Winnie H Thompson (1876 - 1966)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Winnie's lifetime.

In 1876, in the year that Winnie H Thompson was born, on June 4th, the Transcontinental Express - an express train - arrived in San Francisco, using the 7 year old transcontinental railroad line. It took 83 hours and 39 minutes from New York City - about 3.5 days - to cross the country.

In 1891, at the age of merely 15 years old, Winnie was alive when on March 14th, a lynch mob stormed the Old Parish Prison. The mob lynched 11 of the 19 Italians who were arrested for - but found to be innocent of - the murder of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy.

In 1923, she was 47 years old when the A.C. Nielsen Company was founded in Chicago. It provided an audience measurement system that could provide radio station owners with information on their listeners and the popularity of their shows. Later, the Nielsen company became the basis for the fate of television programs.

In 1930, Winnie was 54 years old when on August 6th, N.Y. Supreme Court Judge Joseph Crater went through papers in his office, destroyed some of them, withdrew all his money from the bank - $5,150, sold his stock, met friends at a restaurant for dinner and disappeared after getting into a taxi (or walking down the street - his friends' testimony later changed). His disappearance was reported to the police on September 3rd - almost a month later. His wife didn't know what happened, his fellow Justices had no idea, and his mistresses (he had several) said that they didn't know. While his disappearance was front page news, his fate was never discovered and after 40 years the case was closed, still without knowing if Crater was dead or alive.

In 1966, in the year of Winnie H Thompson's passing, on September 8th, the first Star Trek episode, "The Man Trap," was broadcast on NBC. The plot concerned a creature that sucked salt from human bodies. The original series only aired for 3 seasons due to low ratings.