Wall Street bombing
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| Wall Street bombing | |
|---|---|
 The aftermath of the explosion |
|
| Location | New York City, New York |
| Target(s) | Wall Street |
| Date | September 16, 1920
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| Attack Type | horse-drawn wagon bombing |
| Fatalities | 33 |
| Injuries | 400 |
| Perpetrator(s) | unknown; the Galleanists (Italian anarchists) are suspected |
| Motive | allegedly, revenge for arrest of Galleanists |
The Wall Street bombing was a terrorist incident that occurred at 12:01 pm on September 16, 1920 in the Financial District of New York City. It was the deadliest bomb attack on American soil for seven years, until the Bath School disaster. 33 were killed and 400 persons were injured by the blast.[citation needed]
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[edit] Attack
At noon, a horse-drawn wagon passed by lunchtime crowds on Wall Street, in New York City. The wagon then stopped across the street from the headquarters of the J.P. Morgan Inc. bank at 23 Wall Street, on the Financial District's busiest corner. Inside, 100 pounds (45 kg) of dynamite with 500 pounds (230 kg) of heavy cast-iron slugs exploded in a timer-set detonation, sending the slugs tearing through the air. The horse and wagon were vaporized. Scores of bodies littered the street, and the bomb caused over $2 million dollars in property damage, wrecking most of the interior spaces of the Morgan building. An automobile was hurled into the air, and glass was shattered for blocks (the damage can still be seen on the buildings today [1]). Word soon spread that another bomb would go off, creating further panic.
Shortly before the bomb went off, a warning note had been placed in a mailbox at the corner of Cedar Street and Broadway. The warning read:
Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchist Fighters.
However, far from killing high government officials, the bomb claimed mostly ordinary office clerks, runners, and stenographers as its victims, a fact that must have been evident to the plotters, who had timed the bomb to explode at the start of the lunch hour.
[edit] Reaction
The American public was unaccustomed to such acts; though eight Chicago police officers had been killed during the Haymarket Riot in 1886, President William McKinley had been assassinated in 1901, the Los Angeles Times offices were burnt down in 1910 (killing twenty), and bombs were mailed to government leaders, the Wall Street attack was unusual in that it was aimed at the public, and intended to kill large numbers of people. It was the worst act of politically-motivated terror on American soil until the Oklahoma City bombing. Officials blamed anarchist and communist elements, fueling the ongoing Palmer raids.
Wall Street reopened the next day, with evidence of the bombing covered by cloths. The public was jittery: headlines warned that other buildings might be bombed, and that bridges on the West Coast would also be targeted by terrorists. Well after the deportation of 10,000 radicals by the Palmer raids, and the development of the Justice Department's General Intelligence Division (forerunner of the FBI), the era of political bombings in America by the radical left finally ended in 1932.
[edit] Perpetrators
The Washington Post called the bombing an "act of war," though it was not known who was responsible. Anarchists were of course suspected, especially the Galleanists, Italian anarchist followers of Luigi Galleani. The Galleanists had a motive for planning the bombing, as they were incensed over the indictment for murder of two of their colleagues, Sacco and Vanzetti. Discrimination against immigrants and resident aliens, especially from Eastern Europe and Sicilian immigrants increased notably after the attack, as well as public support for the Palmer raids. Investigators searched hundreds of stables to determine who had purchased the horse and wagon, but nothing was uncovered. The note was analyzed and its language structure found similar to other 'bomb' leaflets left at the scene by the Galleanists, but this by itself was insufficient. Despite vows that the police would catch the perpetrators, no charges were ever filed. The FBI rendered the file inactive in 1940, and the crime remains unsolved to this day.
One Galleanist in particular, Mario Buda (aka Mike Boda), (died 1963), an associate of Sacco and Vanzetti (whose car led to the arrest of the latter for a separate robbery and murder), is alleged by some historians, including Paul Avrich, to have planted the bomb as revenge for the arrest and indictment of his fellow Galleanists. Buda (at that time known as Mike Boda), had just managed to elude authorities at the time of Sacco and Vanzetti's arrest, was experienced in the use of dynamite and is believed to have constructed several of the largest dynamite package bombs for the Galleanists. He was also in New York at the time of the bombing. However, he was never arrested or questioned by police. After leaving New York, Buda resumed the use of his real name in order to secure a passport from the Italian vice-consul, then promptly sailed for Naples. By November he was back in his native Italy, never to return to the United States.
[edit] References
- Manning, Lona. "9/16/20: Terrorists Bomb Wall Street", Crime Magazine, 2006-01-15.
- Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991
[edit] See ALso
[edit] External links
- The Wall Street Bombing
- Terrorism in America
- The First Wall Street Bombing
- To find contemporary coverage in the New York Times search for the headline "Red Plot Seen in Blast" in September, 1920 at http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?srchst=nyt&&srcht=a&srchr=n#top There is a fee to view the original article in PDF format.
