One thing that’s fun about research is the amount of random information that comes your way as you search through archives. It used to be that you might find something by chance in a library, or in a book that was referenced by another book. Today, of course, the prime method for such random connections comes via unexpected responses to searches. So, when I was searching for pictures of the gas explosion in the Capitol last week, I came across pictures of a completely different explosion: An actual bomb that devastated parts of the Capitol in 1915.
On July 2, 1915, a young man called Frank Holt walked into the Capitol with a bomb. He hoped to plant it in the Senate chamber, but found this locked – which wasn’t too surprising, as the Senate was not in session. He instead put the bomb in the Senate reception room, which is the closest you can get to floor of the Senate without actually being a Senator.
Holt placed his bomb in one of the telephone booths that then stood next to the window, and left the building. He had carefully set a timer to have the bomb go off in the middle of the night, and at 20 minutes to midnight, three sticks of dynamite went off.
Fortunately, the night watchman was nowhere near the reception room at the time, and all that happened was that the telephone booths as well as the nearby window were badly damaged. Holt then headed north to Glen Cove, Long Island, where he was determined to kill J.P. Morgan.
When captured, he explained that he was a pacifist, and thus against war, and particularly against the US joining in the war in Europe. Planting bombs and killing people was his way of expressing this viewpoint. Morgan had been lending money to the allies which is why he had been targeted.
The police investigated, discovering that Holt’s real name was Erich Muenter, and that he had a PhD from Cornell and had taught at Harvard. In 1906, he had been indicted for poisoning his wife, but had managed to flee to Mexico. He had resurfaced in 1908 in Texas, by which time he was using the name Holt.
Holt committed suicide three days after being captured by diving headfirst off the top bunk of his jail cell, thus ending the investigation into what is considered the first act of domestic terrorism against a federal institution with the aim of affecting US foreign policy.
The damage to the Senate was rapidly repaired, and today nothing in the Senate reception room indicates what happened there almost 100 years ago.
I think it’s important to note that Cornell grads bear watching at all times.
Looks like Holt is the model for all anti-choice protestors across the country.
I’m a Cornell grad and I sure need constant supervision!