100th Anniversary of the Black Tom Explosion

[The Ibis]

I didn't see a thread discussing the 100th Anniversary of the Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916. Here is a snip from one newspaper article with a brief description

http://www.roanoke.com/opinion/columns_and_blogs/columns/john_long/long-terrorism-s-th-anniversary/article_4d01bca1-e61e-575c-ad64-41c592e55c63.html

 

Quote

Black Tom Island, named either for an early African-American resident or because the island’s profile vaguely resembled a black cat with an arched back, was a small mound of earth jutting out of New York Harbor, a stone’s throw from Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

 

By 1916, it had been connected to the Jersey City coast by a landfilled causeway, and was used as a pier by the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Most notably, munitions, dynamite and gun powder often passed through Black Tom Island on the way to the warzone in Europe. Though the U.S. was still officially neutral in the Great War, it was no great secret that we supplied the Allies, especially Great Britain, with materiel to carry on the fight.

 

On July 30, 1916 guards at the Black Tom pier discovered several fires burning near the barges and warehouses storing munitions. Some guards prudently hit the road, guessing what a fire there would mean, but others raised the alarm. Jersey City fire crews soon responded, but it was too late. A little after 2 a.m. slumbering residents of New York and New Jersey were jolted from sleep by a cataclysmic explosion.

 

It’s been estimated that it would have registered 5.5 on the Richter Scale had such a thing existed then. Windows were broken in Manhattan by the shock wave; the blast was heard in Philadelphia and Maryland.

 

Reports on the number of deaths seem to vary, but usually from five to 10 fatalities. Some $20 million in damage — nearly half a billion today — was reported. Six piers, 13 warehouses and numerous railcars were simply gone. Ellis Island was evacuated; the Statue of Liberty was riddled with shrapnel.

(In fact, have you ever seen early photos of tourists to Lady Liberty standing up at the torch? A hundred years ago you could climb a precarious ladder in her arm to enjoy the view from the torch. That practice was ended because of the Black Tom explosion).

 

From another article http://www.northjersey.com/news/the-terror-attack-on-n-j-that-america-forgot-1.1637267:

 

Quote

The public may have forgotten about Black Tom, but U.S. leaders did not. After World War I, the Lehigh Valley Railroad sued Germany for $20 million in damages. The company, represented by the U.S. government, finally won in international court in 1939 by proving the German government had planned the attack. Documents discovered by Millman also prove the plot benefited from financing help donated by members of the German-American community.

 

Germany didn’t agree to pay restitution until 1953. By that time the settlement amount had risen to $50 million with interest, or about $450 million in today’s dollars. The railroad received its final payment in 1979.

 

[ph0ebus]

I read recently that several buildings on Ellis Island sustained damage in the explosion, but not enough to prevent its use as a detention center for German Americans as the war wore on (circa 1917)...

 

Daniel