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NEW JERSEY EVENTS
New Jersey has played host to some rather interesting events, in addition to being the home of those you see on the other pages. While many of these events are of the "infamous crime" type or other tragedy, there were some events in which someone didn't die!
Black
Tom Explodes!
July 29, 1916, a huge
explosion at the Black Tom munitions yard in Jersey City is suspected
to be the work of German saboteurs. While circumstantial evidence points
to several individuals, no one was ever successfully charged with a crime,
if in fact there was a crime committed.
The
Duel
Perhaps the most famous duel in American history occured on July 11, 1804,
while dueling was still legal. New Jersey-born Aaron Burr, who was at
that time the Vice President of the United States under Thomas Jefferson,
kills Alexander Hamilton in Weehawken, New Jersey.
More
on The Duel
Zeppelin!
May 6, 1937, Lakehurst,
New Jersey, is witness to the most spectacular airship disaster the
world has ever seen.
The
Greatest Airship Disaster
The single greatest airship disaster, the one with the greatest loss of
life, was the USS
Akron on April 3, 1933. Plunging into the Atlantic Ocean off Barnegat
Inlet on Long Beach Island, NJ, 76 out of a crew of 79 lost their lives.
More
on this aviation disaster
The
Mystery of Mary Rogers
New York City girl disappears in July 1841, her body is found several
days later floating in the Hudson River near the shore in Hoboken, New
Jersey. Edgar Allan Poe used this true story as a basis for his fictional
story "The Mystery of Marie Roget".
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on this story
Still
More
Take
Me Out to the Ballgame
Many historians place Hoboken, NJ, as the place where the first organized
baseball game took place, in 1846.
The
Crime and Trial of the Century
In 1932, an intruder snuck into Charles Lindbergh's home in Hopewell Township,
NJ, and kidnapped his son. At that time, Lindbergh, the first man to fly
across the Atlantic Ocean alone and non-stop, was the most famous man
in the world.
New
Jersey and The Underground Railroad
While New Jersey was not on the main route for the Underground Railroad
- the method that many slaves used to escape the South before the Civil
War - New Jersey still played a signigicant role.
Peter
Mott House
Thanks for this suggestion goes to Rhonda.
The
Other Crime and Trial of the Century
Before the OJ Simpson Trial of the Century, and even before the Lindbergh
kidnapping Trial of the Century, there was the Hall Mills Murder in 1922
(and the subsequent trial in 1926).
The
Chop House Whack
Arthur Flegenheimer, the mobster better known as Dutch Schultz, was born
in the Bronx, NY, in 1902. He made his mark in illegal beer during Prohibition,
but his threat to kill a federal prosecutor was too much for fellow mobsters.
Schultz and several of his henchmen were rubbed out at the Palace Chop
House in Newark, NJ, on October 23, 1935.
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on this story
Train
Robbers!
Not just classic, "The Great Train Robbery", Edwin
S. Porter's 1903 silent Western film was so much more. Not only did
it initiate the Western film genre, but it is considered a milestone as
the first
narrative film. Shot in New Jersey, at the Edison Studios and other
exterior locations, and New York, this film also featured Broncho
Billy Anderson in an early role. Anderson is generally considered
to be the first "movie star".
A
President Dies
In office only 4 months, President James Garfield was shot and wounded
on July 2, 1881, by a would-be assasin. Taken to Elberon, Long Branch,
NJ, to recuperate, Garfield underwent all manner of odd, unusual and barbaric
treatments at the hands of doctors, before finally succumbing on September
19, 1881.
Athletics
of Higher Learning
The birth of college football is generally accepted to be when Rutgers
and Princeton met on November 6, 1869, in New Brunswick, NJ.
New
Jersey During the War of Independence
New Jersey is also known as the Crossroads of the Revolution. Many significant
military actions took place in and around the state during the fight for
independence from Great Britain.
Even more on
New Jersey's role during the Revolution
The
Tragedy of the Morro Castle
In September 1934, the cruise liner Morro Castle, en route from
Cuba to New York, caught fire off the coast of Sea Girt, NJ, before finally
grounding on the beach at Asbury Park, NJ. 134 people perished.
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on this story