Then came the blast of September 16, 1920. Shortly after noon, a horse-drawn wagon carrying five hundred pounds of iron sash weights pulled up on Wall Street between Morgans and the U.S. Assay Office across the street. Suddenly it exploded, blowing holes in the pavement, bursting like shrapnel through a terrified lunchtime crowd, killing thirty-eight people and injuring three hundred. Walking by 23 Wall, the young Joseph P. Kennedy was hurled to the ground.
