5. Lexington Avenue Apartment, 1914

berger-anarchist-bomb-nyc-untappedImage from Library of Congress

On July 4th, 1914, members of the Industrial Workers of the World group set off a bomb in Louise Berger’s apartment at 1626 Lexington Avenue. The bomb had been meant for John D. Rockefeller, but the young anarchists set it off accidentally. Four died, but a fifth exited the building minutes before the detonation and disappeared, and dozens more were injured. The top two floors of the building were gone, revealing the innards of Louise Berger’s apartment. She had been a member of the Anarchist Red Cross and had lent her apartment to her anarchist friends to build the bomb.

For the full story and more conspiracy, see The Strange History of New York’s Anarchist School.

Some anarchists failed and only injured themselves, but others managed to harm both their targets and uninvolved victims. Meanwhile, others stuck with propagating ideologies and stayed away from the bombs and murders. There was a time when New York may have been full of dark rooms of plotting conspirators, but activity has been relatively quiet in recent memory…

For more criminal reading, check out 5 Beautiful Murder Scenes in NYC and Notorious NYC Crime Scenes.