Milwaukee Police Department bombing
Milwaukee Police Department bombing | |
---|---|
Location | Central police station at Oneida and Broadway,Milwaukee,Wisconsin,U.S. |
Date | November 24, 1917 7:33 P.M. (local time) |
Target | Milwaukee Italian Evangelical Church |
Attack type | Large black powder bomb,mass murder |
Deaths | 10 (9 officers, 1 civilian) |
Injured | 6 |
Perpetrators | Galleanists(unconfirmed) |
Motive | Anarchism, retaliation forBay View incident |
TheMilwaukee Police Department bombingwas a November 24, 1917, bomb attack that killed nine members oflocal law enforcementand a civilian inMilwaukee,Wisconsin,United States of America. The perpetrators were never caught but are suspected to be ananarchist terrorist celloperating in the United States in the early 20th century. The target was initially an evangelical church inthe Third Wardand only killed the police officers when the bomb was taken to the police station by a concerned civilian. The bombing remained the most fatal single event in national law enforcement history for over 80 years until theSeptember 11 attacks.[1]
Background
[edit]On September 9, 1917, Rev. Augusto Giuliani of the Milwaukee Italian Evangelical Church held a rally near a localGalleanistmeeting spot in Milwaukee'sBay Viewneighborhood. When the anarchists disrupted the rally, police fired on the demonstrators, killing two, arresting 11, and leading to a raid on the Galleanists.[2]
The bombing
[edit]A little over two months later, on November 24, 1917, a large black powder bomb wrapped as a package was discovered by Maude L. Richter, asocial worker,next to Rev. Giuliani's church inthe Third Ward.[3][4]She dragged the package into the church basement and notified the church janitor, Sam Mazzone.[4]Mazzone took the bomb to the central police station at Oneida and Broadway and turned it over to theMilwaukee Police Department.[3][5]The station keeper was showing it to the shift commander, Lieutenant Robert Flood, right before a scheduled inspection, when it exploded.[4]Nine members of the department were killed in the blast, along with a female civilian who had been there to report a robbery.[3][5]Six additional police personnel were seriously injured: a lieutenant and five detectives.[6]The police detective who faced the full brunt of the explosion was reported to have been found with his body mangled while one officer was killed while on the second floor. The explosion was loud enough to be heard throughout much of the city and attracted a crowd of thousands to the police station.[7]
Casualties
[edit]Nine members of theMilwaukee Police Departmentwere killed as well as Catherine Walker, who was in the police station reporting a robbery.[5][8]
Name | Appointed | Years on the force |
---|---|---|
Henry Deckert | October 21, 1913 | 4 |
Frank Caswin | February 1, 1915 | 2 |
Frederick Kaiser | February 7, 1905 | 12 |
David O'Brien | November 4, 1897 | 20 |
Stephen Stecker | December 1, 1899 | 17 |
Charles Seehawer | December 1, 1899 | 17 |
Edward Spindler | July 1, 1903 | 14 |
Al Templin | October 17, 1904 | 13 |
Paul Weiler | December 13, 1906 | 10 |
Aftermath
[edit]It was suspected at the time that the bomb had been placed outside the church by theGalleanistanarchists who had been involved in theBay View incident.Those responsible were never apprehended, but days later the eleven alleged Italian anarchists previously arrested went to trial on charges stemming from the Bay View incident. The specter of the larger, uncharged crime of the bombing haunted the proceedings and assured convictions of all eleven. However, in 1918,Clarence Darrowled an appeal that gained freedom for most of the convicted.[9]
While historian of anarchismPaul Avrichhas suggested the local Ferrer Circle anarchists may have been responsible, interviews with surviving Galleanist members implicatedMario Buda,chief bombmaker for the Galleanists, andCarlo Valdinoci.[5][10][11][12][13]Buda and Valdinocci had previously fled with many other Galleanists toMexicoin order to evade the draft. At the time, the bombing was the most fatal single event in national law enforcement history, only surpassed later by theSeptember 11 attacks.[1]
See also
[edit]- List of unsolved murders (20th century)
- 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
- Anarchism and violence
- Propaganda of the deed
- September 1920Wall Street bombing
- Palmer Raids
- Espionage Act of 1917
- 1919 United States anarchist bombings
Bibliography
[edit]- Notes
- ^abMiller 2016
- ^Avrich, Paul (1991).Sacco and Vanzetti: the anarchist background.Paul Avrich Collection. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 104.ISBN0-691-04789-8.OCLC21971831.
- ^abcBalousek 1997,p. 113
- ^abcThe Indianapolis Star 1917
- ^abcdGovernment of Milwaukee 2017
- ^Avrich 1996,p. 105.
- ^"10 KILLED BY BOMB IN MILWAUKEE POLICE STATION".New York Times.25 November 1917.Retrieved30 April2023.
- ^"BOMB KILLS 11 IN MILWAUKEE POLICE STATION".St. Louis Post-Dispatch.25 November 1917. p. 1.Retrieved30 March2023.
- ^Strang 2013
- ^Watson 2007,p. 15
- ^Avrich 1996
- ^Avrich 1996b
- ^Dell’Arti 2002
- References
- "10 KILLED BY BOMB IN MILWAUKEE POLICE STATION".New York Times.25 November 1917.Retrieved30 April2023.
- Avrich, Paul(1996).Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background.Princeton University Press.ISBN9780691026046.- Total pages: 265
- Avrich, Paul(1996b).Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.Princeton University Press.ISBN9780691044941.- Total pages: 323
- Balousek, Marv & Editor J. Allen Kirsch (1997).50 Wisconsin Crimes of the Century.Badger Books Inc.ISBN9781878569479.
{{cite book}}
:|first=
has generic name (help)- Total pages: 365 - Dell’Arti, Giorgio (January 26, 2002)."La Storia di Mario Buda"(PDF).memoteca.it. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 27, 2007.RetrievedNovember 24,2017.
- The Indianapolis Star(November 26, 1917). "Bomb Mystery Baffles Police".The Indianapolis Star.John Shaffer.OCLC760301417.
- Miller, Ryan W. (July 17, 2016)."Deadliest attacks on police in the last 100 years".USA Today.RetrievedNovember 24,2017.
- Government of Milwaukee(2017)."Milwaukee Police Department Officer Memorial Page".Government of Milwaukee.Archived fromthe originalon October 13, 2007.
- Strang, Dean A. (2013).Worse Than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror.University of Wisconsin Press.ISBN9780299293932.- Total pages: 268
- Watson, Bruce (2007).Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind.Penguin Books.ISBN9781101202623.- Total pages: 448
- 1917 murders in the United States
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