A hundred years ago this evening, a bomb exploded in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. One person was injured, and the New York Evening World had an extra edition with this banner headline on the street the same evening.

Despite the size of the headline, I had never heard of this incident, and it’s barely mentioned in the historical record.

The rector of the Cathedral, Msgr. Michael Lavelle, (1856-1939) is quoted as describing it as “a small bomb. It did little actual damage outside of splintering some of the pews and tearing a hold in the floor about two feet square. It filled the interior of the church with smoke and caused a lot of excitement among the worshipers. I have no idea who did it. I have received no threatening letters of any kind in a long time and am at peace with the world.”

The October 15 issue of the New York Tribune reported that the Reds were rejoicing over this and other church bombings, and that the police were seeking an I.W.W. plot that “menaced many.”

There was very little actual damage and the indicent has been forgotten. But there were banner headlines, people to blame, and general excitement. Very little has changed in a hundred years.