Mad Bomber - NYC 1940's and 1950's

[n2ize]

This is an interesting article about a disgruntled mad bomber that basically terrorized NYC during the 1940's and 50's. These days we tend to view terrorism as a new phenomenon but it isn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Metesky

[N2NH]

IIRC, people were still scared years after he was caught.

IIRC, there were a number of copycats right into the mid 1960s too. Any strange noise in a subway car would cause people to leave it at the next stop even when I was a kid.

[n2ize]

IIRC, people were still scared years after he was caught.

IIRC, there were a number of copycats right into the mid 1960s too. Any strange noise in a subway car would cause people to leave it at the next stop even when I was a kid.
I remember riding on a subway when I was a kid. As the train was pulling out of the station and just beginning to pick up speed the train bucked like a bronco (you know where you see a flash, hear a sharp bang from the undecarriage and the train lurches), Anyway the train lurched and I remember this woman across the train starts screaming "Oh my God ! What blew up !!".. This was in the early 60's so perhaps she was among those still spooked by George Metesky.

[kb2vxa]

Heh, reminds me of a friend back in my CB daze of tubulars that glowed, he dropped a stealth 9' wire from his back window and on those rare occasions he was on the air he went by the name of X The Unknown taken from an old sci-fi movie. Not satisfied with firecrackers we made IEDs from CO2 cartridges, M-80 powder and their fuses setting them off in harmless places. I dubbed him CO2 The Mad Bomber and our little group caught on quickly, from then on he was known as CO2. Oh, we used cigarettes as time fuses to start the short fuse, we were crazy but not stupid enough to catch a load of metal shrapnel. (;->)

[VE7DCW]

Heh, reminds me of a friend back in my CB daze of tubulars that glowed, he dropped a stealth 9' wire from his back window and on those rare occasions he was on the air he went by the name of X The Unknown taken from an old sci-fi movie. Not satisfied with firecrackers we made IEDs from CO2 cartridges, M-80 powder and their fuses setting them off in harmless places. I dubbed him CO2 The Mad Bomber and our little group caught on quickly, from then on he was known as CO2. Oh, we used cigarettes as time fuses to start the short fuse, we were crazy but not stupid enough to catch a load of metal shrapnel. (;->)

When I was a kid.... I ran around with a real bunch of neer 'do well neighbourhood kids who one of them had access to his dad's welding kit acetylene tank........ it's amazing how many quality explosive devices one can make with this welding gas and some bottles and a few other assorted household items ! :mrgreen:

[n2ize]

When I was a kid.... I ran around with a real bunch of neer 'do well neighbourhood kids who one of them had access to his dad's welding kit acetylene tank........ it's amazing how many quality explosive devices one can make with this welding gas and some bottles and a few other assorted household items ! :mrgreen:
When I was in my teen years I was very interested in Chemistry and I had a home laboratory with access to any lab apparatus and chemicals I wanted (as long as I could afford them...).. Needless to say I constructed some interesting fireworks in those days. As time went on and I entered college as a chemistry major I had to take a lot of math courses and found I was more interested in the math than the chemistry. So I switched majors.

[kb2vxa]

That reminds me of how my Gilbert chemistry set grew and evolved, electrochemical experiments an outgrowth (sort of like a mole or a wart) that evolved into my favorite... HIGH VOLTAGE. The kid across the street had similar interests and we became the Ronny and Kenny of our neighborhood. Like theirs, our neighbors didn't quite know what to make of us with loud explosions and clouds of smoke by day, flashing lights and electric arcs by night. Oh and BTW I had pickled bugs, frogs, turtles and more lined up on the shelf too so Frank brings back memories.

You may be right, I may be crazy, but I may just be the lunatic you're looking for.

Now believe me when I tell you that my song is really true
I want everyone to listen and believe
It's about some little people from a long time ago
And all the things the neighbors didn't know
Early in the morning Daddy Dinky went to work
Selling lamps & chairs to San Ber'dino squares
And I still remember Mama with her apron & her pad
Feeding all the boys at Ed's Cafe!

Whizzing & pasting & pooting through the day . . .
(Ronnie helping Kenny helping burn his poots away!)
And all the while on a shelf in the shed:
KENNY'S LITTLE CREATURES ON DISPLAY!

Ronnie saves his numies on a window in his room
(A marvel to be seen: dysentery green)
While Kenny & his buddies had a game out in the back:
LET'S MAKE THE WATER TURN BLACK

We see them after school in a world of their own
(To some it might seem creepy what they do . . . )
The neighbors on the right sat & watched them every night
(I bet you'd do the same if they was you)

Whizzing & pasting & pooting through the day . . .
(Ronnie helping Kenny helping burn his poots away!)
And all the while on a shelf in the shed:
KENNY'S LITTLE CREATURES ON DISPLAY!

Ronnie's in the Army now & Kenny's taking pills
Oh! How they yearn to see a bomber burn!
Color flashing, thunder crashing, dynamite machine!
(Wait till the fire turns green . . . wait till the fire turns green)
WAIT TILL THE FIRE TURNS GREEN!

This would be a little bit of vocal teen-age heaven, right here on Earth!

One last comment on something I doubt you understand, like poots are California farts, numies are California boogers. One thing we didn't do was fling boogers on the window but one day Keven having heard about lighting farts (the green fire reference) dropped his drawers, rolled on his back and let one rip. Too bad the one who told him forgot to mention leaving the underwear up as a flame shield. You guessed it, he started a bush fire and spun around like Curly making that same oww oww oww sound.

[N2NH]

This is an interesting article about a disgruntled mad bomber that basically terrorized NYC during the 1940's and 50's. These days we tend to view terrorism as a new phenomenon but it isn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Metesky

The Wall Street Bombing of 1920 was an act of terrorism.


The Wall Street bombing occurred at 12:01 pm on Thursday, September 16, 1920, in the Financial District (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_District_%28Manhattan%29) of New York City. The blast killed 38 and seriously injured 143.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_bombing#cite_note-gage-1):160-161 The bombing was never solved, although investigators and historians think it likely the Wall Street (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street) bombing was carried out by Galleanists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleanist) (Italian anarchists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist)), a group responsible for a series of bombings the previous year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919_United_States_anarchist_bombings). The attack was related to postwar social unrest, labor struggles and anti-capitalist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-capitalist) agitation in the United States.
The Wall Street bomb caused more fatalities than the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Times_bombing), and was the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil up to that point.

Wall St. Bombing. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_bombing)

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2007/september/wallstreet091707a.jpg

http://images.rarenewspapers.com/ebayimgs/7.5.2011/image043.jpg

[n2ize]

Also, in the late 1800's there was a fear of terrorism. It was believed that Spaniards might try to contaminate and poison the NYC reservior system. The article below speaks of efforts to guard the Ridgewood reservior which was in my childhood neighborhood of East New York Brooklyn. That reservior was in operation into the 1960's, lot of local kids used to swim there and people used to walk there. After being out of operation for many decades and the reservoir turning into a swamp the city is finally fixing up the area/ In any event here is a link to the article on "Spanish terrorism". Remember this was around the time of the Spanish-American war.

http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=QkVHLzE4OTgvMDUvMDUjQXIwMTYwMQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

[N2NH]

This one was a big one in the New York City area:


At 2:08 a.m. (6:08 GMT (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Mean_Time)), the first and largest of the explosions took place. Fragments from the explosion traveled long distances, some lodging in the Statue of Liberty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty) and some in the clock tower of The Jersey Journal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jersey_Journal) building in Journal Square (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_Square), over a mile away, stopping the clock at 2:12 a.m. The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale)[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion#cite_note-state.nj-3) and was felt as far away as Philadelphia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia). Windows broke as far as 25 miles (40 km) away, including thousands in lower Manhattan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan). Some window panes in Times Square (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Square) were completely shattered. The outer wall of Jersey City's City Hall was cracked and the Brooklyn Bridge was shaken. People as far away as Maryland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland) were awakened by what they thought was an earthquake.
Property damage from the attack was estimated at $20 million (US$ 427 million in 2012). The damage to the Statue of Liberty was estimated to be $100,000 (US$ 2,136,000 in 2012) and included the skirt and the torch.[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion#cite_note-mcall-4)
Immigrants being processed at Ellis Island (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island) had to be evacuated to lower Manhattan. Reports vary, but as many as seven people may have been killed...

The Black Tom Explosion, July 30, 1916. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion)

FROM Gothamist.

It rattled the Statue of Liberty so badly that the torch, which had been open to the public for thirty years, had to be closed (and, uh, still is). Immigrants waiting to be processed on Ellis Island were rushed to Manhattan. It is estimated that the Black Tom explosions would have measured a 5.5 on the Richter Scale (the WTC's north tower registered a 2.3 when it collapsed). Smaller explosions continued for hours injuring hundreds, though with only seven fatalities.

Gothamist on the Black Tom Explosion of 1916. (http://gothamist.com/2006/07/30/today_in_histor.php)

Some estimate the damage would translate into $4 billion today.


It caused $20 million worth of damage at the time—equivalent to $427 million today (one professor estimates (http://dennisleyden.blogspot.com/2010/02/1916-black-tom-explosion-911-of-its.html) that taking into account the size of the economy at the time, the damages were actually equivalent to over $4 billion today).

Sabotage, Terrorism or both? (http://spotlights.fold3.com/2012/08/10/the-black-tom-explosion/)

http://spotlights.fold3.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/black-tom_article.jpg

http://spotlights.fold3.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/black-tom_photo1.jpg