By Roger W. Burdette, special to CoinWeek …..
On September 16, 1920, at midday, a bomb exploded in front of the United States Assay Office in New York, instantly killing more than 30 people, mostly employees of businesses in lower Manhattan. Over 100 others were wounded, and several later died. The explosion destroyed a significant amount of property and created a local panic. All available evidence shows the act was deliberate and carefully planned.
The attack occurred just a few days before the new NYAO building at 30–32 Wall Street was scheduled to be fully occupied. There was no warning, and no record of threats against the Assay Office or other nearby Wall Street merchants. Newspaper reports focused on linking the explosion to J.P. Morgan & Co., the bank located next to the Assay Office. A report from U.S. Mint Superintendent Verne M. Bovey, however, places the focus more closely on the Assay Office, suggesting it was the intended target.
The first U.S. Assay Office opened on October 10, 1854, at 30–32 Wall Street in a building erected in 1823 for the Second Bank of the United States. This facility, along with a new building at 23 Pine Street and space in the adjacent Customs House, served as the New York Assay Office until January 1912, when the structures were razed to clear the site for a new building. At the time of the demolition, the old building’s facade was carefully removed and is now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art as an excellent example of colonial architecture.
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM
1920 SEP 16, PM 5:54
HON. RAYMOND T. BAKER, DIRECTOR MINT
TREASURY DEPT., WASHINGTON DC
JUST RECEIVED BRIEF REPORT ON NEW YORK EXPLOSION FROM [ACTING SUPERINTENDENT] WILSON. AM AWAITING FURTHER WORD FROM HIM HERE. HAVE YOU ANY SUGGESTIONS? PLANNING TO RETURN NEW YORK NEXT WEEK UNLESS THIS MAKES EARLIER RETURN ADVISABLE.
V. M. BOVEY, SUPERINTENDENT
NY ASSAY OFFICE
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Acting Superintendent A. B. Wilson, who had just left for lunch, telephoned Director Baker, who happened to be in Philadelphia on September 16. Baker immediately traveled to New York and took charge of the Assay Office situation. Employees, using their wartime training, armed themselves with weapons available in each department and guarded all entrances. Wilson organized crews to move all exposed valuables into vaults in case the bombing was an attempt to rob the building.
The casualty count was over 140, including at least 30 dead, but property damage was relatively modest. The wagon carrying the bomb was destroyed and the horse killed. One car was destroyed, and several others were damaged. Nearby buildings were pockmarked by shrapnel, and hundreds of windows were blown out. Overall, the bomb appears to have been intended to cause maximum human casualties rather than to destroy buildings or infrastructure.
While newspapers speculated about the bomber’s target and published emotional, sometimes fanciful, accounts of injuries and death, the Assay Office Superintendent collected information for his own report. Prepared less than two weeks after the explosion, his report reveals he believed the attack was aimed at the Assay Office, and possibly the Pine Street annex.
Superintendent Verne M. Bovey’s report is quoted below with minor editorial clarifications.
Dear Mr. Baker:
Your fortunate presence at the United States Assay Office, New York, N.Y., shortly after the explosion on September 16th makes you personally familiar with the details of this event. However, for the purpose of having an official record, I submit my report of the explosion and its effects on this office.
On September 16th at 12:01 P.M., without any previous warning, a terrific explosion took place in the street directly in front of the entrance to the new Assay Office Building, 30-32 Wall Street, New York. The time of the explosion is fixed by the office clock, which was injured by one of the slugs from the explosive device, as well as by the personal testimony of some employees who had just quit work for lunch at 12 o’clock. No warnings or threats of any kind had been received by anyone connected with this office, and up to the time of the explosion, no one had heard of anything unusual near the new building or in the street in front of the site.
The new building was practically completed, with much of the office furniture already installed, and had been prepared for formal occupancy by our staff on October 1st. Fortunately, none of our force had moved into the office. The only person who would have been in the direct line of the explosion, a cleaner of the brass and marble work in the corridor, had gone on his vacation the day before. The firm of Danglo & Son had completed hanging the window shades on the Wall Street side of the building the previous evening. The only men employed on the day of the explosion in the new building were those connected with the movement of gold from the Sub-Treasury Building to the new building’s vaults.
These vaults are all below street level, but the loading platform where the gold was received is at the level of Wall Street and occupies the area-way between the rear of the new Assay Office and what was formerly the Wall Street side of the Pine Street building. A team of eight to ten men had been working on this loading platform in the morning. These operations had ceased at 11:45 A.M. on the day of the explosion, and all but two of the men had gone to other parts of the Pine Street building for lunch. The two remaining men were seated under the skylight on the moving platform eating lunch when the explosion occurred. They were slightly injured by falling glass from the skylight, but no other Assay Office employees were injured.
There was no gold in transit from the Sub-Treasury to the Assay Office at this time, as the transfer work had stopped at 11:45 A.M. so all exposed gold could be deposited in the vaults. However, usual operations were underway in the Pine Street Building. That morning, a deposit of foreign gold, approximately $8,000,000.00, had been received and was in the process of being opened and weighed at the time of the explosion.
The Superintendent was absent on his annual vacation, and the office was under the direction of the Chief Clerk and Acting Superintendent, A. B. Wilson. Immediately following the explosion, the heads of each department, pursuant to instructions and training during the war, took charge of their respective departments. Certain selected men immediately armed themselves with the weapons provided for this purpose in each department and guarded every entrance to the building and their departments. Mr. Wilson personally took general charge of the situation. All valuables in use outside of the vaults were quickly and quietly deposited in the vaults. Guards prevented all persons from entering the building, and the entire situation was immediately brought under absolute control. No one deserted his post in the excitement. I feel certain that had there been any attempt to follow up the explosion by an effort to gain access to the Assay Office, such an effort would have been futile, given the steps taken to protect the premises and their valuables.
Fortunately, the Director of the Mint was in Philadelphia. He was immediately telephoned about the incident, and he arrived at the scene a short time after the explosion and took personal charge of the situation. Under his guidance, the situation was rapidly brought back to normal as far as the Assay Office was concerned, though the office was not opened to the general public until the next morning, when business resumed as usual.
The explosion severely damaged the new building, especially the part directly on Wall Street. The stone façade was badly pitted and marred, and the part immediately around the entrance was almost completely destroyed. The iron and grill work protecting the outside windows was twisted and torn, in some cases being blown through the building, with the bars completely cut in two by the slugs contained in the explosive material. All window frames on the first and second floors were completely blown out, and many on the third and fourth floors were badly twisted and bent. All glass on the Wall Street side of the building was shattered and completely blown out, driven almost horizontally through the building, taking interior windows and frames with it until the glass reached a solid wall. The walls opposite all openings were badly pitted. The skylights above the assay department on the top floor of the Wall Street side were completely blown out, and the skylight over the loading platform was broken and shattered. Some of the furnishings were completely destroyed and others badly marred. Immediately after the incident, the entire interior of the building was a mass of broken glass and twisted iron. The small entrance corridor was completely wrecked. Subsequent examination, however, seems to indicate that aside from the front, no great structural damage was done to the building. The vault doors were tested soon after the incident, and it was found that the vaults had not been injured in any way.
The effects of the explosion seem to indicate beyond a doubt that it was premeditated and caused by a bomb loaded with iron slugs. The explosive device was apparently placed so the main force and charge of slugs would go directly through the entrance to the Assay Office Building, reaching back through the hallway to the deposit melting room in the old building. The force on the opposite side was directed toward the windows of the Morgan Offices, in direct line with the executive offices. If this theory is correct, a slight miscalculation was made in the device’s placement, as the bulk of these slugs struck the west pillar of the Assay Office doorway rather than squarely in the entrance. However, one slug did go entirely through the hallway of the new building and penetrated a crucible stacked against the side of the vault in the deposit melting room in the Pine Street Building. Had the explosive been placed a little more to the east, its full force would have gone through this hallway into the deposit melting room.
Within two hours of the explosion, Captain Fry of the Supervising Architect’s Office had fourteen carpenters, a number of workmen, and two loads of lumber on the premises and immediately began boarding up the front of the building. Captain Fry immediately assumed custodianship of the wrecked building.
The explosion will delay occupancy of the new building until repairs can be made. All arrangements had been made for moving into the office on October 1st. For this reason, the refiners had not been started, as it was planned to improve and enlarge these departments in the Pine Street Building. All contemplated rearrangements of the various departments in the Pine Street Building will consequently be delayed. However, the refineries are being reestablished as before, and all their operations will resume as they were in the old building. The movement of gold from the Sub-Treasury to the Assay Office was temporarily halted but resumed on the 28th and will not be interfered with by the repairs on the new building.
I feel that the Executive officers and the entire office staff conducted themselves under the circumstances in a manner that reflects great credit on themselves, individually and collectively, and on the service. Both the men and the heads of the various departments are entitled to the highest commendation for the presence of mind and discipline shown in the face of the crisis.
Respectfully,
/s/ Verne M. Bovey, Superintendent
No permanent damage was done along Wall Street, and the only lasting impact on the new Assay Office building was to delay its occupancy by a few weeks.
The post The Forgotten Report That Rewrites the Wall Street Bombing Story appeared first on CoinWeek: Rare Coin, Currency, and Bullion News for Collectors.
