Dark & controversialWeird & curiousHistoric
Preparedness Day Bombing
Since 1916
The Preparedness Day bombing was a bombing in San Francisco, California, United States, on July 22, 1916, of a parade organised by local supporters of the Preparedness Movement which advocated American entry into World War I. During the parade a suitcase bomb was detonated, killing 10 and wounding 40 in the worst terrorist attack in San Francisco's history.
Two labor leaders, Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings, were convicted in separate trials. Mooney was sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison, and Billings received a life sentence.
Why it's on the map
The Preparedness Day bombing was a bombing in San Francisco, California, United States, on July 22, 1916, of a parade organised by local supporters of the Preparedness Movement which advocated American entry into World War I. During the parade a suitcase bomb was detonated, killing 10 and wounding 40 in the worst terrorist attack in San Francisco's history.
The Galleanists were known for their ruthlessness in choosing targets, had avidly participated in successful bomb attacks as far west as Milwaukee and Chicago, and in 1919 had unleashed a campaign of mail bombings to victims all over the country, including two booby-trap bombs sent to Fickert and his assistant Edward A. Cunha in San Francisco.
By mid-1916, after viewing the carnage in Europe, the United States saw itself poised on the edge of participation in World War I. Isolationism remained strong in San Francisco, not only among radicals such as the Industrial Workers of the World ("the Wobblies"), but also among mainstream labor leaders.
On March 6, 1927, Eklund and another man known only as "Ricca" were shot by police as they attempted to light the fuse of a large dynamite bomb in front of the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in San Francisco.
In a set of trials, Billings was tried first in September 1916, followed by Thomas Mooney in January 1917.
However, whether he was involved in the conspiracy or not, Berkman was almost certainly not the person who constructed the actual bomb, since he was known to have little or no technical skills with explosives.
Source: Wikipedia / Wikidata
On these paths
Nearby
Here Before Us