OCTOBER 7 — 1849 Edgar Allen Poe passes away; 1750 Happy birthday Abraham Woodhull, Revolution spy; 2016 Star Trek becomes biggest sci-fi TV franchise in history
OCTOBER 7
1750 happy birthday Abraham Woodhull, the main spy in General Washington’s Culper Ring during the American Revolution.
Although he would swerved as a judge in Suffolk County long after the war was over, his fake identify wasn’t even revealed until the early 1900s; that’s how good of a spy he was. Woodhull grew up third in the family with two brothers and two sisters at a wealthy estate in Setauket New York.
While his brothers were busy being straight a students in school, Abraham was learning the layout of the land in Long Island and its waterways, which by 1778 was in strictly held by the British army and navy. Abraham had a cousin, General Nathaniel Woodhull, who was captured by the British army and died on one of the ships by sword wounds. Abraham had plenty of reasons to join the patriot cause, and, one of his sisters married Amos Underhill and they moved to Manhattan, which the British had taken in the fall.
General George Washington meanwhile, hand appointed Major Benjamin Tallmadge to begin a spy ring in order to take back New York. The Tallmadge family and Woodhull family had lived as neighbors for generations in Setauket, and Benjamin and Abraham had grown up together as well.
He knew Woodhull understood the layout of New York, Woodhull’s secret name would be Samuel Culper, a pseudo name for Spy Chief. The Culper Ring, just to put this perspective, dismembered critical British plans that gave victory to General Washington, inkling the stopping of Benedict Arnold giving West Point to the enemy, fooling the Hessian mercenaries into thinking that Washington would not cross the Delaware on Christmas Eve early in the war, fooling Lord Clinton into thinking the American and French army would attack New York, instead leaving Lord Cornwallis all alone in Yorktown, and many other examples that surely led to pure crazy luck for General Washington.
Woodhull would be sent to “visit his sister” in Manhattan, but he drew the suspicion of the British army, who visited Abraham’s house when he wasn’t there and tortured his father. Here’s an overview of how the complex ring worked, so if you’re British, please turn this podcast off. Shih. Ok, Americans are we listening? Good.
Robert Townsend instead would be the Culper spy in Manhattan, and deliver that information to Austin Roe, who would take that information and send it through Queens and Suffolk to Setauket. At the point, Cable Brewster would glance up from his whaleboat to Woodhull’s neighbor Anna Smith, who would hang her laundry out on the line in a code that told Brewster what British positions were and how to proceed. Brewster would take the information in his whaleboat up the Long Island Sound to Fairfield, where Tallmadge would deliver it to Washington.
Yes my friends, George Washington didn’t just tell a lie, he would have others do it too. It’s why Americans find Bugs Bunny so amusing.
After the war, Woodhull would marry his cousin Mary Smith, and they had three children He became a magistrate in Suffolk while the rest of the ring lived in solidarity, and died January 23 1826, age 75. Happy birthday Abraham!
2001 – Operation Enduring Freedom begins.
…After the September 11 attacks on the US, President George W. Bush rallied support from NATO to oust terrorism, and decimate the Taliban who claimed responsibility for the attacks. The mastermind, a Saudi-born national we all remember named Osama Bin Laden, refused to surrender, and the Taliban gave the US stalling tactics. On October 67, Bush had had enough and sent in a multinational coalition troops from America the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and France, by using the intelligence that was provided by dozens of other countries around the world. NATO established ISAF; the International Security Assistance Force, and on December 282014, NATO officially ended combat operations and transferred full security responsibility to the Afghan government in Kabul.
1913 – Ford’s Assembly Line starts moving.
…In 1907, Henry Ford had a goal, which was to create a motor car for the great multitude. Cars were expensive and generally only the rich could afford it. Ford came up with the Model T, which was simple and sturdy. But it was custom made, as all cars were of course, and still lout of financial. Reach for the multitude.
Ford needed an idea that would cut down the time it took for the workers to make their parts. He was inspired by a meat packing company in Chicago which used a conveyer belt. With that idea, he brought the work to the workers, which greatly improved the workflow. There were 84 steps to make the model T, and each worker was trained on how to perform that task and that task only. Model T’s were being built at a staggering pace.
The time it took to complete a Model T went down from 12 ½ hours to 63 minutes. But what a boring job, right? Just stand there at a conveyer belt doing the same mindless task day in and day out? So ford understood that he would need to keep his workers happy. Every good manager understands that vacation time and money are generally great incentives for workers. He began paying his workers $5 per day, which was big money back then, so his workers would buy a Model T for themselves.
This severely undercut his Rivals and Ford was called a traitor to his class. Good for Henry. That also meant his workers were loyal and would be willing to put up with boring tasks all day long. By 1916, Ford Motor Company was making three times as much as it did just a few years earlier. This started an industrial revolution.
As PBS says, Ford’s manufacturing principles were adopted by countless other industries. Henry Ford went beyond his 1907 goal of making cars affordable for all; he changed the b habits of nation, and shaped its very character. Brave new World anybody?
1950 Jewish American Willis Carrier from Buffalo NY invents the modern air conditioning. You’re welcome world. 1956 – Clarence Birdseye from Brooklyn revolutionized the frozen foods industry. He actually started out as a taxidermist because that’s not creepy or anything.
7 1849 — R.I.P. Edgar Allen Poe.
Just in time for Halloween! He was last seen on the 3rd of October by a man named Joseph Walker who basically says Poe was rambling on frantically like a maniac. My words, not his. Poe died of brain congestion, alcohol poisoning, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, or shear madness.
He had a small funeral at the back of the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore, but was buried in an unmarked grave at a site that, according to eapoe.org, became overgrown with weeds. The sexton, George Spence, ordered a nice gravestone for Poe’s grave, but it was destroyed when a train derailed and ran through the yard where it was getting ready for transport.
By 1875 awareness was raised thanks to the local Baltimore newspapers, to get a good site going to bury Poe properly. Finally on November 17 1875, Poe’s remains were given the proper burial, and then the remains of his former wife and first cousin Virginia and his aunt and mother in law Maria were buried next to him, reuniting a very disturbing family dynamic. Edgar Allen Poe! One of the world’s greatest authors in history, who is widely considered the master of macabre, has been credited for the creation of the entire horror genre.
You can read his influences in works from the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle and George Bernard Shaw to Jules Verne and of course, Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Only a guy like Poe could earn a dedicated Poe Toaster, a mysterious man who visited his grave on Poe’s birthdays every January 19th. He wore a long black coat, wide brimmed black had, and a white shirt.
He came with a bottle of cognac, would site at Poe’s gravesite, read some kind of epitaph and toast to the legendary author. He would usually leave the cognac, and disappear for another year. This Poe Toaster came for 75 years until 2010 when he stopped showing up.
For some real Halloween fun, you can visit Poe’s grave and read Annabel Lee or Spirits of the Grave, then head to the nearby creepy catacombs and then to Poe’s house and museum where you can see some creaky stairs and tiny room, the perfect place for a brilliant madman.
1958 – Georgia Gibbs sings the Hula Hoop Song on the Ed Sullivan Show, giving the hip swinging craze an even further boost. 25Million plastic hoops were sold in less than four months and in two years sales would reach more than 100 million units. Although many believe the toy was first popularized in the 1950s, reference to it has been found from as early as 500 BC.
2016 – Star Trek becomes the most successful sci-fi TV franchise ever. Shatt accepted the award on the behalf of his crew. BTW, considering all Star Trek franchises, including DVD, TV, books, vid games, figuring’s, etc., 46B folks. 6B. Nanu nanu mfers. Wrong show