, Flemish, Walloon, Huguenot) from the Lowlands around the same time as New Amsterdam. In 1630, Michael Pauw received a land patent, or patroonship and purchased the land between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, giving it the Latin-ized form of his name, Pavonia. He failed to settle the area and was forced to return his holdings to the Dutch West India Company. Homesteads were established at Communipaw (1633), Harsimus (1634), Paulus Hook (1638) and Hoebuck (1643). Relations were tenuous with the Lenape, and eventually led to Kieft's War, which began as a slaughter by the Dutch at Communipaw and is considered to be one of the first genocides of Native Americans by Europeans. A series of raids and reprisals across the province lasted two years, and ended in an uneasy truce. Other homesteads were established at Constable Hook (1646), Awiehaken (1647), and other lands at Achter Col on Bergen Neck. In 1658, Director-General Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherland negotiated a deal with the Lenape to re-purchase the area named Bergen, "by the great rock above Wiehacken," including the whole peninsula from Sikakes south to Bergen Point/Constable Hook. In 1661, a charter was granted the new village/garrison at the site of present-day Bergen Square, establishing what is considered to be the oldest self-governing municipality in New Jersey. The British gained control of the area in 1664, and the Dutch finally ceded formal control of province to the English in 1674.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: By 1675, the Treaty of Westminster finalized the transfer and the area became part of the British colony of East Jersey, in the administrative district of Bergen Township. The county's seat was transferred to Hackensack in 1709, after Bergen County was expanded west. Small villages and farms supplied the burgeoning city of New York, across the river, notably with oysters from the vast beds in the Upper New York Bay, and fresh produce, sold at Weehawken Street, in Manhattan. During the American Revolutionary War the area was under British control which included garrisons at Bulls Ferry and the fort at Bergen Neck. Colonialist troops used the heights to observe enemy movements. The Battle of Paulus Hook, a surprise raid on a British fortification in 1779, was seen as a victory and morale booster for revolutionary forces. Many downtown Jersey City streets bear the name of military figures Mercer, Greene, Wayne, and Varick among them. Weehawken became notorious for duels, including the nation's most famous between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804. Border conflicts for control of the waterfront with New York (which claimed jurisdiction to the high water line and the granting of ferry concessions) restricted development though some urbanization took place in at Paulus Hook and Hoboken, which became a vacation spot for well-off New Yorkers. The Morris Canal, early steam railroads, and the development of the harbor stimulated further growth. In September 1840, Hudson County was created by separation from Bergen County and annexation of some Essex County lands, namely New Barbadoes Neck. During the 19th century, Hudson played an integral role in the Underground Railroad, with four routes converging in Jersey City.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Most of Hudson County, apart from West Hudson, was part of Bergen Township, which dates back to 1661 and was formally created by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798, as one of the first group of 104 townships formed in New Jersey, while the area was still a part of Bergen County. As originally constituted, Bergen Township included the area between the Hudson River on the east, the Hackensack River to the west, south to Constable Hook/Bergen Point and north to the present-day Hudson-Bergen border. For the next 127 years civic borders within the county took many forms, until they were finalized with the creation of Union City in 1925.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The City of Jersey was incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on January 28, 1820, from portions of Bergen Township. The city was reincorporated on January 23, 1829, and again on February 22, 1838, at which time it became completely independent of Bergen Township and was given its present name. On February 22, 1840, it became part of the newly created Hudson County. As Jersey City grew, several neighboring communities were annexed: Van Vorst Township (March 18, 1851), Bergen City and Hudson City (both on May 2, 1870), and Greenville Township (February 4, 1873).


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: North Bergen was incorporated as a township on April 10, 1843, by an act of the New Jersey Legislature, from Bergen Township. Portions of the township have been taken to form Hoboken Township (April 9, 1849, now the City of Hoboken), Hudson Town (April 12, 1852, later part of Hudson City), Hudson City (April 11, 1855, later annexed by Jersey City), Guttenberg (formed within the township on March 9, 1859, and set off as an independent municipality on April 1, 1878), Weehawken (March 15, 1859), Union Township and West Hoboken Township (both created on February 28, 1861), Union Hill town (March 29, 1864) and Secaucus (March 12, 1900).


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hoboken was established in 1804, and formed as a township on April 9, 1849, from portions of North Bergen Township and incorporated as a full-fledged city, and in a referendum held on March 29, 1855, ratified an Act of the New Jersey Legislature signed the previous day, and the City of Hoboken was born.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Weehawken was formed as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 15, 1859, from portions of Hoboken and North Bergen. A portion of the township was ceded to Hoboken in 1874. Additional territory was annexed in 1879 from West Hoboken.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: West New York was incorporated as a town by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on July 8, 1898, replacing Union Township, based on the results of a referendum held three days earlier.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Kearny was originally formed as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1867, from portions of Harrison Township. Portions of the township were taken on July 3, 1895, to form East Newark. Kearny was incorporated as a town on January 19, 1899, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Bayonne was originally formed as a township on April 1, 1861, from portions of Bergen Township. Bayonne was reincorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 10, 1869, replacing Bayonne Township, subject to the results of a referendum held nine days later.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Soon after the Civil War the idea of uniting all of the town of Hudson County in one municipality of Jersey City began to gain favor. In 1868 a bill for submitting the question of consolidation of all of Hudson County to the voters was presented to the Board of Chosen Freeholders (now known as the Board of County Commissioners). The bill did not include the western towns of Harrison and Kearny but included all towns east of the Hackensack River.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The bill was approved by the State legislature on April 2, 1869 and the special election was scheduled for October 5, 1869. An element of the bill provided that only contiguous towns could be consolidated. The results of the election were as follows:


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: While a majority of the voters approved the merger, only Jersey City, Hudson and Bergen could be consolidated since they were the only contiguous approving towns. Both the Town of Union and Union Township could not be included due to the dissenting vote of West Hoboken which lay between them and Hudson City. On March 17, 1870, Jersey City, Hudson City, and Bergen merged into Jersey City. Only three years later the present outline of Jersey City was completed when Greenville agreed to merge into the Greater Jersey City.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Union City was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on January 1, 1925, replacing both Union Hill and West Hoboken Township.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: During the latter half of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, Hudson experienced intense industrial, commercial and residential growth. Construction, first of ports, and later railroad terminals, in Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken, and Weehawken (which significantly altered the shoreline with landfill) fueled much of the development. European immigration, notably German-language speakers and Irish (many fleeing famine) initiated a population boom that would last for several decades.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Neighborhoods grew as farms, estates, and other holdings were sub-divided for housing, civic and religious architecture. Streets (some with trolley lines) were laid out. Stevens Institute of Technology and Saint Peter's University were established.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Before the opening, in 1910, of the Pennsylvania Railroad's North River Tunnels under the Hudson, trains terminated on the west bank of the river, requiring passengers and cargo to travel by ferry or barge to New York. Transfer to the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad tubes (now PATH) became possible upon its opening in 1908. Hoboken Terminal, a national historic landmark originally built in 1907 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to replace the previous one, is the only one of five major rail/ferry terminals that once dotted the waterfront still in operation. West Shore Railroad Terminal in Weehawken, Erie Railroad's Pavonia Terminal and Pennsylvania Railroad's Exchange Place in Jersey City were all razed.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Central Railroad of New Jersey's Communipaw Terminal, across a small strait from Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, played a crucial role in the massive immigration of the period, with many newly arrived departing the station to embark on their lives in America. Many, though, decided to stay, taking jobs on the docks, the railroads, the factories, the refineries, and in the sweatshops and skyscrapers of Manhattan. Many manufacturers, whose names read as a "Who's Who" in American industry established a presence, including Colgate, Dixon Ticonderoga, Maxwell House, Standard Oil, and Bethlehem Steel. North Hudson, particularly Union City became the schiffli "embroidery capital of America". The industry included businesses that provided embroidery machines and parts, fabrics, thread, embroidery designs, dying, chemical lace etching, and bleaching. There were hundreds of small shops, each with one or a few machines, producing a wide array of products. Finished embroidery supplied the garment and home goods industries.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: It was during this period that much of the housing stock, namely one and two family homes and low-rise apartment buildings, was built; municipal boundaries finalized, neighborhoods established. Commercial corridors such as Bergenline, Central, Newark and Ocean Avenues came into prominence. Journal Square became a business, shopping, and entertainment mecca, home to "The Jersey Journal", after which it is named, and movie palaces such as Loew's Jersey Theater and The Stanley.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Upon entry to World War I, the U.S. government took over control of the Hamburg-American Line piers in Hoboken under eminent domain, and Hudson became the major point of embarkation for more than three million soldiers, known as "doughboys". In 1916, an act of sabotage literally and figuratively shook the region when German agents set off bombs at the munitions depot in New York Bay at Black Tom. The fore-runner of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was established on April 30, 1921. Huge transportation projects opened between the wars: The Holland Tunnel in 1927, The Bayonne Bridge in 1931, and The Lincoln Tunnel in 1937, allowing vehicular travel between New Jersey and New York City to bypass the waterfront. Hackensack River crossings, notably the Pulaski Skyway, were also built. What was to become New Jersey City University opened. Major Works Progress Administration projects included construction of stadiums in Jersey City and Union City. Both were named for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who attended the opening of the largest project of them all, The Jersey City Medical Center, a massive complex built in the Art Deco Style. During this era the "Hudson County Democratic Machine", known for its cronyism and corruption, with Jersey City mayor Frank Hague at its head was at its most powerful. Industries in Hudson were crucial to the war effort during WWII, including the manufacture PT boats by Elco in Bayonne. Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY) was opened in 1942 as a U.S. military base and remained in operation until 1999.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: and union membership provided guarantees of good pay packages. Though some returning servicemen took advantage of GI housing bills and moved to close by suburbs, many with strong ethnic and familial ties chose to stay. Baseball legend Jackie Robinson made his minor league debut at Roosevelt Stadium and "broke" the baseball color line. Much of Hudson County experienced the phenomenon of ethnic/economic groups leaving and being replaced by others, as was typical of most urban communities of the New York Bay region. When the big businesses decided to follow them or vice versa, Hudson County's socioeconomic differences became more profound. Old economic underpinnings disintegrated. Attempts were made to stabilize the population by demolishing so-called slums and build subsidized middle-income housing and the pockets of so-called "good neighborhoods" came in conflict with those that went into decline. Riots occurred in Jersey City in 1964.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Lower property values allowed the next wave of immigrants, many from Latin America, to rent or buy in the county. North Hudson, particularly Union City, saw many émigrés fleeing the Cuban revolution take up residence. Unlike other urban industrial areas of comparable size, age and density, North Hudson did not experience marked urban decay or a crime wave during the late 20th century, its population and economic base remaining basically stable, in part, because of its good housing stock, tightly knit neighborhoods and satisfactory schools systems.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The county since the mid-1990s has seen much real estate speculation and development and a population increase, as many new residents purchase existing housing stock as well as condominiums in high and mid rise developments, many along the waterfront. What had started as a gentrification in the 1980s became a full-blown "redevelopment" of the area as many suburbanites, transplanted Americans, internationals, and immigrants (most focused on opportunities in NY/NJ region and proximity to Manhattan) began to make the "Jersey" side of the Hudson their home, and the "real-estate boom" of the era encouraged many to seek investment opportunities. The exploitation of certain parts of the waterfront and other brownfields led to commercial development as well, especially along former rail yards. Hudson felt the short- and long-term impact of the destruction of the World Trade Center intensely: its proximity to lower Manhattan made it a place to evacuate to, many residents who worked there lost their jobs (or their lives), and many companies sought office space across the river. Re-zoning, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and New Jersey State land-use policy of transit villages have further spurred construction. Though very urban and with some of the highest residential densities in the United States the Hudson communities have remain fragmented, due in part to New Jersey's long history of home rule in local government; geographical factors such as Hudson River inlets/canals, the cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades and rail lines; and ethnic/demographic differences in the population. As the county sees more development this traditional perception is challenged.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hudson County is the most densely populated county in New Jersey and the fifth-most densely populated county in the United States, with 15,693 residents per square mile (6,130/km) as of 2020. The only city in Hudson County among the 100 most populous cities in the United States was Jersey City, which was ranked 77th in the United States Census Bureau's rankings based on the 2016 population estimate.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Of municipalities with over 50,000 people, Union City is the most densely populated in the United States, while several Hudson County municipalities are among the most densely populated in the United States as well as worldwide.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: North Hudson has the second-largest Cuban American population in the United States behind Miami. Jersey City is the 21st-most ethnically diverse city in the United States and the most ethnically diverse on the East Coast of the United States. Hudson has three communities on the list of the 100 cities (population 5,000 and up) with the highest percent of foreign-born residents: West New York (65.2%), Union City (58.7%), and Guttenberg (48.7%) Hudson County has the smallest proportion of persons over age 65 in New Jersey.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: As of the 2020 census, the county had 724,854 people, 266,664 households, and 160,697 families. The population density was . There were 312,706 housing units at an average density of . The county's racial makeup was 28.49% White, 9.84% African American, 0.14% Native American, 17.02% Asian, and 2.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 40.4% of the population.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Of the 266,664 households, of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.7% were married couples living together, 30.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 21.3% had a male householder with no wife present and 39.73% were non-families. 68.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.11.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: About 20.3% of the county's population was under age 18, 7.7% was from age 18 to 24, 47.6% was from age 15 to 44, and 12.2% was age 65 or older. The median age was 35.5 years. The gender makeup of the city was 49.76% male and 50.23% female. For every 100 females, there were 99.1 males.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The county's median household income was $78,808, and the median family income was $76,019. About 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.2% of those under age 18 and 17.4% of those age 65 or over.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hudson County is a major port of entry for immigration to the United States and a major employment center at the approximate core of the New York City metropolitan region; and given its proximity to Manhattan, Hudson County has evolved a globally cosmopolitan ambience of its own, demonstrating a robust and growing demographic and cultural diversity with respect to metrics including nationality, religion, race, and domiciliary partnership. Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Philippines, and India are the five most common nations of birth for foreign-born Hudson County residents. Jersey City is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There were an estimated 273,611 Hispanic Americans in Hudson County, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a 2.1% increase from 267,853 Hispanic Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States Census. Several municipalities in northern Hudson County are listed among those places in the United States with the highest population densities, with several towns more dense overall than adjacent New York City. Numerous towns on the Hudson Palisades in northern Hudson County have populations where more than 50% of the residents are foreign-born, often with a Hispanic majority.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There were an estimated 58,197 Puerto Rican Americans in Hudson County, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a 3.1% increase from 56,436 Puerto Rican Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States Census.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There were an estimated 28,900 Cuban Americans in Hudson County, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a 0.9% increase from 28,652 Cuban Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States Census. The Cuban Day Parade of New Jersey, since its inception at the millennium, has run along Bergenline Avenue and grown to be the centerpiece of large festivities which have taken place at Scheutzen Park or Celia Cruz Park.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There were an estimated 194,192 non-Hispanic whites in Hudson County, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a 0.7% decrease from 195,501 non-Hispanic whites enumerated in the 2010 United States Census.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Ever since the settling of New Netherland in the 1600s, comprising what is now the Gateway Region of northeastern New Jersey as well as portions of Downstate New York in the New York City metropolitan area, the Dutch and British, along with German and Irish Americans, have established an integral role in the subsequent long-term development of Hudson County over the centuries.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Irish Americans, specifically Irish Catholics played a significant role in the politics of Jersey City. Many of the city's mayors were of Irish descent. The Greenville, Jersey City neighborhood was the center of the city's Irish community until the 1950s and early 1960s.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There were an estimated 89,164 Asian Americans in Hudson County, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a 5.0% increase from 84,924 Asian Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States Census.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: India Square, also known as "Little India" or "Little Bombay", home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere, is a rapidly growing Indian American ethnic enclave in Jersey City. This area has been home to the largest outdoor Navratri festivities in New Jersey as well as several Hindu temples; while an annual, color-filled spring Holi festival has taken place in Jersey City since 1992, centered upon India Square and attracting significant participation and international media attention. There were an estimated 39,477 Indian Americans in Hudson County, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a 6.0% increase from 37,236 Indian Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States Census.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: 7% of Jersey City's population is Filipino. The Five Corners district is home to a thriving Filipino community and Jersey City's Little Manila, which is the second largest Asian American subgroup in the city. A variety of Filipino restaurants, shippers and freighters, doctors' officers, bakeries, stores, and an office of The Filipino Channel have made Newark Avenue their home. The largest Filipino-owned grocery store on the East Coast of the United States, Phil-Am Food, has been there since 1973. An array of Filipino-owned businesses can also be found at the section of West Side of Jersey City, where many of its residents are of Filipino descent. In 2006, a Red Ribbon pastry shop, one of the Philippines' most famous food chains, opened its first branch on the East Coast in the Garden State. Manila Avenue in Downtown Jersey City was named for the Philippine capital city because of the many Filipinos who built their homes on this street during the 1970s. A memorial, dedicated to the Filipino American veterans of the Vietnam War, was built in a small square on Manila Avenue. A park and statue dedicated to Jose P. Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines, exists in downtown Jersey City. Jersey City is the host of the annual Philippine-American Friendship Day Parade, an event that occurs yearly in June, on its last Sunday. The City Hall of Jersey City raises the Philippine flag in correlation to this event and as a tribute to the contributions of the Filipino community. The Santakrusan Procession along Manila Avenue has taken place since 1977. There were an estimated 21,622 Filipino Americans in Hudson County, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a 4.8% increase from 20,638 Filipino Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States Census.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hudson County, highly accessible to Lower Manhattan in New York City and its Chinatown by rapid transit, was home to an estimated 13,381 Chinese Americans, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a notably rapid growth of 19.1% from the 11,239 Chinese Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States Census.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There were an estimated 83,576 African Americans in Hudson County, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, representing a 0.4% decrease from 83,925 African Americans enumerated in the 2010 United States Census. However, modest growth in the African immigrant population, most notably the growing Nigerian American population in Jersey City, is partially offsetting the decline in Hudson County's American-born black population, which as a whole has been experiencing an exodus from northern New Jersey to the Southern United States.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Arab Americans numbered an estimated 14,518 individuals in Hudson County as per the 2012 American Community Survey, representing 2.3% of the county's total population, the second highest percentage in New Jersey after Passaic County. Arab Americans are most concentrated in Jersey City and Bayonne, led by Egyptian Americans, including the largest population of Coptic Christians in the United States.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hudson County's growing Muslim American population includes a significant Latino contingent comprising adherents converting from other religious affiliations.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: A growing Jewish American population has been noted in Hudson County, particularly in Jersey City. A significant Jewish presence has also been established in Bayonne.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There were 2,726 same-sex couples in Hudson County in 2010, second in New Jersey only to Essex County, prior to the commencement of same-sex marriages in New Jersey on October 21, 2013.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Hudson County had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $44.7 billion in 2018, which was ranked 5th in the state and represented an increase of 2.0% from the previous year.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Various businesses and industries are headquartered or had their start in Hudson County. Secaucus is home to The Vitamin Shoppe, My Network TV's flagship station WWOR-TV, Red Bull New York, MLB Network, NBA Entertainment, Goya Foods, The Children's Place and Hartz Mountain. Jersey City is home to Verisk Analytics and WFMU 91.1FM (WMFU 90.1FM in the Hudson Valley), the longest running freeform radio station in the United States. Hoboken is the birthplace of the first Blimpie restaurant, and home to one of the headquarters of publisher John Wiley & Sons. In the 20th century, Union City was the "embroidery capital of the United States", the trademark of that industry appearing on that city's seal. Weehawken is home to the headquarters of NY Waterway, as well as offices for Swatch Group USA, UBS and Hartz Mountain.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Television producers had long held an attraction for New Jersey, and Hudson County in particular, due to the tax credits afforded such various productions. The HBO prison drama "Oz" was filmed in an old warehouse in Bayonne, with much of the series filmed around the now-defunct Military Ocean Terminal Base. The NBC drama "" filmed police station and courtroom scenes at NBC's Central Archives building in North Bergen, and filmed other scenes throughout the county, such as a 2010 episode filmed at the Meadowlands Parkway in Secaucus. The short-lived hospital drama "Mercy" filmed at a warehouse in Secaucus, a private residence in Weehawken and a public school in Jersey City. The "Law and Order" and "Mercy" productions left New Jersey for New York in 2010 after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie suspended the tax credits for film and television production for the Fiscal Year 2011 to close budget gaps.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hudson County is governed by the Hudson County Executive and a nine-member Board of County Commissioners as a legislative body, who administer all county business. Hudson joins Atlantic, Bergen, Essex and Mercer counties as one of the 5 of 21 New Jersey counties with an elected executive. The County Executive is elected directly by the voters. The members of the Board of County Commissioners are elected concurrently to serve three-year terms as Commissioner, each representing a specified district which are equally proportioned based on population. Each year, in January, the Commissioners select one of their nine to serve as Chair and one as Vice Chair for a period of one year. In 2016, commissioners were paid $43,714, the Commissioner Vice Chair received $45,754 and the Commissioner Chair was paid an annual salary of $46,774; the commissioner salaries in the county were the highest in the state. That year, the county executive was paid $151,299.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: , Hudson County's County Executive is Democrat Thomas A. DeGise, whose term of office expires December 31, 2023. Hudson County's Commissioners are (with terms for chair and vice-chair ending every December 31):


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Pursuant to Article VII Section II of the New Jersey State Constitution, each county in New Jersey is required to have three elected administrative officials known as "constitutional officers." These officers are the County Clerk and County Surrogate (both elected for five-year terms of office) and the County Sheriff (elected for a three-year term). Hudson County's constitutional officers are:


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The sheriff's office is the second largest law enforcement agency in the County, with a staff of 300. The sheriff's headquarters are located at Hudson County Plaza. The Hudson County Correctional Facility is located in South Kearny. The Hudson County Prosecutor is Esther Suarez, who was nominated to the position by Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie in June 2015. Many county offices are located at Hudson County Plaza at 257 Cornelison Avenue in Jersey City. The Hudson County Meadowview Psychiatric Hospital is on County Avenue, Secaucus.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The county seat of Hudson County is located near Five Corners on Newark Avenue in Jersey City, northeast of Journal Square. The Hudson County Courthouse, and the adjacent Hudson County Administration Building, at 595 Newark Avenue, are home to various courts, agencies and departments. Hudson County constitutes Vicinage 6 of the New Jersey Superior Court and is seated at the Administration Building, with additional facilities at the Hudson County Courthouse; the Assignment Judge for Vicinage 6 is the Honorable Peter F. Bariso Jr. The Hudson County court system consists of several municipal courts, including the busy Jersey City Court in addition to the Superior Court.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Three Congressional Districts cover the county, including portions of the 8th, 9th and 10th districts.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The 12 municipalities of Hudson County are represented by 3 legislative districts. At , the 33rd Legislative District has the smallest land area for a Legislative District.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The county has only supported a Republican for president six times since 1896, all in large victories for Republicans nationwide. As of October 1, 2021, there were a total of 418,233 registered voters in Hudson County, of whom 230,912 (55.2%) were registered as Democrats, 44,736 (10.7%) were registered as Republicans and 136,327 (32.6%) were registered as unaffiliated. There were 6,258 voters (1.5%) registered to other parties. According to "The Hudson Reporter", the most conservative town in the county is Secaucus.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: In the 2020 United States presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden received 72.5% of the vote or 181,452 raw votes, while Republican President Donald Trump received only 26.2% or 65,698 raw votes, and a final 1.3% (3,308 votes) went to 3rd parties. In the 2016 United States presidential election, Republican Donald Trump received 22.2% or 49,043 votes to Democrat Hillary Clinton's 74.3% or 163,917 votes, while a final 3.4% of the vote (7,582 votes) went to 3rd parties.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Democrat Jon Corzine defeated Republican Doug Forrester by a 3-to-1 margin in the 2005 gubernatorial race. Both Republican candidates failed to carry even one municipality within the county. Former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine was a resident of Hoboken for many years, including his time in office (2006-2010). In the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial election, Corzine received 76,145 votes from Hudson County to Republican Chris Christie's 29,301, but Christie won the state overall, beating Corzine by 3 percentage points statewide.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There are 12 municipalities in Hudson County, listed with area in square miles and 2010 Census data for population and housing. North Hudson and West Hudson each comprise municipalities in their distinct areas.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Colleges and universities are Hudson County Community College (HCCC), New Jersey City University (NJCU), Saint Peter's University, all in Jersey City, and Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. Rutgers University offers classes within the county. The Christ Hospital School of Nursing was established in 1890 and since 1999 has run a cooperative program with HCCC. In 2014 it will merge with the Bayonne Medical Center nursing school.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Each municipality has a public school district. All but two have their own public high schools. East Newark students attend Harrison High School and Guttenberg students attend North Bergen High School. Hudson County Schools of Technology is a public secondary and adult vocational-technical school with locations in Secaucus, Jersey City, Union City and Harrison. There are private and parochial elementary and secondary schools located throughout Hudson, many of which are members of the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The confluence of roads and railways of the Northeastern U.S. megalopolis and Northeast Corridor passing through Hudson County make it one of the Northeast's major transportation crossroads and provide access to an extensive network of interstate highways, state freeways and toll roads, and vehicular water crossings. Many long-distance trains and buses pass through the county, though Amtrak and the major national bus companies – Greyhound Lines and Trailways – do not provide service within it. There are many local, intrastate, and Manhattan-bound bus routes, an expanding light rail system, ferries traversing the Hudson, and commuter trains to North Jersey, the Jersey Shore, and Trenton. Much of the rail, surface transit, and ferry system is oriented to commuters traveling to Newark, lower and midtown Manhattan, and the Hudson Waterfront. Public transportation is operated by a variety of public and private corporations, notably NJ Transit, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and NY Waterway, each of which charge customers separately for their service. Hudson is the only county in New Jersey where more residents (127,708) used public transportation than who drove (124,772).


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hoboken Terminal, Bergenline Avenue at 32nd Street, 48th Street, and Nungessers in North Hudson, and Journal Square Transportation Center and Exchange Place in Jersey City are major public transportation hubs. The Port Authority Bus Terminal and Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan, the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and Newark Penn Station also play important roles within the county's transportation network. Secaucus Junction provides access to eight commuter rail lines.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: NJ Transit bus routes 120 -129 provide service within Hudson and to Manhattan. NJ Transit bus routes 1-89 provide service within the county and to points in North Jersey. Additionally, private bus companies, some of which operate dollar vans ("mini-buses" or "carritos") augment the state agency's surface transport.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Located at the heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, Hudson County has since the 1980s seen the restoration of its once extensive ferry system.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: , the county had a total of of roadways, of which are maintained by the local municipality, by Hudson County, by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Major highways include New Jersey Routes 3, 7, 139, 185, 440, 495, Interstates 78, 95, and 280, and U.S. Routes 1/9 and 1/9 Truck, as well as the New Jersey Turnpike and the Pulaski Skyway. Automobile access to New York City is available through the Lincoln Tunnel (via Weehawken to Midtown Manhattan) and the Holland Tunnel (via Jersey City to Lower Manhattan), and over the Bayonne Bridge to Staten Island. County Route 501 runs the length of Hudson as Kennedy Boulevard.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: In 2013, two main thoroughfares in Hudson County, Kennedy Boulevard and U.S. Route 1/9, were included among the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's list of the top ten most dangerous roads for pedestrians in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Kennedy Boulevard was ranked #6 for the six pedestrian fatalities that occurred on it from 2009 to 2011, while Route 1/9 was tied for the #10 place on the list for the five pedestrian deaths during the same period. Route 1/9 is monitored by state police, while Kennedy Boulevard is patrolled by the Hudson County Sheriff's Office and the respective municipalities through which that road runs. In total, 37 pedestrians – 12 in 2009, 14 in 2010 and 11 in 2011 – were killed on Hudson County roads. According to state police statistics there were nine pedestrian fatalities in the county in 2012, which was not included in the study. From 2010 through 2012, 25 people were killed each year in Hudson County motor vehicle accidents.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Most airports which serve Hudson County are operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The Hudson County Park System includes Hudson County Park, Mercer Park, Lincoln Park, Washington Park, Columbus Park, and North Hudson Park, West Hudson Park and the newest, Laurel Hill. Some of the city's municipal parks and plazas, were developed as "city squares" during the 19th century, such as Hamilton Park, Church Square Park and Ellsworth (locally known as Pigeon) Park.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The German-American Volksfest has taken place annually since 1874 at Schuetzen Park This private park and the many nearby cemeteries-Flower Hill Cemetery, Grove Church Cemetery, Hoboken Cemetery, Macphelah Cemetery and Weehawken Cemetery that characterize the western slope create the "green lung" of North Hudson County.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Jersey City Reservoir No.3 and Pershing Field constitute one of the largest "green spaces" in the county. The reservoir, no longer in use, is site of a passive recreation area/nature preserve. Hackensack Number Two, the other remaining reservoir in Weehawken Heights, is not accessible to the public. Extensive athletic fields opened in 2009 in Weehawken and Union City, the latter on the site of the former Roosevelt Stadium.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Promenades are being developed along the rivers. The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway and Hackensack RiverWalk. Sections of the Secaucus Greenway are in place and eventually will connect different districts of the town including the North End, site Schmidts Woods (which contains an original hard wood forest) and Mill Creek Point Park, and Harmon Meadow Plaza. Kearny Riverbank Park runs along the Passaic River. The future of the Harsimus Stem Embankment is uncertain, though many community groups hope the landmark will be opened to the public as elevated greenway, possibly as part of East Coast Greenway.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Liberty State Park, the county's largest, is sited on land that had once been part of a vast oyster bed, was filled in for industrial, rail, and maritime uses, and was reclaimed in the 1970s. Ellis Island and Liberty Island, a national protected area and home to the Statue of Liberty National Monument, lie entirely within Hudson's waters across from Liberty State Park, from which ferry service is available.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission has designated several areas within its jurisdiction as wetlands preservation zones including the Riverbend Wetlands Preserve, Eastern Brackish Marsh, and Kearny Marsh, an extension of De Korte Park, home of the Meadowlands Environment Center.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: Hudson County is home to Skyway Golf Course, the 8th ranked 9 hole golf course in the country (Golf Advisor 2019), Bayonne Golf Club and Liberty National Golf Club, ball located on Upper New York Bay.


title: Hudson County, New Jersey

text: There are several museums and other exhibitions spaces throughout the county, some of which maintain permanent collections. Other are focused on local culture, history, or the environment. There are events throughout the year where architecture, local artists or ethnic culture are highlighted. There are also private galleries. The venues include:


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci ( , ; 13 April 1808 – 18 October 1889) was an Italian inventor and an associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi, a major political figure in the history of Italy. Meucci is best known for developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci set up a form of voice-communication link in his Staten Island, New York, home that connected the second-floor bedroom to his laboratory. He submitted a patent caveat for his telephonic device to the U.S. Patent Office in 1871, but there was no mention of electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound in his caveat. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound by undulatory electric current. Despite the longstanding general crediting of Bell with the accomplishment, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities supported celebrations of Meucci's 200th birthday in 2008 using the title "Inventore del telefono" (Inventor of the telephone). The U.S. House of Representatives in a resolution in 2002 also acknowledged Meucci's work in the invention of the telephone, although the U.S. Senate did not join the resolution and the interpretation of the resolution is disputed.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci was born at Via dei Serragli 44 in the San Frediano borough of Florence, First French Empire (now in the Italian Republic), on 13 April 1808, as the first of nine children to Amatis Meucci and Domenica Pepi. Amatis was at times a government clerk and a member of the local police, and Domenica was principally a homemaker. Four of Meucci's siblings did not survive childhood.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In November 1821, at the age of 13, he was admitted to Florence Academy of Fine Arts as its youngest student, where he studied chemical and mechanical engineering. He ceased full-time studies two years later due to insufficient funds, but continued studying part-time after obtaining employment as an assistant gatekeeper and customs official for the Florentine government.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In May 1825, because of the celebrations for the childbirth of Marie Anna of Saxony, wife of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Meucci conceived a powerful propellant mixture for flares. Unfortunately the fireworks went out of his control, causing damages and injuries in the celebration's square. Meucci was arrested and suspected of conspiracy against the Grand Duchy.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci later became employed at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence as a stage technician, assisting Artemio Canovetti.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In 1834 Meucci constructed a type of acoustic telephone to communicate between the stage and control room at the Teatro of Pergola. This telephone was constructed on the principles of pipe-telephones used on ships and still functions. He married costume designer Esterre Mochi, who was employed in the same theatre, on 7 August 1834.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In October 1835, Meucci and his wife emigrated to Cuba, then a Spanish province, where Meucci accepted a job at what was then called the Teatro Tacón in Havana (at the time, the greatest theater in the Americas). In Havana he constructed a system for water purification and reconstructed the Gran Teatro.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In 1848 his contract with the governor expired. Meucci was asked by a friend's doctors to work on Franz Anton Mesmer's therapy system on patients with rheumatism. In 1849, he developed a popular method of using electric shocks to treat illness and subsequently experimentally developed a device through which one could hear inarticulate human voice. He called this device "telegrafo parlante" (talking telegraph).


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In 1850, the third renewal of Meucci's contract with Don Francisco Martí y Torrens expired, and his friendship with General Giuseppe Garibaldi made him a suspect citizen in Cuba. On the other hand, the fame reached by Samuel F. B. Morse in the United States encouraged Meucci to make his living through inventions.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: On 13 April 1850, Meucci and his wife emigrated to the United States, taking with them approximately 26,000 pesos fuertes in savings (approximately $500,000 in 2010 dollars), and settled in the Clifton area of Staten Island, New York, New York.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: The Meuccis would live there for the remainder of their lives. On Staten Island he helped several countrymen committed to the Italian unification movement and who had escaped political persecution. Meucci invested the substantial capital he had earned in Cuba into a tallow candle factory (the first of this kind in America) employing several Italian exiles. For two years Meucci hosted friends at his cottage, including General Giuseppe Garibaldi, and Colonel Paolo Bovi Campeggi, who arrived in New York two months after Meucci. They worked in Meucci's factory.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In 1854, Meucci's wife Esterre became an invalid due to rheumatoid arthritis. Meucci continued his experiments.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci studied the principles of electromagnetic voice transmission for many years and was able to transmit his voice through wires in 1856. He installed a telephone-like device within his house in order to communicate with his wife, who was ill at the time. Some of Meucci's notes written in 1857 describe the basic principle of electromagnetic voice transmission or in other words, the telephone:


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci devised an electromagnetic telephone as a way of connecting his second-floor bedroom to his basement laboratory, and thus being able to communicate with his wife. Between 1856 and 1870, Meucci developed more than 30 different kinds of telephones on the basis of this prototype.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Around 1858, artist Nestore Corradi sketched Meucci's communication concept. His drawing was used to accompany the stamp in a commemorative publication of the Italian Postal and Telegraph Society.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci intended to develop his prototype but did not have the financial means to keep his company afloat in order to finance his invention. His candle factory went bankrupt and Meucci was forced to unsuccessfully seek funds from rich Italian families. In 1860, he asked his friend Enrico Bandelari to look for Italian capitalists willing to finance his project. However, military expeditions led by Garibaldi in Italy had made the political situation in that country too unstable for anybody to invest.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: At the same time, Meucci was led to poverty by some fraudulent debtors. On 13 November 1861 his cottage was auctioned. The purchaser allowed the Meuccis to live in the cottage without paying rent, but Meucci's private finances dwindled and he soon had to live on public funds and by depending on his friends. As mentioned in William J. Wallace's ruling, during the years 1859–1861, Meucci was in close business and social relations with William E. Ryder, who invested money in Meucci's inventions and paid the expenses of his experiments. Their close working friendship continued until 1867.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In August 1870, Meucci reportedly was able to capture a transmission of articulated human voice at the distance of a mile by using a copper plate as a conductor, insulated by cotton. He called this device the "telettrofono". While he was recovering from injuries that befell him in a boiler explosion aboard a Staten Island ferry, the "Westfield", Meucci's financial and health state was so bad that his wife sold his drawings and devices to a second-hand dealer to raise money.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: On 12 December 1871 Meucci set up an agreement with Angelo Zilio Grandi (Secretary of the Italian Consulate in New York), Angelo Antonio Tremeschin (entrepreneur), Sereno G.P. Breguglia Tremeschin (businessman), in order to constitute the Telettrofono Company. The constitution was notarized by Angelo Bertolino, a Notary Public of New York. Although their society funded him with $20, only $15 was needed to file for a full patent application. The caveat his lawyer submitted to the US Patent Office on 28 December 1871 was numbered 3335 and titled "Sound Telegraph".


title: Antonio Meucci

text: The following is the text of Meucci's caveat, omitting legal details of the Petition, Oath, and Jurat:


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci repeatedly focused on insulating the electrical conductor and even insulating the people communicating, but does not explain why this would be desirable. The mouth piece is like a "speaking trumpet" so that "the sound concentrated upon the wire" is communicated to the other person, but he does not say that the sound is converted to variable electrical conduction in the wire. "Another instrument is also applied to the ears", but he does not say that variable electrical conduction in the wire is to be converted to sound. In the third claim, he claims "a sound conductor which is also an electrical conductor, as a means of communication by sound", which is consistent with acoustic sound vibrations in the wire that get transmitted better if electrical conductors such as a wire or metallic tube are used.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci emphasizes that the conductors "for mouth and ears ... must be metallic", but does not explain why this would be desirable. He mentions "communication with the ground" but does not suggest that a ground return must complete a circuit if only "the wire" (singular, not plural) is used between the sender's mouth piece and the receiver's ear piece, with one or the other person being electrically insulated from the ground by means of glass insulators ("...consists in isolating two persons ... by placing them upon glass insulators; employing glass, for example, at the foot of the chair or bench on which each sits, and putting them in communication by means of a telegraph wire").


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Robert V. Bruce, a biographer of Bell, asserted that Meucci's caveat could never have become a patent because it never described an electric telephone.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: According to Bruce, Meucci's own testimony as presented by Schiavo demonstrates that the Italian inventor "did not understand the basic principles of the telephone, either before or several years after Bell patented it."


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Other researchers have pointed to inconsistencies and inaccuracies in Bruce's account of the invention of the telephone, firstly with the name used by Meucci to describe his invention—Bruce refers to Meucci's device as a "telephone", not as the "telettrofono". Bruce's reporting of Meucci's purported relationship with Dr. Seth R. Beckwith has been deemed inaccurate. Beckwith, a former surgeon and general manager of the Overland Telephone Company of New York, "had acquired a substantial knowledge in the telephonic field and had become an admirer of Meucci". In 1885, he became general manager of the Globe Telephone Company, which had "started an action attempting to involve the government in hindering U.S. Bell's monopoly." However, Meucci and his legal representative had cautioned Beckwith against misusing Meucci's name for financial gain after Beckwith founded a company in New Jersey named the Meucci Telephone Company.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Not only did Beckwith's Globe Telephone Company base its claims against the Bell Telephone Company on Meucci's caveat, but the claims were also supported by approximately 30 affidavits, which stated that Meucci had repeatedly built and used different types of electric telephones several years before Bell did.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: English historian William Aitken does not share Bruce's viewpoint. Bruce indirectly referred to Meucci as "the silliest and weakest impostor", while Aitken has gone so far as to define Meucci as the first creator of an electrical telephone.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Other recognition of Meucci's work in the past came from the International Telecommunication Union, positing that Meucci's work was one of the four precursors to Bell's telephone, as well as from the Smithsonian Institution, which listed Meucci as one of the eight most important inventors of the telephone in a 1976 exhibit.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Meucci and his business partners hired an attorney (J. D. Stetson), who filed a caveat on behalf of Meucci with the patent office. They had wanted to prepare a patent application, but the partners did not provide the $250 fee, so all that was prepared was a caveat, since the fee for that was only $20. However, the caveat did not contain a clear description of how the asserted invention would actually function. Meucci advocates claim the attorney erased margin notes Meucci had added to the document.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: In 1872, Meucci and his friend Angelo Bertolino went to Edward B. Grant, Vice President of American District Telegraph Co. of New York (not Western Union as sometimes stated), to ask for help. Meucci asked him for permission to test his apparatus on the company's telegraph lines. He gave Grant a description of his prototype and a copy of his caveat. After waiting two years, Meucci went to Grant and asked for his documents back, but Grant allegedly told him they had been lost.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: Around 1873, a man named Bill Carroll from Boston, who had news about Meucci's invention, asked him to construct a telephone for divers. This device should allow divers to communicate with people on the surface. In Meucci's drawing, this device is essentially an electromagnetic telephone encapsulated to be waterproof.


title: Antonio Meucci

text: On 28 December 1874, Meucci's Telettrofono patent caveat expired. Critics dispute the claim that Meucci could not afford to file for a patent or renew his caveat, as he filed for and was granted full patents in 1872, 1873, 1875, and 1876, at the cost of $35 each, as well as one additional $10 patent caveat, all totaling $150, for inventions unrelated to the telephone.