Genevieve Carlton earned a Ph.D in history from Northwestern University with a focus on early modern Europe and the history of science and medicine before becoming a history professor at the University of Louisville. The several federal bureaus should be welded into one and that one should be eternally and comprehensively vigilant. "The new German government felt like if they were to admit to and pay damages for the destruction at Black Tom, it was tantamount to saying that they drew the U.S. into war from this," Millman said. After midnight on July 30, 1916, a series of small fires were discovered. A circle of U.S. flags complements the plaque, which stands east of the visitors' center. Nearly everyone in Manhattan and Jersey City was jolted awake, and many were thrown from their beds. Police arrested three railroad-company officials on charges of manslaughter, on the assumption that the fires began in two freight cars. According to North Jersey, after placing bombs along the island, one of the saboteurs fled to his aunt's nearby home, shouting, "Oh, my God, what did I do?". Nearby Bedloe's Island saw some of the worst damage, with plaster torn from the walls and windows shattered. But there was a blockade of Germany in place by the Royal Navy, so America was only supplying munitions to the Allies. Forgotten history, bizarre tales & facts that seem too strange to be true! [52], A stained-glass window at Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic church memorialized the victims of the attack.[53]. But the legacy of this explosion is deeper than just relegating tourists to Lady Libertys crown. [4] Being largely built up from city refuse, it developed a reputation as an unseemly environmental hazard. Black Tom explosion. By the early 1900s, it became known as Black Tom Island. JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) Two German spies crossed New York Harbor at midnight, making the journey in a rowboat loaded with dynamite. They approached the island and easily snuck past the eight guards on duty, placing explosives and setting small fires all over before hastily leaving. JULY 30, 2016, marked the 100th anniversary of the Black Tom explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey. In addition to scholarly publications with top presses, she has written for Atlas Obscura and Ranker. Black Tom: A Novel of Sabotage in New York Harbor For instance, Germany had sponsored a program the previous year to sabotage the American Cattle Industry. He returned to the United States with anthrax and glanders with the intention of infecting and killing livestock. The explosion on Black Tom Island, a 25-acre promontory jutting from Jersey City that was built from New Yorkers' garbage, registered an estimated 5.5 on the Richter scale 30 times more . [8] Between 1905 and 1916, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which owned the island and causeway, expanded the island with land fill, and the entire area was annexed by Jersey City. Firefighters battled the flames well into the next day after the massive explosion. That night, guards spotted small fires on the pier and . They had been the victim of whats thought to be one of the first foreign terrorist attacks in the United States. [36][37] Irish socialist and labour union leader James Larkin asserted that he had not participated in sabotage, but admitted to having encouraged work stoppages and strike actions in munitions factories, in an affidavit to McCloy in 1934. And not so much as a fence guarded the two million pounds of munitions. The Statue of Liberty was permanently damaged -- afterward, visitors were forbidden from climbing into the Torch. 1, The Bizarre Legend Of Belsnickel, The Centuries-Old Christmas Figure From German Folklore, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The sheer magnitude of the explosions at Black Tom is difficult to fathom. Germany, under the rule of Hitler, failed to pay up and the settlement was renegotiated in the early 1950s. Black Tom Explosion - German intelligence and sabotage operations - FAQs The explosion on Black Tom Island, in New York Harbor at Jersey City, jolted millions from their beds and broke windows all over the region about a million dollars worth of shattered glass.. From the Inside: The Black Tom Island Explosion during World War I Survivors quickly evacuated the area around Black Tom Island after the 2:08 a.m. explosion. In this episode, we talk about German Saboteurs and then chat with Author of "Branding Democrats," Ken Weber. [43] The final payment was made in 1979. Shrapnel from the explosion even hit the Statue of Liberty. Black Tom explosion - Wikipedia Oriented with north toward the upper right. The blasts lit the night sky and shook the earth with the force of a Richter scale 5.5 earthquake. Here's why you can't visit the Statue of Liberty's torch Jackson noted that given the massive destructive power of the explosion, it is fortunate that more people were not killed. Rocketing munition shells spread the damage well beyond Black Tom Island. Immigrants on nearby Ellis Island had to be evacuated. Fires burned on Black Tom Island into the morning after German saboteurs attacked the munitions depot. Decades would pass, however, before Germany settled it. Barges sank, collapsed warehouses buried freight cars, and eventually the entire pier went under. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. (REBROADCAST of Episode 17) - The Internet Says it's True. As Chad Millman points out in his book, The Detonators, there was a certain naivete at the timePresident Woodrow Wilson could not bring himself to believe that Germans might be responsible for such destruction. Theme by ILoveWP.com. While that incident caused anger, it did not galvanize the American public to action. The noise of the explosion was heard as far away as Maryland and Connecticut. Nearby Ellis island was evacuated. In fact, it was almost too easy for the spies to infiltrate Black Tom Island. The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, killed four people and destroyed some $20,000,000 ($500 million in 2023 dollars) worth of military goods. Without a formal intelligence service on the national level, the United States only had rudimentary communications security and no federal laws forbidding espionage or sabotage except during wartime,[3] making the connections to the saboteurs and accomplices almost impossible to track. Its been awhile since weve talked about the Mandela Effect the idea that somehow a large group of people misremember something collectively. Sign up to access all of it today! This was one of the major reasons that Germany was sending saboteurs to disrupt the supply chain from America. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Investigations immediately claims the explosion at Black Tom is, "an accident." President Wilson, vacationing in Chesapeake Bay, calls the devastation at Black . Map of Black Tom Island, Jersey City, New Jersey : showing area damaged Throughout the city, office buildings were missing windows. [16] The outer wall of Jersey City's City Hall was cracked and the Brooklyn Bridge was shaken. And now you can tell them why. [35], Additional investigations by the Directorate of Naval Intelligence also found links to some members of the Irish republican Clan na Gael organization and far-left organizations. At the Statue of Liberty, a passing of the torch The event that sparked the ban occurred 102 years ago Monday, on July 30, 1916. But the stock of US supplies and financial support were offered to the Allies, and Great Britain welcomed the help. [45][46] Access was not opened even after the 19841986 restoration which included repairs to the arm and installation of a new gold-plated copper torch. [5] On January 26, 1875, an accidental explosion killed four. Every episode ends by playing a gameshow-style quiz game with a celebrity guest. Despite the enormity of the explosions, only four persons were reported killed. [citation needed], It is likely[according to whom?] The blast was the equivalent of a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. Nearer to Black Tom Island, blackened, twisted metal and debris covered an area several city blocks wide. Already packed barges sat tied to piers, ready to cross the Atlantic. He was responsible for setting the fires that led to the explosions. The Infamous Black Tom Explosion | VisitNJ.org 1.7K views 2 years ago #JerseyCity #HistorysHeadlines It is the early morning hours of July 30, 1916, minutes before the Black Tom Island munitions dump explosion in Jersey City, N.J. will. Many guards fled, fearing an explosion. Windows were broken as far as 25 miles (40km) away, including thousands in Lower Manhattan. The violent blast, one of the largest explosions on U.S. soil, occurred on Black Tom Island, a peninsula jutting out into Upper New York Bay situated across from the Statue of Liberty. In one terrifying, ear-splitting moment, the Great War then raging overseas had come to America. Special Shoutouts Long: Terrorism's 100th anniversary - Roanoke Times ON THE MAP; Explosion by the Hudson, Foreign Espionage, Local Fear A third spy simply walked into the munitions depot, his pockets filled with cigar-shaped bombs. But the explosion caused major economic harm. With generous cash bribes, Von Rintelen had little problem gaining access to pierswhich is how Michael Kristoff, a Slovak immigrant living in Bayonne, New Jersey, is believed to have gotten to the Black Tom munitions depot in July of 1916. Witzke was arrested in January 1918 by the U.S. Army after decrypted German cables alerted authorities to his movements; he was later found guilty of espionage. However, that decision came in 1939 the year Hitler invaded Poland and set off World War II. On the island, the explosion destroyed more than one hundred railroad cars, thirteen warehouses, and left a 375-by-175-foot (110 by 50m) crater at the source of the explosion. Melted bottle from the Black Tom explosion, Black Tom pier shortly after the explosion, largest artificial non-nuclear explosions, List of German sponsored acts of terrorism during WWI, Largest artificial non-nuclear explosions, List of accidents and incidents involving transport or storage of ammunition, "Long: Terrorism's 100th anniversary | Commentary | roanoke.com", "The Kaiser Sows Destruction: Protecting the Homeland the First Time Around", "Providing Better Terminal Facilities for New York", "Where Street Refuse Goes; The Island of "Black Tom" in New-York Bay How the Offal of the City Adds to the Territory of New-Jersey", "A Terrible Explosion. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. cites the Black Tom explosion as the reason the torch is closed off, $50 million in damages were awarded to plaintiffs. At 2:08 am, five million people were awakened by an explosion that was heard as far away as Maryland. Explosion at Black Tom: A forgotten history of sabotage during WWI Windows were broken as far as 25 miles (40 km) away, including thousands in Lower Manhattan. and our Well, as reported in many of the newspapers in the aftermath, they thought it was negligence. On July 30, 1916, at just after 2 in the morning, a massive explosion ripped apart the island of Black Tom on the shoreline near Jersey City, sending a shockwave through the region and thousands of pounds of wartime shrapnel into the neighboring Ellis Island and Bedloe's Island (home to the Statue of Liberty). The United States remained officially neutral, but the U.S. also sold millions of dollars in weapons to Britain and France. Five deaths were officially recorded in the attack, including a ten-week-old baby thrown from its crib, but the true death toll was likely much higher, as many of the destroyed barges were commonly used as shelters by vagrants and immigrants. Officially, around four people died due to the explosion. Undetected, the saboteurs lit multiple fires on the island. It wasnt until 1953 when the Federal Republic of Germany agreed to settle the matter and paid the United States $95 million dollars in damages. An Attack That Turned Out to Be German Terrorism Has a Modest Legacy The island was temporarily closed. As the powder settled, it would have reached explosive concentrations, triggering the second explosion. The Black Tom explosion was the peak act of German sabotage on American soil during the First World War. Around 2:08 a.m. the munitions started to explode. Statue of Liberty Damaged by Giant Ammunition Explosions Washington Post, July 31, 1916. Black Tom Explosion | Encyclopedia.com Shrapnel pierced the Statue of Liberty (the arm of the Statue was closed to visitors after this). On the 30th July 1916, an explosion took place in New York that was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Philadelphia. Total damage was calculated at $45 million ($1.127 trillion in 2021), with damage to Lady Liberty costing $100,000 ($2.5 million in 2021) alone. And they couldnt imagine that Germans would have done this. After escaping from internment, Witzke traveled to San Francisco, where he met with the German Consul General there and was paired to work with Jahnke. It's as if they didn't know the event existed either. On July 30, 1916, a massive explosion shakes the harbor, a blast so tremendous it's felt in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Following the explosion, the Jersey Journal warned of as many as 50 deaths.