The Carnage
of the 1920 Wall Street bombing
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Wall Street bombing Facts for kids: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the Wall Street bombing.
Where was the Wall Street bombing? The
23 Wall Street bombing took place outside J.
P. Morgan building in the heart of Wall
Street on the corner of Wall and Broad
Streets in Manhattan in New York City
When was the Wall Street bombing? The Wall Street bombing
occurred at 12:01 pm on Thursday, September
16, 1920
Who was responsible for the Wall Street bombing?
The perpetrators of the Wall Street bombing
were never charged. There were many
conspiracy theories however the people
responsible for this early act of terrorism
remain a mystery to this day. Conspiracy
theories put the blame on Communists, as
part of the 'Red Scare' but the most
credible conspiracy theory was that the
people responsible for the Wall Street
bombing were Italian anarchists, the
followers of Luigi Galleani.
Wall Street bombing
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts and information on the
1920 Wall Street bombing for kids.
Facts
about the Wall Street bombing for kids
Wall Street bombing Fact 1:
The 1920 Wall Street bombing followed a year of rapid
inflation, high unemployment, race riots and civil
unrest in America which was subject to protests,
demonstrations and a series of crippling strikes. For
additional facts refer to the
Impact and Effects
of WW1 on America.
Wall Street bombing Fact
2: There had been a few minor bomb attacks in the
United States homeland during WW1 and the propaganda techniques of
the Creel
Commission had created anger and fear towards foreigners amongst
American citizens.
Wall Street bombing Fact 3:
These fears and beliefs were fueled by small, but highly
vocal, groups of socialists, communists and anarchists who preached
the downfall of the corrupt capitalist system and the coming
revolution of the working classes.
Wall Street bombing Fact
4:
The nation had become intolerant of immigrants and there
was a strong belief that Communists and other radical
groups were conspiring to start a a worker's revolution
in America. The Red Scare had engulfed the nation.
Wall Street bombing Fact
5:
The 1920 Wall Street bombing was perpetrated in a climate of fear
and suspicion that resulted in numerous conspiracy theories as to
who was responsible for the explosion.
Wall Street bombing Fact
6: The Wall Street bombing was an act of terrorism
that occurred at 12:01 pm on Thursday, September 16, 1920. The bomb
blast killed 38 people and nearly 300 people were injured, 143
seriously.
Wall Street bombing Fact
7: The bomb exploded on the corner of
Wall and Broad Streets at the heart of the Financial
District in Manhattan, New York City outside the J. P.
Morgan bank building, the largest and most powerful
financial institution in the world.
Wall Street bombing Fact
8: The bombing caused more than $2
million in damage. Scars from the explosion are still
visible on the facade of 23 Wall Street today.
Wall Street bombing Fact
9: The timing of the explosion coincided
with the lunch time rush on Wall Street. The people
killed and injured were were ordinary, innocent American
citizens who worked as clerks, chauffeurs, couriers,
messengers, stenographers and brokers.
Wall Street bombing Fact
10: What happened? Shortly after noon a
horse-drawn cart exploded on the corner of Wall and
Broad Street in downtown Manhattan. The scale of the
damage, and the carnage the blast caused were
unimaginable.
Wall Street bombing Fact
11: The horse-drawn cart had been loaded
with 100 pounds of dynamite. The attack was made more
lethal by the 500 pounds of cast iron slugs packed in
with the dynamite which acted as iron shrapnel. A large
ball of fire and a cloud of green gas was created by the
explosion.
Wall Street bombing Fact 12:
The driver of the cart was presumed killed in the
explosion and all that remained of the horse were its jawbone and
its hooves.
Wall Street bombing Fact 13:
Buildings within a half mile radius rocked and
flying glass from shattered windows cause countless minor bloody
injuries. Chunks of hot metal sprayed in all directions. Three
victims of the blast could not be identified because their injuries
were so bad. Some of the victims were decapitated and the bodies of
other victims were badly mutilated.
Continued...
Facts
about the Wall Street bombing for kids
Facts
about the Wall Street bombing for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with interesting facts about Wall Street bombing
for kids.
Facts
about Wall Street bombing for kids
Wall Street bombing Fact 14:
Men and women were swept off their feet,
including a stockbroker called Joseph P. Kennedy. Flying glass
injured Ulysses S. Grant, the grandson of the civil war general and
president, who worked in the Treasury building. J.P. Morgan was on
vacation in Europe, but his son, Junius Morgan, was injured in the
blast. J.P. Morgan’s chief clerk, Thomas Joyce, was killed
instantly.
Wall Street bombing Fact
15: Policemen, firemen and ambulances
raced to the scene over streets littered with debris and
broken glass. A row of mutilated corpses covered with
car blankets were lined up in the street.
Wall Street bombing Fact 16:
Frantic rescuers worked to transport
the wounded to the hospital, local police performed
first aid and commandeered all nearby automobiles as
emergency transport vehicles.
Wall Street bombing Fact 17:
There was total confusion, at first
some people thought the explosion was an accident, or
that it had been caused by an aircraft bombing, but it
quickly became clear that the horse and cart had held
the explosives.
Wall Street bombing Fact 18:
Around the corner, at the New York
Stock Exchange, trading was suspended in order to head
off a panic in the stock market and people rushed to the
scene of the explosion to see what was happening..
Wall Street bombing Fact 19:
Soldiers were called in from
Governors Island in Upper New York Bay to set up a
temporary security cordon around Wall Street. Clean-up
crews worked through the night but, in doing so, all
evidence that may have been left behind was lost.
Wall Street bombing Fact
20: The following day, New Yorkers
returned to work, and the stock exchange bell rang as
normal. The stock market soared, an indication that
anarchy would never prevail.
Wall Street bombing Fact
21: By pure coincidence, arrangements had
already been made to hold a small parade and ceremony on
Friday 17th, to mark the anniversary of the signing of
the Constitution on September 17, 1787. Thousands
gathered at the scene of the Wall Street bombing.
A band, with fife and drum, played “The Star Spangled
Banner.” The crowd then sang “America,” led by a
WW1 veteran. Brigadier General William J. Nicholson who
also made a patriotic speech.
Wall Street bombing Fact
22: Investigations into the Wall Street
bombing started immediately and involved the Justice
Department's Bureau of Investigation (BOI, the
forerunner of the FBI) and the police) led by William J.
Flynn. The Federal investigators began to track the
movements of foreign radicals and the NYPD, led by
Arthur Carey, formed a “special or secret police”
to monitor radical elements in New York City. J.P.
Morgan hired his own private detectives to try to find
the bombers.
Wall Street bombing Fact
23: The BOI released contents of flyers
found in a mailbox in the Wall Street area the day after
the bombing. The leaflets, printed in red ink on white
paper declared:
"Remember, we
will not tolerate any longer.
Free the political prisoners, or it will be sure death
for all of you."
Wall Street bombing Fact
24: Statements from survivors were taken
and an inspection of the site by mine explosion experts
was conducted. The flyers and the initial investigations
led investigators to immediately rule out an accident as
the cause of the explosion. The conspiracy theories
started...
Wall Street bombing Fact
25: Americans believed the bombing was
planned by opponents of capitalism such as Bolsheviks,
anarchists, communists, or militant socialists. A
possible motive was that the bombing was an act of
revenge for the arrests of Italian immigrants and
anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Wall Street bombing Fact
26: The American public seldom
distinguished between anarchists, socialists and
communists, and dubbed them all 'Reds' or 'Bolshies'.
The conspiracy theories included anybody who met this
description as the Red Scare engulfed the nation.
Wall Street bombing Fact
27: The BOI and New York police
investigated the case for over three years without
success. They interviewed hundreds of people but
developed little information of value. They occasionally
made arrests but every time they failed to support
indictments.
Wall Street bombing Fact
28: The most credible conspiracy theory
was that the people who planned the Wall Street bombing
were a group of Italian anarchists, the followers of
Luigi Galleani, who had been deported on June 24, 1919. Mario Buda is alleged to be the
man most likely responsible for the bombing.
Wall Street bombing Fact
29: Mario Buda was in New York City at
the time of the Wall Street bombing but was never a
suspect at the time or questioned by police. Both Luigi
Galleani and Mario Buda were deported from the United States and
returned to Italy. It later turned out that Mario Buda
was experienced in the use of explosives, had built
several package bombs for the Galleanists and was known
to use iron shrapnel in his time bombs.
Wall Street bombing Fact
30: The history surrounding the Wall
Street bombings encompasses the period known as the 'Red
Scare' which included the Palmer Raids and one of the
most famous trials in the history of the United States -
the Sacco and Vanzetti case. The Wall Street bombing was
one of the most serious early terrorism cases - and
tragically was not the last to involve the city of New
York.
Facts
about Wall Street bombing for kids
Facts
about
Wall Street bombing for
kids: The
Red Scare
For visitors interested in the history of
the First Red Scare refer to the following articles:
Wall Street bombing for kids - President Woodrow Wilson Video
The article on the Wall Street bombing provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Woodrow Wilson video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 28th American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1913 to March 4, 1921.
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The Wall Street bombing, a major
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Conspiracy Theories and the Wall Street bombing
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policies of President Woodrow Wilson
● Woodrow Wilson Presidency and
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