The Man Who Bombed the New York Public Library

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From 1940 to 1957, George Metesky planted 33 bombs, 22 of which exploded and injured sixteen people in and around New York City. Known as the "Mad Bomber," George felt he had been given a bad deal by Consolidated Edison (Con Edison or ConEd) and unfairly denied worker's compensation. Two of those bombs found their way into the New York Public Library.

George Metesky was born in Connecticut in 1903 where he grew up with two sisters. Following World War I he joined the Marines, serving in Shanghai. He moved back to Connecticut after service, living with his sisters. He got a job with ConEd as a mechanic and lived comfortably.

In 1931 at the Hell Gate power plant, a boiler George was working on backfired and fumes filled his lungs. According to him, this led to pneumonia and tuberculosis. He was on 26 days of sick pay before he lost his job. He tried to file for worker's compensation but was denied because he waited too long, appealing twice and losing both times.

At this point, he got mad. Again, according to him, he wrote many letters (900 by his count) to the mayor of New York City, the police commissioner, and newspapers and heard nothing. He even tried to put out an ad but the newspapers denied him. So he decided to get attention to his plight another way.

His first bomb was planted on the window sill of a ConEd building in 1940. It did not go off, the police thinking it a dud. It was found in a wool sock and with a note signed "F.P." which would both become signatures of his (F.P. standing for "fair play”). A second bomb was also found later, also a dud. George claimed that many bombs were planted during this time, but they never made the papers. Something more had to be done, but not while a war was on.

After Pearl Harbor, George wrote the papers saying that he would not send any bombs while the U.S. was at war. True to his patriotic and Marine Corps heart, he would not send another bomb until 1951.

The first bomb to explode went off on March 29, 1951 at Grand Central Station. As later found by psychiatrists, his bombs were not meant to kill. They were small pipes filled with gunpowder set with timers that used flashlight batteries and watches as timers. George often put them in places to contain the explosions, like a sand urn at Grand Central or inside the heavy cushions of theater seats. Not saying that's an excuse or anything, but it's worth noting the man tried.

The second bomb was in a telephone booth at the New York Public Library. This was followed by bombs in Radio City Music Hall and the Paramount Theater. Without recounting all the bombs, here are a few notable ones:

  • On November 7, 1954, during a screening of Bing Crosby's White Christmas to a packed house of 6,200 people at Radio City Music Hall, one exploded in the 15th row inside a seat. Four people were injured and 50 evacuated. The show continued to play and an investigation was held after.

  • In 1956, someone complained of a stuck toilet at Pennsylvania Station. While trying to clear the clog with a plunger, a 74-year-old man was injured when the bomb inside exploded.

  • Also in 1956, a man found a pipe at the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center and took it home because it would fit a project he had. It exploded in his kitchen the next morning.

  • The most people injured at once was six when a bomb exploded at the Paramount Theater in late 1956. The place had 1,600 people at the time. This started the large manhunt.

  • The last NYPL bomb was also in a telephone booth. A library clerk was going to make a call (not using library phones, interesting) and dropped a coin. They saw a sock with a pipe inside held in place under the phone with a magnet. They decided to throw the thing out the window to Bryant Park and call the police. At least 60 police officers, bomb squad, and detectives arrived.

All through his reign of terror, George sent letters to police and the newspapers. He often related his hatred for ConEd and his illness. This would be his undoing.

On January 18th, 1957, a ConEd clerk Alice Kelly searched through old records of people who might have claims against the company. Police later said that they had been told records before 1940 had been destroyed, but who is to say. Kelly found George's file, matching many claims from the letters, and handed it over to the police who promptly took credit for the discovery. Newspaper reports gave Kelly full credit and the police once again looked at their shoes and said "shucks."

Three days later on January 21st, George was arrested. All the bomb making accoutrement was found in his home, and he readily admitted to his crimes. During his trial, he was assessed at Bellevue Hospital and found insane. He was placed in Matteawan Hospital for the criminally insane, having to be carried because of his ill health.

We do not end there, however. George did well at Matteawan. While he did not respond to psychiatric treatment, his health improved. He was a model patient and was visited regularly by his sisters. In 1973, the US Supreme Court said New York could not throw patients who were not a danger to others in psychiatric prison, so he was moved to Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. Doctors there found him relatively okay and free of the need for violence, so he was released on December 13th that same year with the caveat that he have regular check-ins. In an interview after release he said he would not do violence again but that he still hated ConEd.

George went on to live a quiet life, dying at age 90 in 1994.

For no particular reason, it's interesting that in 2017 ConEd made $12 Billion in profit and controlled $62 Billion in assets.