TERRORISM

Does this sound familiar? A vehicle packed with explosives is driven up in front of a building busy with afternoon trade and a timer sets off a blast that kills or maims hundreds in the area.

Was this on the news last week? Did this happen in Iraq?

No, this happened on Wall Street in New York City's Financial District on this date in 1920. The explosion killed 38 and over 400 were injured. The blast, which vaporized the horse and buggy that carried the dynamite, occurred outside of the J.P. Morgan building. Remnants of the destruction can still be seen today.

No one was ever convicted of the crime but it is generally thought that Luigi Galleani's followers were responsible. Galleani was an anarchist with communist roots who despised capitalism. The U.S. Government had deported him to Italy the year before.