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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Shortly past noon on December 4, 1891, a massive explosion occurs on Wall Street that shakes all of lower New York. A “madman” throws a bomb made of dynamite into the office of millionaire financier Russell Sage after Sage dismisses the man who tried to extort him for a fortune. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| December 24, 1891 | Unknown visitor with a satchel and an extortion note arrives at Sage's Wall Street office, then blows himself up; blast heard for miles |
|---|---|
| December 5, 1891 | Bomber's severed head used for identification. |
| December 12, 1891 | Henry L. Norcross is identified as the bomber. |
| May 26, 1892 | Injured clerk William Laidlaw sues Sage for using him as a human shield from explosion. |
| August 6, 1903 | Laidlaw v. Sage ends. |
| July 22, 1906 | Russell Sage dies at the age of 90. |
| August 8, 1911 | William Laidlaw dies penniless. |
