The Unsolved Bombing Of Wall Street In 1920
Library of CongressObservers stand close to the bomb site on Wall Street.
Almost 100 years ago, New York City fell victim to a deadly terrorist attack. A terrorist attack that, to this day, no one has claimed responsibility or been prosecuted for, making it one of the most interesting historical events in American history.
On Sept. 16, 1920, the Financial District was bustling with stockbrokers and bankers. At 23 Wall Street, known as “the Corner,” stood the J.P. Morgan building, the headquarters of J.P. Morgan and Co., a financial institution that had risen from the ashes of World War I as the greatest banking institution in the world.
As per usual at noon, the streets were full of financial investors and bank clerks pushing through the crowded streets on their way to and from lunches, meetings, and commutes.
Then, at 12:01, 100 pounds of dynamite exploded in front of the Corner.
Debris from the blast flew as high as the 34th floor of the J.P Morgan building, breaking windows and launching pedestrians into the air. A streetcar two blocks away was derailed by the shockwave. Those inside the NYSE felt it too, immediately halting trading.
Within minutes Wall Street looked like a war zone. Hundreds of pounds of metal fragments, which had been concealed inside the wagon that had hidden the bomb, filled the streets with shrapnel. Burned bodies littered the sidewalks and smoke filled the air.
Library of CongressCrowds gather to view the commotion.
Authorities initially believed that the Corner had been the target of the attack. After World War I there were many disgruntled critics who claimed that Morgan had profited off of the war.
However, most of the bomb’s victims were regular civilians who had been hanging around the streets at the time of the blast. The lofty Morgan executives had been in their high rise offices, far enough away from the blast to avoid injury.
Suspicion immediately fell on communist groups as the Red Scare was still going strong. However, police soon suspected the Galleanists, an Italian anti-government anarchist gang led by Luigi Galleani, a man with extensive explosives knowledge. Though Galleani had been deported the year before, authorities believed that there were many aspects of the bombing that matched Galleani’s M.O.
However, the Galleanists never took credit for the attack and the police never made an arrest. The FBI spent over three years trying to identify the owner of the wagon, find people on the streets who were deemed suspects, and locate members of the Galleanist family who could have been responsible, but to no avail.
Just one day after the explosion, Wall Street reopened in typical resilient New York fashion. Today, the damage from the explosion is still visible on the J.P. Morgan building.
