Around noon on September 16th, 1920, a horse drawn carriage stopped in front of the offices of J.P Morgan & Co. At the corner of Wall and Broad Street in Downtown New York. The driver of the cart got out and vanished into the crowd. Minutes later, the cart exploded, killing more than 30 people and injuring 300. William Joyce, the chief clerk of J.P Morgan was among those killed.

The investigation showed that the bomb was made with TNT and had been packed with iron window sash weights. It had been detonated by a timer. All the items used were quite common so it made it very difficult for investigators to narrow down suspects.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombing, so it wasn’t clear what the motive was. The St. Louis post-dispatch wrote:

“There was no objective except general terrorism.”

“The bomb was not directed against a particular person or property. It was directed at the public, anyone who happened to be near or any property in the neighbourhood.”

Multiple investigative agencies followed different leads but unfortunately the case has not been solved. A subsequent FBI investigation in 1944 concluded that the explosion was likely the work of Italian anarchists or terrorists, but no one was ever charged.

Sources:

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/wall-street-bombing-1920

https://www.britannica.com/event/Wall-Street-bombing-of-1920