September 16, 1920 –
A horse-drawn carriage loaded with dynamite exploded in front of the J.P. Morgan and Company headquarters at 23 Wall Street in New York’s financial district, on this date. 30 people were killed in the blast. More than 400 were injured.
Although the crime was never solved, it was believed to have been the work of the Anarchists, angry internationalists who believed the only good institutions were smoldering ruins. Anarchist Leon Czolgosz had assassinated President McKinley two decades earlier, on September 6, 1901, in Buffalo – an assassination that caused Teddy Roosevelt and the bully pulpit.
(Despite similarities in spelling, Anarchists should not be confused with Antichrists, Arachnids or Pimentos.)
It was perhaps no accident that the Morgan bombing took place on the 300th anniversary of the Mayflower’s departure from England. Passengers were mostly members of a separatist Protestant congregation (Puritan Party Poopers) separating from the Church of England. They were from the English Midlands. They had gone at first to a village near Amsterdam, lived in Holland for ten years (generally bringing everybody down) and then decided to start their own society from scratch. They had two boats for the trip across the Atlantic: the Speedwell and the Mayflower. The Speedwell was leaky, and they spent time trying to repair it.
So when they finally set sail on September 16 (September 6th on the OC), they were way behind schedule. The journey took 66 days. It was rainy, it was cold, and the ocean was rough (They loved it). The boat was 90 feet long and carried 102 passengers. There were no separate cabins. They all had to live in the cargo area. But the Mayflower had previously been used to transport wine, and so the hold smelled wonderful (They hated it).
The Mayflower (and the Speedwell) carried its cargo of Puritan Party Poopers (Pilgrims) to Massachusetts, where they became the first tourists in history to visit Plymouth Rock.
Anarchists hate tourists.
And so it goes
The Haus of Dcaligari 