The American Bombing Nobody Solved | 1920 Wall Street Bombing

The Devastating 1920 Wall Street Bombing

• 💥 On September 16, 1920, a horse-drawn wagon exploded outside the New York Stock Exchange at noon, instantly killing 30 people and injuring 300, with 8 more dying later from their injuries.
• 💣 The bomb consisted of 100 pounds of dynamite combined with several hundred pounds of sash weights and metal slugs, designed to create maximum shrapnel damage upon detonation.
• 🏙️ The attack occurred during the lunch hour in the financial district's busiest corner, causing approximately $2 million in damage at the time, equivalent to about $32 million today.

Challenges in the Investigation

• ⚠️ Overnight, cleaning crews arrived and cleared the scene, inadvertently destroying potential evidence that could have aided the investigation.
• 🔍 The Bureau of Investigation (BOI), later the FBI, initially hesitated to label it a terrorist act due to the lack of a clear target or obvious motive, despite the location near the New York Stock Exchange and JP Morgan building.
• 🗓️ The New York Stock Exchange's board of directors decided to resume business the next day, just hours after the explosion, to mitigate panic.

Suspect: Edwin Fischer

• ✉️ Police suspected Edwin Fischer, a lawyer and former French High Commission employee, after he sent postcards warning friends to avoid Wall Street on September 15th, the day before the actual bombing.
• 🇨🇦 Fischer was in Canada at the time of the bombing, and when questioned, he claimed to have received the information psychically, indicating a history of making dire, unfulfilled predictions.
• 🧠 Ultimately, police found Fischer had no involvement and he was later admitted to Amityville asylum, suggesting mental illness rather than criminal intent.

Suspects: Anarchist Groups

• 📝 Four flyers were found in a Wall Street post office box before the explosion, printed in red ink, demanding "Free the political prisoners" and signed "American Anarchist Fighters," an unknown group.
• 🔗 Investigators noted similarities to the 1919 Galianist bombings, a group of Italian anarchists targeting government officials and judges, which used similar methods and threatening letters.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Mario Buddha, an Italian anarchist associated with the Galianists and experienced with dynamite and sash weights, became a prime suspect, but he used an alias and later returned to Italy, making the trail cold.

Unsolved Mystery and Lasting Impact

• 🚫 The investigation lasted over three years, but the case remains unsolved, with no one ever convicted and no group claiming responsibility.
• 🏛️ Physical damage from the explosion, such as chipped stone facades and divots, is still visible on some Wall Street buildings today, serving as a morbid reminder.
• 🇺🇸 The 1920 Wall Street Bombing stood as the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil for 75 years, until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.