Uncle Sam weighs the lives lost in the German sinking of the Lusitania (and other ships, as seen on the horizon) to his cash flow from selling weapons and other supplies to the combatants, particularly the allies. The moneybags have tipped the scales. A 1916 postcard by Em. Dupuis.

A l'ombre, de la Liberté



In the Shadow of Liverty



On the coffin and the ship in the distance, 'Lusitania'

Other views: Larger, Larger, Back

Sunday, July 30, 1916

"On Sunday, July 30, 1916, at 12:24 a.m., the first fire started at the terminal. Two hours later, Black Tom had become a great white light illuminating the night sky. Stockpiled shells exploded, and stored bullets flew about wildly. There was a tremendous, awful, sustained boom . . .

Far across the river in Manhattan the windows at the library at Forty-Second Street were blown out, water mains broke, downtown streets flooded, and people, certain the world was coming to an end, rushed from their apartments and hotel rooms and into the street. By the end of the week, newspapers estimated the damage to New York and New Jersey warehouses, railroads, and businesses at a staggering $20 million. And the bodies of five victims were recovered."

Quotation Context

On July 30, 1916, saboteurs detonated a railroad car filled with dynamite, setting off further explosions at the Black Tom munitions plant in Jersey City, New Jersey, the largest munitions and gunpowder shipping facility in the United States. The saboteurs included Paul Hilken, son of the head of the Baltimore office of the North German Lloyd shipping fleet and local honorary German consul, and Captain Frederick Hinsch, commander of the North German Lloyd cargo ship Neckar. The United States, neutral until April, 1917, supplied the Entente Allies with arms, raw materials, and financing. The British blockade was effective in minimizing the country's ability to do the same for the Central Powers.

Source

Dark Invasion; 1915; Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America by Howard Blum, page 412, copyright © 2014 by Howard Blum, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2014

Tags

1916-07-30, 1916, July, New York, Black Tom, sabotage, New Jersey, United States, United States of America