On September 4, 1918, as Chicago moved through another tense wartime afternoon, a blast tore through the Adams Street entrance of the city’s massive Federal Building.
The explosion was sudden and devastating. Glass shattered across nearby streets. Offices and shops filled with the wounded. The granite entrance of the $13 million government building was wrecked, and early reports described a scene of confusion, panic, and horror.
Authorities believed the bomb may have been hidden inside a suitcase and left near the parcels post department. One report suggested that a worker in that department was blown to pieces. Dozens more were injured by the force of the blast and by flying glass from surrounding buildings.
Rumors spread quickly. Some said a woman had been killed. Others reported the deaths of a mail carrier and a sailor in uniform. There were also claims that the person responsible had already been captured, though early newspaper accounts were often filled with conflicting information in the immediate aftermath of such disasters.
The bombing came during a period of fear and unrest in the United States. World War I was still raging overseas, and at home, suspicion of radicals, anarchists, labor agitators, and foreign enemies ran high. Public buildings, mail systems, and government offices had become symbols of power, making them targets for those who wanted to send a violent message.
This 1918 report captures the first chaotic hours after the Chicago Federal Building bombing, when the dead were still being counted, the injured were being carried into nearby hotels and offices, and the city was left asking who had brought such destruction to its doorstep.
Chicago Federal Building Bombed
Chicago, Sept. 4, 1918. — Three persons were killed and 75 injured this afternoon in the explosion of a bomb in the Adams Street entrance to the $13,000,000 federal building. Hundreds of windows were shattered in the neighborhood structures. Some injuries occurred in these. Shops and offices in the neighborhood of the explosion were filled with the injured.
The great granite entrance of the building was wrecked. One theory was that a suitcase containing a bomb was sent by parcels post, as this department is near the scene of the explosion.
Man Working in Parcels Post Blown to Pieces
A man working in the parcels post department, it is said, was blown to pieces. Twenty others were bruised and injured, being taken to the Great Northern Hotel, which is nearby. A bomb, carefully timed, it is said, was concealed in a suitcase which was left in the Adams Street entrance of the federal building. The windows of the Commonwealth building, on the north side of Adams Street, were shattered.
Rumored That Perpetrator Has Been Captured
The list of injured from the flying glass is expected to grow Many of those injured were walking along on the opposite side of Adams Street. The entrance to the federal building was wrecked.
The police had reports that a woman, a mail carrier, and a sailor in uniform were killed. It is rumored that the perpetrator of the outrage has been caught.
Source: The Laramie Republican. Laramie, Wyo. September 7, 1918.
