Last night’s attack at 345 Park Avenue by a deranged soul from Las Vegas whose intent apparently was to attack the NFL offices in the same location is sadly nothing new. There are many people in America’s history who have snapped or proclaimed that Wall Street and the wealthy are the cause of all of the ills that beset them personally or the cause that they believe in.
First and foremost, all of my sympathies go out to the families of those killed by this idiot who created a cause in his own mind to become infamous and try to go out as a “martyr” in his own mind for no rational reason.
By using snapshots of newspapers from the eras involved, I shall simply provide a quick snapshot that sadly, as economic conditions fluctuate the solution always seems to be to blame the politicians and Wall Street elites for all of their own personal problems or start a false revolution to change the world.
1915 Attempted Assassination of J.P. Morgan
On July 3, 1915, Harvard Professor Erich Muenter, traveling under the false name of Frank Holt, pushed his way into the household of America’s most powerful banker, J.P. Morgan. After attempting to take Jane Morgan, J.P.’s wife, hostage, Mr. Morgan rushed the man to wrestle his gun away and was shot and wounded in the process of subduing the assailant.
It turns out this was the same idiot who had set off two bombs in Washington, DC the night before. His cause was just as insane as one might think, to prevent the United States from assisting the allies against Germany by entering into World War I. Needless to say, the backlash against Americans of German descent and the nation of Germany only intensified after this act of terror.
Anarchist Bombing of J.P. Morgan’s Bank and Wall Street
On September 16, 1920 a large bomb was detonated in front of the NYSE and J.P. Morgans headquarters at 23 Wall Street killing 40 and wounding hundreds. Most of the victims of the blast were innocent bystanders and clerical staff on Wall Street, missing the wealthy investors and of course, the executives at Morgan’s bank.
Believe it or not, the Department of Justice settled the case by saying it was either anarchists or communists looking to attack the wealthy once again. But the more amazing thing about this terrorist act is from the FBI itself:
The case is still officially unsolved 105 years later.
1987 Merrill Lynch Assassination
The story of this man was always seen by many as a sad statement about the brokerage industry after his despair sent him into a move to take out revenge on his broker for not answering the phone and liquidating his holdings on Black Monday in 1987. The Los Angeles Times headline and story was not so sympathetic:
Loser in Stock Market Skid Kills Broker, Then Himself
Excerpt:
“We believe it was, in fact, related to losses suffered in the market during the recent downturn,” Metro Dade Police Cmdr. William Johnson said but he added that this had not been confirmed.
“The shooter came into the (Merrill Lynch) brokerage firm. Apparently he was upset about something,” said police spokesman Alfredo Hidalgo-Gato. “He then shot two Merrill Lynch employees, killing one of them, and seriously wounding the other.”
Hidalgo-Gato said the customer, identified as Arthur Kane, 53, of Kendall, then killed himself with his own gun.
A Merrill Lynch employee, Kathy Abraham, said Kane was “a longtime customer. He was a wonderful man.”
Thus what happened yesterday is just another sad chapter in American history where people lose their minds and blame the elites for their own personal problems or misfortune.
It is also an indicator as to where the American public mindset might well be going forward as the economy deteriorates.
