As the Trinity Church bells chimed noon on September 16, 1920, a horse-drawn buggy parked at the corner of Wall and Broad Street exploded. Thirty-eight people died and 400 sustained injuries from the blast, the resulting fire or from the cart’s contents – 500 pounds of cast-iron shrapnel. Across the street at the banking firm of J.P. Morgan and Company, J.P.’s son, Junius, lay among the injured.
Automobiles flew through air like children’s toys; windows shattered in a one-half mile radius. All that remained of the deadly wagon were a horse’s jawbone and two charred hooves.
Although never charged, the top suspects were Italian anarchists protesting the indictment of two prominent colleagues. The case remains unsolved in the FBI’s files.
For more stories of New York from 1654 through 2004, read It Happened in New York City: Remarkable Events That Shaped History (It Happened In Series)
Ordinary People - Extraordinary Times 