Milwaukee Police Department bombing

Milwaukee Police Department bombing
File:Evening Capital News - Boise, Idaho - November 25, 1917.jpg Boise's Evening Capital News headline reads Bomb tragedy kills 11 at Milwaukee
Location	Central police station at Oneida and Broadway, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Date	November 24, 1917 7:33PM (local time)
Target	Evangelical church
Attack type	Large black powder bomb
Deaths	10 (9 officers, 1 civilian)

The Milwaukee Police Department bombing was a November 24, 1917, bomb attack that killed nine members of local law enforcement and a civilian in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The perpetrators were never caught but are suspected to be an anarchist terrorist cell operating in the United States in the early 20th century. The target was initially an evangelical church in the Third Ward and only killed the police officers when the bomb was taken to the police station by a concerned civilian. The bombing remained the most fatal single event in national law enforcement history for over 80 years until the 9/11 attacks.

The bomb

On November 24, 1917, a large black powder bomb, wrapped as a package, was discovered by Maude L. Richter, a social worker, next to an evangelical church in the Third Ward. She dragged the package into the church basement and notified the church janitor, Sam Mazzone. Mazzone took the bomb to the central police station at Oneida and Broadway and turned it over to the Milwaukee Police Department. The station keeper was showing it to the shift commander, Lieutenant Flood, right before a scheduled inspection, when it exploded. Nine members of the department were killed in the blast, along with a female civilian.

Officers killed

Nine members of the Milwaukee Police Department were killed as well as Catherine Walker, who was in the police station making a complaint against her boyfriend.

Name	Appointed	Years on the force
Henry Deckert	October 21, 1913	4
Frank Caswin	February 1, 1915	2
Fred Kaiser	February 7, 1905	12
David O'Brien	November 4, 1897	20
Stephen Stecker	December 1, 1899	17
Charles Seehawer	December 1, 1899	17
Edward Spindler	July 1, 1903	14
Al Templin	October 17, 1904	13
Paul Weiler	December 13, 1906	10

Aftermath

It was suspected at the time that the bomb had been placed outside the church by anarchists, particularly the Galleanist faction led by adherents of Luigi Galleani. At the time, the bomber's identity was not uncovered. Many years later, interviews with surviving Galleanist members revealed that Croatian national Mario Buda, chief bombmaker for the Galleanists may have constructed the Milwaukee bomb. At the time, the bombing was the most fatal single event in national law enforcement history, only surpassed later by the September 11 attacks when 72 law enforcement officers representing eight different agencies were killed. Those responsible for the 1917 bombing never were apprehended, but days later, eleven alleged Italian anarchists went to trial on unrelated charges involving a fracas that had occurred two months before. The specter of the larger, uncharged crime of the bombing haunted the proceedings and assured convictions of all eleven. In 1918 Clarence Darrow led an appeal that gained freedom for most of the convicted.

See also

• List of unsolved murders (20th century)
• 16th Street Baptist Church bombing
• Anarchism and violence
• Propaganda of the deed
• September 1920 Wall Street bombing
• Palmer Raids
• Espionage Act of 1917
• 1919 United States anarchist bombings

Bibliography

Notes

References

• - Total pages: 265
• - Total pages: 323
• - Total pages: 365
• - Total pages: 268
• - Total pages: 448