Nearly three years after this storm, the state is still rebuilding. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. On the evening of July 29, 1916, the three saboteurs easily infiltrated the lightly-guarded depot, with one entering on foot as the other two approached by rowboat. It tossed Jersey City residents from their beds. Even the other agents from the German military didnt know about his secret orders. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Most people had never heard of that island, they don't even know where it is.". Investigators later learned from Kristoffs landlord that he kept odd hours and sometimes came home at night with filthy hands and clothing, smelling of fuel. The Black Tom explosion (1916) The best-known of the German attacks occurred at Black Tom Island (actually a pier) in what is now Liberty State Park in Jersey City, early on the morning of July 30 . [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. That money continued to be paid until 1979, 63 years after the attack. Divers recovered shells lost in the harbor after the explosion. Per the Council on Foreign Relations, he called the Black Tom explosion "a regrettable incident at a private railroad terminal.". The Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916, in Jersey City, New Jersey, was an act of sabotage on American ammunition supplies by German agents to prevent the materiel from being used by the Allies in World War I. Jahnke was never apprehended, and he returned to Germany in 1921. The Black Tom explosion worked to shift American sentiment against Germany fully. The blast was the equivalent of a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. [10] All were waiting to be shipped to Russia. The U.S. government had a plan for Mare Island and intended to convert it into one of first major Pacific shipyards for the American Navy. And during the great war, there were at least 10 instances of attempted terrorist attacks in America by Germany. Ever wonder why visitors aren't allowed inside the Statue of Libertys torch? Nearby Ellis Island had to be evacuated after the explosion, which also damaged the Statue of Liberty. An explosion on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor in the middle of the night could be heard from miles away,. If you visit whats left of Black Tom Island today, theres a historical marker that tells this story. [26] Von Rintelen used these resources to make generous cash bribes, one of which was notably given to Michael Kristoff in exchange for access to the pier. PDF Season 6, Episode 7: Black Tom Shell - PBS (We recount the entire story in our podcast from 2016 about the Black Tom Explosion.) Black Tom Explosion: The Bombing That Rocked New York In 1916 History's Headlines: Sabotage 1916! - WFMZ.com The island was artificial, created by land fill around a rock of the same name, which had been a local hazard to navigation. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The force of the Black Tom explosion was equivalent to a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. Was it an accident or planned? Yes, the Bureau and other agencies doggedly pursued the case after the war until the saboteurs were identified and, ultimately, reparations were paid for German attacks against our neutral country. Drifting in and out of prison for various crimes, he died of tuberculosis in 1928. Scan this QR code to download the app now. The Unlikely Spy Alliance Behind the 1916 Black Tom Explosion The Second Explosion - The Lusitania Resource Throughout the city, office buildings were missing windows. His book Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. The first blast started inside Johnson 17, a barge tied to the pier that contained 100,000 pounds of TNT and 25,000. There still is a cloak of secrecy about what happened on July 30, 1916. First, a lack of documentation made it incredibly difficult to prove Germany was guilty of the crime. But it took years for investigators to piece together the evidence against the Germans in the bombing. A giant crater extended below sea level near the pier and filled with debris and water. 26 - Apr. Three men and a baby were killed by the explosive energy that erupted from this act of sabotage. The Black Tom explosion did massive damage to the pier. Just after 2:00 a.m., an explosion lit the skiesthe equivalent of an earthquake measuring up to 5.5 on the Richter scale, according to a recent study. So the men that were initially arrested were freed. The sinking of the Lusitania occurred over a year earlier. The blast shattered windows across the harbor in Manhattan and Brooklyn. This was the Black Tom explosion. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. [1][2] This incident, which happened prior to U.S. entry into World War I, also damaged the Statue of Liberty. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-says-it-s-true/id1530853589, The Worst Way to Die: The Erfurt Latrine Disaster, BalloonFest 86 The Cleveland Balloon Disaster, Origin of the Blaster: Han Solos Weapon in Star Wars Rewind, The Invention of WiFi and Hedy Lamarr Rewind, James H. Snook: Known for More Than a Hook, New Years Eve: The TRUE History of the NYE Ball Drop (REBROADCAST of Episode 18) - The Internet Says it's True, New Years Eve: The TRUE History of the NYE Ball Drop, The German Christmas Pickle: Tradition or Marketing? The incident also influenced public safety legislation. Statue of Liberty Damaged by Giant Ammunition Explosions Washington Post, July 31, 1916. [29], Soon after the explosion, suspicion fell upon Michael Kristoff,[30] a Slovak immigrant. And now you can tell them why. This Black Tom Explosion commemorative plaque in Liberty State Park is the only reminder of the incident. The last payment was made to Black Tom claimants in 1979. Planning for the sabotage of Black Tom began more than a year before the explosion, when German spymaster Franz von Rintelen started surveilling and mapping out storage sheds on the Black Tom piers. They knew a fire had started the chain of events. German sabotage actually damaged the Statue of Liberty during WWI However, the damage was estimated at more than $20 million, (nearly half a billion dollars today), and investigations eventually determined that the Black Tom explosions resulted from an enemy attackwhat some historians regard as the first major terrorist attack on the United States by a foreign power. Gilbert King is a contributing writer in history for Smithsonian.com. Already packed barges sat tied to piers, ready to cross the Atlantic. The Bureaus Role During Early World War I Years, FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Department of Justice. None of the baggage handlers who were above the magazine survived the sinking. Your email address will not be published. Doctors and nurses arrived on the scene and tended to dozens of injured. 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. The Explosion at Black Tom Island - The Internet Says it's True In the 1950s, Germany finally agreed to pay the $50 million. But in the aftermath of the catastrophic explosions on Black Tom Island, the agencies investigating sort of preemptively decided it wasnt the work of foreign saboteurs. The Black Tom Explosion: Proof of the Mandela Effect? HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The German Christmas Pickle: Tradition or Marketing? [citation needed], This attack was one of many during the German sabotage campaign against the neutral United States, and it is notable for its contribution to the shift of public opinion against Germany, which eventually resulted in American support to enter World War I. With debris raining down, authorities were forced to evacuate hundreds of terrified immigrants having just escaped from war-torn Europe from Ellis Island to the mainland. Copyright 2023 The Internet Says it's True. Black Tom explosion (30 July 1916), Jersey City, New Jersey; act of World War I sabotage on American ammunition supplies by German agents to prevent shipments to the Allies. INTEL - Black Tom Island Explodes and our Even the heaviest plate-glass windows in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn shattered, and falling shards of glass preceded a mist of ash from the fire that followed the explosion. A torpedo hitting the magazine could have kicked the stored aluminum powder into the air. For more information, please see our Cookie Settings, http://www.faqs.org/espionage/Bl-Ch/Black-Tom-Explosion.html, https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no1/article02.html, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamondand Why the British Won't Give It Back. When Germany attacked New Jersey | Black Tom explosion A third spy simply walked into the munitions depot, his pockets filled with cigar-shaped bombs. [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. America was full of hard-working Germans looking for the American dream and with all of the safety issues on Black Tom Island, its like they werent even looking for a saboteur.But the truth was much darker. Well, as reported in many of the newspapers in the aftermath, they thought it was negligence. At the time, it was both the largest explosion in modern history and the first foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The Lehigh Valley pier was at the center of the explosion. But writing off the explosion as an accident also downplayed its role in American history, and few remember the explosive event today. The final payment was made in 1979, 63 years after the Black Tom explosion. The Statue of Liberty was permanently damaged -- afterward, visitors were forbidden from climbing into the Torch. ; a Powder Factory Completely Destroyed Four Men Instantly killed", "The Point of Rocks Line: More about the Little Railroad", "An Attack That Turned Out to Be German Terrorism Has a Modest Legacy 100 Years Later", "Looking Back Black Tom railroad yard NFPA Journal", "On the Map; Explosion by the Hudson, Foreign Espionage, Local Fear: 1916", "Rogue River courier. Peter Raceta, the captain of a flatbottom barge in the harbor, was in the cabin watching the fire on Black Tom with two other men. After midnight small fires started on some of the piers and then began to grow. [14], Fragments from the explosion traveled long distances: some lodged in the Statue of Liberty, and other fragments lodged in the clock tower of The Jersey Journal building in Journal Square more than 1 mile (1.6km) away, stopping the clock at 2:12am. That made munitions depots like Black Tom Island a major target for German saboteurs. German Master Spy Franz Von Rintelen and his "pencil bomb" were responsible for acts of sabotage in the United States during World War I. Giveaways and swag The island was the location of 2 million pounds of small arms and artillery ammunition. Stories From Main Street: Inside The Black Tom Terror Attack, 100 Years For the U.S., responding was difficult. At 2:08 am, the first and largest of the explosions took place. The Bureau of Investigationthe FBIs predecessorlikewise did what it could, but it was held back by its small size (260 employees in a handful of offices) and lack of jurisdiction. In some ways, it's shocking that the explosion didn't cause more damage. One contemporary newspaper report estimated up to seven deaths in the attack. Shortly after 2:00 am, an earsplitting explosion rattled the Brooklyn Bridge, swayed skyscrapers, and shattered glass windows throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. "I think partly because of the isolation of the explosion. For an event as big as the Black Tom Explosion, why did this well known Youtube channel with over a million subscribers completely ignore the event? Anton Dilger was an American who sympathized with Germany after studying there. And the Bureau exercised primary jurisdiction over all of these laws as it pursued a wide variety of national security investigations. Others attempted to fight the fires and eventually called the Jersey City Fire Department. Saboteurs got credit for fires and bombs at other American factories, and one estimate claimed that about 43 factories were damaged or destroyed and about 48 ships suffered from the German bombs. 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. It is said that three men were seen making their way along the Jersey City's Black Tom docks at midnight. ", "Men of Secrets: Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill", "Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), https://www.history.com/news/the-black-tom-explosion, In 1916, German Terrorists Launched an Attack on American Soil. In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, two watchmen who had lit smudge pots to keep away mosquitoes were questioned by police but the police soon determined that the smudge pots had not caused the fire and that the blast had likely been an accident. At one point, a huge cavern was hewed out of the earth by the explosions of some 87 dynamite-laden railroad cars. There were four confirmed fatalities in the explosion:[20][1] the barge captain,[21] Jersey City Police Department officer James F. Doherty,[22][21] Lehigh Valley Railroad chief of police Joseph Leyden,[23][24] and ten-week-old infant Arthur Tosson. Summary and Definition: The Black Tom Explosion was an act of German sabotage in New York Harbor during World War One. Flying bullets and shrapnel rendered firefighters powerless. At eight minutes past two o'clock on the morning of Sunday, July 30, 1916, a thundering explosion at the Black Tom munitions depot sent sleeping residents of New York City and surrounding areas tumbling from their beds. Shrapnel pierced the Statue of Liberty (the arm of the Statue was closed to visitors after this). The Mixed Claims Commission, set up after World War I to handle damage claims by companies and governments affected by German sabotage, awarded $50 million to plaintiffs in the Black Tom. Long: Terrorism's 100th anniversary. German intrigues on American soil essentially evaporated. The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, "killed four people and destroyed some $20,000,000 ($500 million in 2022 dollars) worth of military goods." It would take years for a persistent team of American lawyers to find sufficient evidence that showed that in fact the disaster had been plotted by the Germans. [26] Suspicion at the time fell solely upon suspected German intelligence operatives Kurt Jahnke and Lothar Witzke, who are still judged as legally responsible. Privacy Statement [26] President Wilson remarked of the incident that it was "a regrettable incident at a private railroad terminal",[27][28] and Edgar E. Clark of the Interstate Commerce Commission was dispatched to investigate. Damaged canal boats in the wreckage after the explosion. Railroad officials, warehouse owners and barge operators were immediately arrested. Von Rintelen and his ring of helpers was fairly successful in their efforts. How Eyewitnesses Survived Explosion New York Times, July 31, 1916. When the explosions, fire and smoke cleared on Monday afternoon, the pier, warehouses, rail cars, locomotives, barges and even Black Tom Island had been obliterated. A 10-week old baby lost its life as well, being thrown from his crib in Jersey City. Two million tons of war materials packed. The act of sabotage was the largest enemy attack on continental American soil prior to 9/11. And after the explosion, multiple smaller blasts continued to rip through the air, the shrapnel and flying bullets making it nearly impossible for firefighters to control the blazing inferno. In 1916, German Terrorists Launched an Attack on American Soil Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Black Tom Explosion | Encyclopedia.com An explosion on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor in the middle of the night could be heard from miles away, shattering glass windows in Manhattan and killing seven people. Some guards fled, fearing an explosion. 19? Scientists would later assess the magnitude of the blast at 5.5 on todays Richter scale. The United States remained officially neutral, but the U.S. also sold millions of dollars in weapons to Britain and France. Firemen Work in Rain of Bullets New York Times, July 31, 1916. In June 1916, Witzke and Jahnke left San Francisco for New York City, where they connected with Kristoff. Explosion. The Black Tom Explosion Forgotten History r/MandelaEffect on Reddit: Black Tom Explosion? [14] The explosion created a detonation wave that traveled at 24,000 feet per second (7,300m/s) with enough force to lift firefighters out of their boots and into the air. Sabotage at Black Tom: Imperial Germany's Secret War in America, 1914-1917 the New York City region in the early hours of the morning of July 30, 1916. Von Rintelen is believed to have attacked 36 ships, destroying millions of dollars worth of cargo. But the stock of US supplies and financial support were offered to the Allies, and Great Britain welcomed the help. A game of tag; see British Bulldog (game) Black Tom. He arrived in 1914 with a staff not of diplomats, but of intelligence operatives, and with millions of dollars earmarked to aid German war efforts by any means necessary. Jahnke and Witzke fled to Mexico shortly before the United States entered the war and were among the German agents who stirred anti-American sentiment and organized sabotage operations from across the border. Then guards at the pier were taken in for questioning; on the night of the explosions, they had lit smudge pots to keep mosquitoes away, and their carelessness with the pots was believed to have started the fires. [11], The Lehigh Valley Railroad, advised by John J. McCloy, sought damages against Germany under the Treaty of Berlin from the German-American Mixed Claims Commission. 17, which contained 50 tons of TNT and 417 cases of detonating fuses. A total of 7 people were killed as a result of the series of explosions.And what did the public think caused the explosions? Part of the WCBE Podcast Experience. 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. Required fields are marked *. Some window panes in Times Square were shattered. [12], After midnight, a series of small fires were discovered on the pier. The terror attack on New Jersey that America forgot | AP News The term "Black Tom" originally referred to an island in New York Harbor next to Liberty Island. He returned to the United States with anthrax and glanders with the intention of infecting and killing livestock. Oriented with north toward the upper right. And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: By 1916, World War I had already been raging for two years. Millions of Persons Heard and Felt Shock New York Times, July 31, 1916. It had 417 cases of detonating fuses. Learn about the exhibit that inspired this site, If you would like to not see this alert again, please click the "Do not show me this again" check box below, The Statue of Liberty; Recovering debris at Black Tom; Damaged Black Tom Island pier, German saboteur Kurt Jahnke; German saboteur Lothar Witzke; Wanted poster for German saboteur Michael Kristoff, Storefront damage from the Black Tom Island blast; Black Tom Island explosion headline in, Diving for debris at Black Tom Island; Sorting recovered artillery shells; John J. McCloy of the Mixed Claims Commission, Benjamin Church: Surgeon, Son of Liberty, Spy, Thomas Hickey and the Plot Against George Washington, Edward Bancroft: A Man of Competing Loyalties, Benedict Arnold: A Name Synonymous with Treason, John Andr: Officer, Gentlemanand Spymaster, The Birth of American Counterintelligence, Union Espionage: From Patronage to Professionalism, Allan Pinkerton: Skilled Detective, Dubious Spymaster, Bureau of Military Information: The Trailblazers, Confederate Espionage: Spies, Scouts, & Sympathizers, Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow: A Spy Who Spared a General. Immigrants on nearby Ellis Island had to be evacuated. The Black Tom explosion was the peak act of German sabotage on American soil during the First World War. [Week of July 28th, 1916] (https://youtu.be/lu9VPY2DHPk). No guards stopped him, and no one noticed his pockets, which bulged with bombs shaped like cigars. ", Sabotage at Black Tom - Imperial Germany's Secret War in America, 1914-1917, "Explosion at Liberty! The damage from the Black Tom explosion stretched across the railroad yard and pier.
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