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. Thirty people were killed in the blast, and more than 400 were injured.
Although the crime was never solved, it was believed to be the work of anarchists – angry internationalists who thought 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 brought Teddy Roosevelt to 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. The passengers were mostly members of a separatist Protestant congregation (Puritan Party Poopers) breaking away from the Church of England. They came from the English Midlands, first moving to a village near Amsterdam, where they lived in Holland for ten years (generally bringing everybody down), before deciding to start their own society from scratch. They had two boats for the trip across the Atlantic: the Speedwell and the Mayflower. The Speedwell leaked, and much time was wasted trying to repair it.
So when they finally set sail on September 16 (September 6th on the Old Calendar), they were way behind schedule. The journey took 66 days. It was rainy, cold, and the ocean was rough (they loved it). The ship was 90 feet long and carried 102 passengers. There were no separate cabins; everyone had to live in the cargo hold. Fortunately, the Mayflower had previously been used to transport wine, so the hold smelled wonderful (they hated it).
The Mayflower (without the Speedwell) carried its cargo of Puritan Party Poopers (Pilgrims) to Massachusetts, where they became the first tourists in history to visit Plymouth Rock.
And so it goes
The Haus of Dcaligari 