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1835 December 16th. Fire New York City, 530 buildings destroyed
1863 July 13th. -15th. Riots the 1863 Conscription Act allowed
wealthy draftees to buy their way out of the Civil War by paying $300.
At that time 815,000 people lived in NYC, including more than 200,000
Irish people in extreme poverty; in the three days of rioting 2,000
people died (including 60 soldiers), 10,000 were wounded (including
300 soldiers) and the Conscription Act was suspended in NYC.
1876 December 5th. Fire Brooklyn during a stage performance a
gaslight ignited the wooden theatre building filled with 900 people;
295 died, hundreds were injured
1892 February 7th. Fire New York City, Hotel Royal; 28 people
died
1899 March 17th. Fire New York City, Windsor Hotel; 92 people
died
1904 June 15th. Fire New York City, East River, steamboat "General
Slocum"; 1,021 people died
1907 February 16th. Railway Crash: 22 deaths
1911 March 25th. Fire New York City, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory:
145 people died; dozens were injured
1912 January 9th. Fire - Manhattan, Equitable Life Insurance
Society Building, 120 Broadway: the early morning fire started in the
basement and spread through the elevator shaft to other areas of the
multistory building; subfreezing temperatures and water transformed
the scene into gigantic ice sculptures; 6 people died, including a chief
fire officer; the building burned for more than 36 hours and was a total
loss.
1918 November 1st. Railway Crash Brooklyn, outside Malbone tunnel:
Derailment of a Rapid Transit train due to numerous safety violations;
97 people died, 95 others were injured
1920 September 16th. Bombing Manhattan, Wall Street: TNT bomb
planted in an unattended horse-drawn wagon; 35 persons were killed and
hundreds injured
1945 July 28th. Airplane Crash Manhattan, Empire State Building:
B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building (between 78th and
79th floors), 13 people died including 10 residents
1950 November
22nd. Railway Crash Queens: rear-end collision of two Long Island
railroad trains; 79 people died and 363 were injured.
1954 December 19th. Airplane Crash - Idlewild Airport (today
JFK ): in heavy fog an Alitalia DC-6 B overshot the runway, crashed
into the icy water of Jamaica Bay and exploded; 2 persons were rescued,
26 people died.
1957 February 1st. Airplane Crash Rikers Island: Northeast Airlines
Flight 823 with 101 people aboard crashed shortly after taking off from
La Guardia Airport in a snowstorm. The accident was attributed to pilot
error; 21 people died.
1959 February 3rd. Airplane Crash Queens: American Lockheed Electra
crashed into East River during an instrument landing approach at LaGuardia
airport; 65 people died, 7 survived
1960 December 16th. Airplane Crash Brooklyn: United DC-8 from Chicago
to Idlewild airport (today JFK) collided in fog over NYC with TWA Super
Constellation from Dayton to La Guardia Airport and crashed in two boroughs,
134 people died, 1 child survived
1962 March 1st. Airplane Crash Jamaica Bay: A rudder malfunction
caused an American Airlines Boeing 707 to crash into Jamaica Bay shortly
after taking off from Idlewild Airport (today JFK); all 95 people aboard
died
1975 June 24th. Airplane Crash - JFK airport: Eastern Air Lines
Boeing 727, flight 66 from New Orleans struck approach lights during
a runway 22L ILS approach. The aircraft broke up and caught fire; 115
of the 124 people aboard died.
1975 December 29th. Bombing La Guardia Airport: bomb exploded
in locker area of main terminal; 75 people were injured, 11 died
1990 January 25th. Airplane Crash Long Island, Cove Neck: an
Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel and crashed on landing approach 20
miles from JFK into a wooded area; 73 people died; 85 survived with
injuries
1990 March 25th. Fire Bronx, arson in the illegal Happy Land
Social Club; 87 people died
1993 February 26th. Bombing World Trade Center building: car
bomb exploded in the basement garage; 6 people died and at least 1,000
others injured
1996 July 17th. Airplane Crash New York/Long Island: a TWA Boeing
747 flight 800 exploded in mid-air shortly after take-off from JFK;
all 230 people aboard died
2000 June 21st. Subway-train Crash: Brooklyn: a subway B-train bound
for Manhattan derailed shortly after leaving a station in Brooklyn,
sending 3 cars off the tracks; approximately 80 passengers were injured,
3 of them critically.
1997 February 23rd. Shooting - Manhattan, Empire State Building:
a disgruntled 69-year old man from Palestine started a shooting rampage
on the observation desk (not terrorist related); 2 people died, including
the suicide committing assailant, 7 other tourists were injured; metal
detectors or baggage scanners were not installed at that time.
2001 September 11th. Terrorism: World Trade Center
2001 November 12th. Airplane Crash Queens: An American Airlines
Airbus A-300 crashed into a residential neighborhood shortly after takeoff
from JFK airport; all 260 aboard and 5 people on the ground died
2003 July 23rd.
Shooting - Manhattan, City Hall: A 31-year old gunman opened fire
on a balcony inside City Council Chambers and killed Councilman James
Davis who was standing nearby. The council member from Brooklyn was
known for his crusade against urban violence.
 NYC City Hall |
A plainclothes security officer present in the room responded and shot
assailant, wounding him fatally. The attacker managed to bring the weapon
through the metal detectors by accompanying the Councilman into the
building. This allowed him, like all officials, employees and members
of the press to bypass security checks and the metal detector.
2003 October 15th. - USA, New York State, New York City, Staten
Island: the 300 feet long ferry "Andrew J. Barberi" with a
capacity of 6,000 passengers collided with a concrete pier directly
adjacent to the St. George Ferry Terminal. The impact ripped open the
port side bulkhead along the main deck and caused a portion of the upper
deck to collapse; the New York fire department responded with 70 units
and 225 personnel; 10 people died and 43 were injured.
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