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{{Infobox civilian attack
|title=Black Tom explosion
|image=Black Tom pier.jpg
|caption=Black Tom pier shortly after the explosion
|location=[[Jersey City, New Jersey]], [[USA]]
|target=
|coordinates = {{coord|40|41|32|N|074|03|20|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark_scale:5000|display=inline,title}}
|date=July 30, 1916
|time=2:08:00 AM
|timezone=[[Atlantic Standard Time|AST]]; [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]−4
|type=[[Sabotage]]
|fatalities=7
|injuries=
|perps=
|motive=
}}
{{Campaign
|name= North American theatre of World War I
|raw_name=Campaignbox North American theatre of World War I
|battles=[[Battle of the Atlantic (1914-1918)|Atlantic]] - [[Black Tom Explosion]] - [[Kingsland Explosion]] - [[Attack on Orleans]] - [[Battle of Ambos Nogales]]
}}
The '''Black Tom explosion''' on July 30, 1916 in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]] was an act of [[sabotage]] on American [[ammunition]] supplies by [[German Empire|German]] agents to prevent the [[materiel]] from being used by the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in [[World War I]].<ref name="fbi.gov">{{cite web |date= July 30, 2004|url = http://www.fbi.gov/page2/july04/blacktom073004.htm|title = A Byte out of FBI history|publisher = [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]| accessdate = July 5, 2009 | last= |quote=}}</ref>

== Black Tom Island ==
The term "Black Tom" originally referred to an [[island]] in [[Port of New York and New Jersey|New York Harbor]] next to [[Liberty Island]]. The island received its name from a local legend of an African American resident named Tom. By 1880, a [[causeway]] and [[railroad]] had been built connecting it to the mainland for use as a shipping [[Transportation hub|depot]]. Sometime between 1905 and 1916, the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad|Lehigh Valley Railroad Company]], which owned the island and causeway, expanded the island with [[landfill]], resulting in the addition of the entire area to the limits of Jersey City. The area contained a mile-long [[pier]] that housed the depot as well as [[warehouse]]s for the National Dock and Storage Company. 

Black Tom was a major [[munitions]] depot for materials manufactured in the northeast. Prior to a [[First Battle of the Atlantic|1915 blockade]] of the [[Central Powers]] by the British [[Royal Navy]], American industries were free to sell their materials to any buyer, but by this time the Allies were the only possible customers. It was reported that on the night of the attack, two million pounds (1 kiloton) of ammunition were being stored at the depot in [[Railroad car|freight cars]], including one hundred thousand pounds of [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]] on the ''Johnson Barge No.17'', all awaiting eventual shipment to [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and [[France]]. Jersey City's Commissioner of Public Safety, [[Frank Hague]], reported  he had been told the barge had been "tied up at Black Tom to avoid a twenty-five dollar towing charge".<ref name="state.nj"/>(US$ {{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|25|1916|r=0}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}})

== Explosion ==
[[Image:BlackTom.jpg|thumb|right|Black Tom Island, lying off a Jersey City pier.]]
[[Image:StatueOfLibertyFromBlackTomIslandToday.jpg|thumb|right|View of the Statue of Liberty from the site of the explosion. The explosion caused $100,000 (US$ {{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|100000|1916|r=-3}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}) worth of damage to the statue, and from then onward the torch was off limits to tourists.]]
After midnight, a series of small fires were discovered on the pier. Some guards fled, fearing an [[explosion]]. Others attempted to fight the fires and eventually called the Jersey City Fire Department.

At 2:08 a.m. (6:08 [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]), the first and largest of the explosions took place. Fragmentation from the explosion travelled long distances, some lodging in the [[Statue of Liberty]] and some in the clock tower of the [[Jersey Journal]] building in [[Journal Square]], over a mile away, stopping the clock at 2:12 a.m. The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the [[Richter Scale]]<ref name="state.nj">{{cite web |date= January 26, 2005|url = http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/liberty_state_park/liberty_blacktomexplosion.html|title = Black Tom Explosion (1916)|publisher = state.nj.gov| accessdate = July 5, 2009 | last= |quote=}}</ref> and was felt as far away as [[Philadelphia]]. Windows broke as far as {{convert|40|km|mi}} away, including thousands in lower [[Manhattan]]. Some window panes in [[Times Square]] were completely shattered. The outer wall of Jersey City's City Hall was cracked and the Brooklyn Bridge was shaken. People as far away as [[Maryland]] were awakened by what they thought was an earthquake.

Property damage from the attack was estimated at $20 million (US$ {{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|20|1916|r=0}}}} million in {{CURRENTYEAR}}). The damage to the Statue of Liberty was valued at $100,000 (US$ {{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|100000|1916|r=-3}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}) and included the skirt and the torch.<ref name="mcall">{{cite web |date= July 4, 2009|url = http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-5liberty.6939715jul04,0,1112955.story?page=1|title = When Liberty trembled|format = |publisher = [[The Morning Call]]| accessdate = July 5, 2009 | last= Frank Warner|quote=}}</ref>

Immigrants being processed at [[Ellis Island]] had to be evacuated to lower Manhattan. Reports vary, but as many as seven people may have been killed, including:
*a Jersey City policeman <ref name="odmp">{{cite web |year= 2009 |url = http://www.odmp.org/officer/4153-patrolman-james-f.-doherty|title = The Officer Down Memorial Page Remembers|format = |publisher = [[The Officer Down Memorial Page]]| accessdate = July 5, 2009 | last= |quote=}}</ref><ref name="njcu">{{cite web |year= 2009 |url = http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/B_Pages/Black_Tom_Explosion.htm|title = Black Tom Explosion|publisher = [[New Jersey City University]]| accessdate = July 5, 2009 | last=Carmela Karnoutsos |quote=}}</ref>
*a Lehigh Valley Railroad Police Chief <ref name="odmp"/>
*a ten week old infant <ref name="njcu"/>
*the barge captain <ref name="njcu"/> 
Injuries numbered in the hundreds. Smaller explosions continued to occur for hours after the initial blast.

== Investigation ==
Two of the watchmen who had lit [[smudge pot|smudge pots]] to keep away mosquitoes on their watch were immediately arrested. It soon became clear that the fires of the smudge pots had not caused the fire, and that the blast had not been an accident. It was traced to a [[Slovaks|Slovak]] immigrant named Michael Kristoff, who had served in the U.S. Army, but admitted to carrying suitcases for the Germans before America entered [[World War I]]. According to him, two of the guards were German agents. It is likely that the bombing involved some of the techniques developed by a group of German agents surrounding German ambassador Count [[Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff]], probably using the [[pencil bomb|pencil bombs]] developed by Captain [[Franz von Rintelen]].<ref name="getnj">{{cite web |date= August 1964 |url = http://www.getnj.com/jchist/blacktoma.shtml|title = The Black Tom Explosion|format = |publisher = The American Legion Magazine| accessdate = July 5, 2009 | last=H.R. Balkhage and A.A. Hahling |quote=}}</ref> Although suspicion at the time fell solely on German agents, later investigations in the aftermath of the [[Annie Larsen affair]] unearthed links between the [[Ghadar conspiracy]] and the Black Tom explosion. [[Franz von Papen]] is known to have also been involved in both. Later investigations by the Directorate of Naval Intelligence are known to have found links to the Irish movement, the Indian Movement, as well as Communist elements.<ref name=NYTimes>{{cite web
| author = Stafford, D. 
| publisher = New York Times
| url=http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/stafford-roosevelt.html
| title= Men of Secrets: Roosevelt and Churchill 
| accessdate=2007-10-24
}}</ref><ref name=FAS>{{cite web
|author = Moynihan, D.P
| publisher = Fas.org
| url=http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/moynihan/appa2.html
| title= Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy. Senate Document 105-2
| accessdate=2007-10-24
}}</ref>

The Statue of Liberty's torch was closed to tourist traffic, according to a U.S. Park Service Officer.<ref name="historyplace">{{cite web |year= 2009 |url = http://www.historyplace.com/specials/writers/tom-island.htm|title = The Black Tom Island Story|publisher = The history place| accessdate = July 5, 2009 | last=James Ottavio Castagnera |quote=}}</ref>

The [[Lehigh Valley Railroad|Lehigh Valley Railroad Company]], advised by [[John J. McCloy]], sought damages against Germany under the [[Treaty of Berlin, 1921|Treaty of Berlin]] from the German-American Mixed Claims Commission. The commission declared in 1939 that Imperial Germany had been responsible and ordered damages. The two sides finally settled on $50 million in 1953 (US$ {{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|50000000|1950|r=2}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}). The final payment was made in 1979.

== Black Tom today ==
[[Image:Blacktom.JPG|thumb|right|Melted bottle from Black Tom Explosion]]
[[Image:ExplosionAtLibertyPlaque.jpg|thumb|right|Commemorative plaque]]
Land fill projects later made Black Tom Island part of the mainland and it was incorporated into [[Liberty State Park]]. The former Black Tom Island is located at the end of Morris Pesin Drive in the southeastern corner of the park, where a plaque marks the spot of the explosion. A circle of American flags complement the plaque, which stands just a bit east of the visitors' center.

The inscription on the plaque reads
<blockquote>
'''Explosion at Liberty!'''

On July 30, 1916 the Black Tom munitions depot exploded rocking New York Harbor and sending residents tumbling from their beds.

The noise of the explosion was heard as far away as Maryland and Connecticut. On Ellis Island, terrified immigrants were evacuated by ferry to the Battery. Shrapnel pierced the Statue of Liberty (the arm of the Statue was closed to visitors after this). Property damage was estimated at $20 million. It is not known how many died.

Why the explosion? Was it an accident or planned? According to historians, the Germans sabotaged the Lehigh Valley munitions depot in order to stop deliveries being made to the British who had blockaded the Germans in Europe.

You are walking on a site which saw one of the worst acts of terrorism in American history.
</blockquote>

A stained glass window at Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic church memorialized the victims of the attack.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}

== See also ==

*[[Lothar Witzke]]
*[[Attacks on North America during World War I]]

== References ==

{{reflist|2}}

*{{cite book | last = Chad Millman| authorlink = | title = The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice|edition= July 12, 2006|page= 352 | publisher = Little, Brown and Company| isbn= 0316734969|language= }}
*{{cite book | last = Jules Witcover| authorlink = | title = Sabotage at Black Tom: Imperial Germany's Secret in America, 1914–1917|edition= May 1989|page= 339 | publisher = Algonquin Books; First Edition/First Printing edition| isbn= 0912697989|language= }}

== External links ==
{{commonscat-inline|Black Tom explosion}}
*[http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/liberty_state_park/liberty_blacktomexplosion.html Black Tom explosion New Jersey Park webpage]
*[http://www.getnj.com/jchist/blacktoma.shtml American Legion 1964]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Tom Explosion}}
[[Category:1916 disasters]]
[[Category:1916 in the United States]]
[[Category:Disasters in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Disasters in New York City]]
[[Category:Explosions in the United States]]
[[Category:Hindu-German Conspiracy]]
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:History of Jersey City, New Jersey]]
[[Category:20th-century explosions]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in the United States]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials in New Jersey]]

[[de:Black Tom Explosion]]
[[es:Explosión Black Tom]]
[[ja:ブラック・トム大爆発]]
[[pl:Eksplozja na wyspie Black Tom]]
[[pt:Explosão Black Tom]]
[[Category:2Fix]]