Abbie Backman 1880 - 1978
Abbie Backman's Biography
Introduction
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Abbie Backman
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1880 - 1978 World Events
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In 1880, in the year that Abbie Backman was born, on February 4th, five members of one family in Ontario, Canada were killed and their farm was burned by a mob. Called the Black Donnelly Massacre, the Irish family had been feuding with other citizens of the town. No one was ever convicted.
In 1905, when she was 25 years old, federal spending was $0.57 billion, unemployment was 4.3%, and the cost of a first-class stamp was $0.02. Current U.S. government spending is $4.268 trillion.
In 1920, at the age of 40 years old, Abbie was alive when speakeasies replaced saloons as the center of social activity. After the 18th Amendment was ratified and selling alcohol became illegal, saloons closed and speakeasies took their place. Speakeasies, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, were "so called because of the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police or neighbors". There were a lot of them and they were very popular. And where saloons often prohibited women, they were encouraged at speakeasies because of the added profits.
In 1937, at the age of 57 years old, Abbie was alive when on May 6th, the German zeppelin the Hindenburg caught fire and blew up. The Hindenburg was a passenger ship traveling to Frankfurt Germany. It tried to dock in New Jersey, one of the stops, and something went wrong - it blew up. Thirty-six people were killed out of the 97 on board - 13 passengers, 22 crewmen, and one ground worker. The reasons for the explosion are still disputed.
In 1978, in the year of Abbie Backman's passing, on November 18th, Jim Jones's Peoples Temple followers committed mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana - where they had moved, from San Francisco, as a group. Jones was the leader of the cult and ordered his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch, which they did. Whole families (women and children included) died - more than 900 people in all.
