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near the site today
Horrific Explosion in Jersey City
First reports
On Sunday morning, July 30, 1916, at 2:08 a.m.,
Jersey City residents were awakened by a major
explosion and a succession of smaller explosions
that lasted for several hours, sending shock
waves as far as ninety miles away. The
explosions occurred at Black Tom Island--no
longer an island--but a mile-long pier on landfill
that connected the island with the Jersey City
waterfront (formerly old Communipaw).
Jersey City residents were awakened by a major
explosion and a succession of smaller explosions
that lasted for several hours, sending shock
waves as far as ninety miles away. The
explosions occurred at Black Tom Island--no
longer an island--but a mile-long pier on landfill
that connected the island with the Jersey City
waterfront (formerly old Communipaw).
The pier stood opposite the Statue of Liberty
in the New York Harbor. The Lehigh Valley
Railroad Company owned and used the pier
as a work yard where the National Dock and
Storage Company had warehouses. The origin
of the name "Black Tom" is said to come from
a "dark skinned" fisherman who lived at the
site for many years.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday morning,
small fires on the pier were discovered and the
eight guards on duty gave flight. One of the
guards, however, soundedthe fire alarm
alerting the Jersey City Fire Department. The
fires gradually set off a succession of
exploding shrapnel shells. After the terrifying
2:08 a.m. blast, the well-stocked arsenal was
ablaze, even casting the barges at Black Tom
afloat in New York Harbor. Pieces of metal
from the explosion struck the Jersey Journal
building clock tower at Journal Square,
stopping the clock at 2:12 a.m. It also jolted
the Hudson Tubes [PATH system] under the
river connecting Lower Manhattan with
Hoboken and Jersey City .
Accounts of the total number of fatalities differ,
but it is known that a policeman, a guard at
Black Tom, and the barge captain of the
Johnson Barge No.19 were killed; a ten-week
old infant was thrown from his crib. Hundreds
of individuals were injured. The reported
property damage was enormous--over $20
million. The Black Tom depot with its freight
cars, warehouses, barges, tugboats and piers
was completely destroyed. In the nearby
harbor, the Statue of Liberty sustained
$100,000 in damages from the spray of
shrapnel, and newly-arrived immigrants at Ellis
Island had to be evacuated for processing at
the Immigration Bureau at the
in the New York Harbor. The Lehigh Valley
Railroad Company owned and used the pier
as a work yard where the National Dock and
Storage Company had warehouses. The origin
of the name "Black Tom" is said to come from
a "dark skinned" fisherman who lived at the
site for many years.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday morning,
small fires on the pier were discovered and the
eight guards on duty gave flight. One of the
guards, however, soundedthe fire alarm
alerting the Jersey City Fire Department. The
fires gradually set off a succession of
exploding shrapnel shells. After the terrifying
2:08 a.m. blast, the well-stocked arsenal was
ablaze, even casting the barges at Black Tom
afloat in New York Harbor. Pieces of metal
from the explosion struck the Jersey Journal
building clock tower at Journal Square,
stopping the clock at 2:12 a.m. It also jolted
the Hudson Tubes [PATH system] under the
river connecting Lower Manhattan with
Hoboken and Jersey City .
Accounts of the total number of fatalities differ,
but it is known that a policeman, a guard at
Black Tom, and the barge captain of the
Johnson Barge No.19 were killed; a ten-week
old infant was thrown from his crib. Hundreds
of individuals were injured. The reported
property damage was enormous--over $20
million. The Black Tom depot with its freight
cars, warehouses, barges, tugboats and piers
was completely destroyed. In the nearby
harbor, the Statue of Liberty sustained
$100,000 in damages from the spray of
shrapnel, and newly-arrived immigrants at Ellis
Island had to be evacuated for processing at
the Immigration Bureau at the
Battery in New York City. Some five hundred
people living on houseboats and barges in the
harbor also required evacuation. Windows
blew out in lower Manhattan and the Times
Square area. Effects from the explosions were
reported along the Jersey shoreline from
Hoboken to Bayonne and over to Staten Island
and Brooklyn and from as far away as
Philadelphia.
A suspect in the incident was Michael Kristoff,
a 23-year old immigrant living with relatives in
nearby Bayonne and a former employer at the
Tidewater Oil Company. Kristoff is said to have
started the fires at Black Tom with incendiary
devices in exchange for five hundred dollars.
Kristoff died in a Staten Island hospital in 1928.
On one side, officials at Black Tom were
charged with "criminal and gross negligence"
and on the other, documentation was found
regarding German espionage at the time, but
no one was found guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt. In 1939 after seventeen years of
deliberation, the German-American Mixed
Claims Commission claimed Germany
responsible of sabotage. Germany was
ordered to pay reparations of $50 million to all
claimants
people living on houseboats and barges in the
harbor also required evacuation. Windows
blew out in lower Manhattan and the Times
Square area. Effects from the explosions were
reported along the Jersey shoreline from
Hoboken to Bayonne and over to Staten Island
and Brooklyn and from as far away as
Philadelphia.
A suspect in the incident was Michael Kristoff,
a 23-year old immigrant living with relatives in
nearby Bayonne and a former employer at the
Tidewater Oil Company. Kristoff is said to have
started the fires at Black Tom with incendiary
devices in exchange for five hundred dollars.
Kristoff died in a Staten Island hospital in 1928.
On one side, officials at Black Tom were
charged with "criminal and gross negligence"
and on the other, documentation was found
regarding German espionage at the time, but
no one was found guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt. In 1939 after seventeen years of
deliberation, the German-American Mixed
Claims Commission claimed Germany
responsible of sabotage. Germany was
ordered to pay reparations of $50 million to all
claimants