Wall Street Bombing

http://www.american-historama.org/1913-1928-ww1-prohibition-era/wall-street-bombing.htm

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.

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.

The bombing caused more than $2 million in damage. Scars from the explosion are still visible on the facade of 23 Wall Street today.

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.

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.

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.

The driver of the cart was presumed killed in the explosion and all that remained of the horse were its jawbone and its hooves.