ladykrampus reblogged
Refugee camp in Golden Gate Park following the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906
Source: historypin.com
ladykrampus reblogged
Early Terrorist Attack on Wall Street; New York City, 1920
Around noon on September 16, 1920 a bomb exploded outside the J.P. Morgan Building just across from the New York Stock Exchange on Wall St. A total of 33 people in the lunch-time crowd were killed and another 400 people were injured. The bomb had been placed on a horse-drawn cart.
An $80,000 reward was offered, but none of the culprits were ever caught. Speculation accused the anarchists who had been responsible for a number of earlier bombings in the city. It was thought that the terrorists wished to strike at the symbolic heart of capitalism. In this they were successful; however, 433 innocent bystanders had to pay the price for their message.
Source: New York Daily News
ladykrampus reblogged
Last Sunday, May 6, marked the 75th anniversary of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. The massive German airship caught fire while attempting to land near Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 people aboard, plus one ground crew member. Of the 97 passengers and crew members on board, 62 managed to survive. The horrifying incident was captured by reporters and photographers and replayed on radio broadcasts, in newsprint, and on newsreels. News of the disaster led to a public loss of confidence in airship travel, ending an era.
Top: The Hindenburg floats past the Empire State Building over Manhattan on August 8, 1936, en route to Lakehurst, New Jersey, from Germany.
Bottom: As the lifting Hydrogen gas burned and escaped from the rear of the Hindenburg, the tail dropped to the ground, sending a burst of flame punching through the nose. Ground crew below scatter to flee the inferno.
See the rest. [Images: AP]
ladykrampus reblogged
Before Lusitania left New York for Ireland on May 1, 1915, a message from the German Embassy was printed in dozens of American newspapers, warning any who boarded the British liner that they were risking their lives in doing so:
…in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
Despite this warning, 1,265 people boarded the ship as passengers, including over a hundred American citizens. Ships sailing through war zones constantly ran the risk of attack, but Lusitania’s voyage (despite some submarine warnings) went fairly smoothly. However, as Lusitania neared the coast of Ireland on May 7, the SM U-20, a U-boat that happened to be in the right place at the right time, fired a single torpedo at the ship. She sunk in only eighteen minutes. Unlike Titanic, Lusitania reportedly had more than enough lifeboats for all its passengers to evacuate to safety - yet 1,195 people died of the 1,959 aboard, including 128 Americans.
The British and Americans were understandably outraged; some condemned the attack as a war crime. German officials countered that the sinking was justified, because Lusitania had (according to their official statement) been carrying “large quantities of war material in her cargo” at the time of her sinking. Stubbornly upstanding President Wilson declared that “there is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right”, affirming his intention to keep his country neutral. Even so, the sinking of Lusitania had permanently turned the opinion of the American public against Germany, although it would take strikes against their own ships to push the United States to enter the war.