Three years after the war ended, the United States and Germany formed the quasi-government Mixed Claims Commission (MCC) to investigate claims and negotiate financial compensation for wartime damages to commercial and private property. On July 29, 1916, German agents set fire to a complex of warehouses and ships in the New York harbor that held munitions, fuel, and explosives bound to aid the Allies in their fight. The Nazis paid little mind to this finding, and Germany would not settle the debt until 1979. With shredded clothes, bleeding ears and faces full of soot and dirt, the Jersey City fire department continued to fight the fire. Explosion. The process of sorting through the wreckage required extreme care. According to North Jersey, after placing bombs along the island, one of the saboteurs fled to his aunt's nearby home, shouting, "Oh, my God, what did I do?". Jahnke was never apprehended, and he returned to Germany in 1921. Stained-glass windows from inside Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church in Jersey City, NJ. Your Privacy Rights Jahnke and Witzke fled to Mexico shortly before the United States entered the war and were among the German agents who stirred anti-American sentiment and organized sabotage operations from across the border. On the night of July 30th, 1916, Black Tom island disappeared. For reference, when the World Trade Centers North Tower collapsed in 2001, it registered a 2.3 on the Richter scale. Woodrow Wilson. The island was artificial, created by land fill around a rock of the same name, which had been a local hazard to navigation. Liberty State Park: The Black Tom Explosion The United States of 1914 The lawyers sued Germany in the Mixed Claims Commission at The Hague, and in 1939 won the case. After midnight on July 30, 1916, a series of small fires were discovered. What happened to the Statue of Liberty in 1916? - Heimduo 1.7K views 2 years ago #JerseyCity #HistorysHeadlines It is the early morning hours of July 30, 1916, minutes before the Black Tom Island munitions dump explosion in Jersey City, N.J. will. On the evening of July 29, 1916, the three saboteurs easily infiltrated the lightly-guarded depot, with one entering on foot as the other two approached by rowboat. "Violating the Law of One Price: Should We Make a Federal Case Out of It? Sentenced to death, he was pardoned in 1923. [15] The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale[12] and was felt as far away as Philadelphia. At the Statue of Liberty, a passing of the torch At one point, a huge cavern was hewed out of the earth by the explosions of some 87 dynamite-laden railroad cars. Scan this QR code to download the app now. With few national security laws and no real intelligence community to thwart German agents, America was vulnerable. [12], After midnight, a series of small fires were discovered on the pier. It looked as if they all went up in the air. Of the two men he was with, she said, I didnt see where they went, but I think they must be dead.. This disambiguation . One paper reported that after seeing the blast, watchmen "got down on their knees and prayed.". It didnt kill anyone, but the saboteurs plot was to send a message for America to stay out of war profiteering. View of the Statue of Liberty from the site of the explosion: The explosion caused $100,000 worth of damage to the statue, and from then onward the torch has been closed to tourists. The Mandela Effect is when a large group of people share a common memory of something that differs from what is generally accepted to be fact. WW1: German Spies Blew Up 100,000 Pounds of TNT in New Jersey And When the explosion came, it seemed as if it was from abovezumpf!like a Zeppelin bomb, he told a reporter from the New York Times. The policy was clearly rooted in McCloys experience with German sabotage, views that were shared by President Roosevelt who had been the Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War I, and who attempted to justify this indefensible action, by declaring We dont want another Black Tom.. The blast excavated a hole so deep that it extended below sea level; water seeped in until a vast pond was created, strewn with the wreckage.. Authorities assess the damage after the Black Tom explosion, which left the munitions depot in tatters. According to Kristoff, two of the guards at Black Tom were German agents. The National Park Service's Statue of Liberty website cites the Black Tom explosion as the reason the torch is closed off, though it is unclear why, a century later, guests are still not allowed inside. Were the saboteurs ever identified? In the days after the blasts, confusion reigned. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Shrapnel from the explosion even hit the Statue of Liberty. It was so large, that it measured 5.5 on the Richter Scale. One Mandela Effect thats related to this story is about the Statue of Liberty. The Black Tom explosion was one of the largest explosions ever to occur on U.S. soil so why do few remember it today? Already packed barges sat tied to piers, ready to cross the Atlantic. History's Headlines: Black Tom Island, Sabotage 1916! - YouTube Smoke billowing from the Black Tom explosion, a German sabotage . [31] Kristoff would later serve in the United States Army in World War I, but admitted to working for German agents (transporting suitcases) in 1915 and 1916 while the US was still neutral. That made munitions depots like Black Tom Island a major target for German saboteurs. However, the damage was estimated at more than $20 million, (nearly half a billion dollars today), and investigations eventually determined that the Black Tom explosions resulted from an enemy attackwhat some historians regard as the first major terrorist attack on the United States by a foreign power. Library of Congress photograph. At 2:08 am, the first and largest of the explosions took place, the second and smaller explosion occurring around 2:40 am. The Black Tom Explosion was an act of sabotage made by agents of Imperial Germany. The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, killed four people and destroyed some $20,000,000 worth of military goods. 19? First, a lack of documentation made it incredibly difficult to prove Germany was guilty of the crime. The Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916, in Jersey City, New Jersey, was an act of sabotage on American ammunition supplies by German agents to prevent the materiel from being used by the Allies in World War I. The explosion,. The force of the explosion left wreckage strewn across Black Tom Island. A lock () or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Category:Black Tom explosion - Wikimedia Commons From Black Buttons to Black Tom - The Momtropolis Events From US History Not Taught In School - Ranker Today In History: The Black Tom Explosion Rocked NY Harbor The several federal bureaus should be welded into one and that one should be eternally and comprehensively vigilant. Firemen Work in Rain of Bullets New York Times, July 31, 1916. And when it erupted, the blast destroyed warehouses, train cars, and piers. Hurricane Sandy - October 29, 2012. [11], The Lehigh Valley Railroad, advised by John J. McCloy, sought damages against Germany under the Treaty of Berlin from the German-American Mixed Claims Commission. On the night of July 30, 1916, Americas largest ammunition depot sat unguarded. The term "Black Tom" originally referred to an island in New York Harbor next to Liberty Island. It also meant fewer people would remember what happened at Black Tom. The incident took place at on Black Tom Island, between New Jersey and Liberty Island on July 30, 1916, at 2:08 am. The nearby Statue of Liberty suffered severe shrapnel damage, closing visitor access to the Statues torch for good. Warehouses collapsed onto freight cars filled with TNT. The fire risked setting off munitions that survived the first blast. This massive cache of unguarded weapons was an easy target for the Germans, who had already experimented with targeting American ships, factories, and piers. At 2:08 a.m on July 16, 1916, a munitions depot on Black Tom Island, in the Hudson River just off Jersey City, exploded. The stained glass windows in St. Patrick's Church were destroyed. Survey map of ammunition storage facilities, industrial plants, warehouses, railroad tracks, wharves, and piers damaged by a German sabotage operation during World War I. [45][46] Access was not opened even after the 19841986 restoration which included repairs to the arm and installation of a new gold-plated copper torch. [49] In an interview with Jules Witcover, McCloy noted that as assistant secretary of the navy under Wilson, Roosevelt "knew all about Black Tom." The Mare Island Explosion: A Defining Moment In Bay Area History The massive blasts obliterated Black Tom Island, the largest munitions depot in the United States, located in New York Harbor and connected by rail bed to Jersey City, New Jersey. How successful were they? And the Bureau exercised primary jurisdiction over all of these laws as it pursued a wide variety of national security investigations. As described by Witcover: The Black Tom promontory was a charred ruin; 13 huge warehouses were leveled and six piers destroyed, and fires continued to eat their way through the remains and consume hundreds of railroads cars and barges tied to the docks. The Black Tom explosion of July 30th, 1916, was so large it could be felt in Philadelphia, ninety miles away. Visitors have not been allowed inside the torch for over a century after a massive explosion. He was responsible for setting the fires that led to the explosions.

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