With Occupy Wall Street gaining headway and the country seeing greater inequality than ever, anarchists and socialists protested in the streets of Lower Manhattan’s “Corner” in a rage at the banking systems. Before the turn of the century, the feelings projected toward the financial barons of New York were all but tranquil. Because the majority of the wealth among a few happened at the expense of laborers and echoed with Americans, its result lead to terrorism (King 2011).
On September 16, 1920, an explosion tore through the streets of Lower Manhattan’s “Corner”. The Wall Street Bombing of 1920 was the deadliest terror attack on American soil until the Oklahoma bombing 75 years later. The blast killed 38 people and injured hundreds of others (Andrews, 2015). Although the case remains unsolved to this day, there were many suspects. Investigators believe their strongest lead was the Italian anarchists of the time.
On Thursday September 16, 1920, an unknown driver pulled a horse drawn wagon filled with one hundred pounds of dynamite and sash weights up to the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan, an area often called “The Corner”. “The Corner” was described by author John Brooks as “the precise center, geographical as well as metaphorical, of financial America and even of the financial world.” The building on “The Corner”, housed the most powerful financial institution in the world, J.P. Morgan Co., as well as professionals like J.P. Morgan Jr. and Thomas Lamont (Gross, 2001). To the north of “The Corner” was the U.S. Assay office, where the purity of precious metals like gold and silver, was tested by the tons. Around the corner stood the NYSE building. The U.S. Capitol Building, which housed The US Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank, was also nearby. Stockbrokers, bank clerks, and many others congested the streets of “The Corner” like any other