Behind Lady Liberty's Right Shoulder! Women of Courage: In the Explosions At Black Tom Island and Kingsland, New Jersey: 1916-1917

By Susan Anthony-Tolbert

Before the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Nine-Eleven Twin Towers Attack, there were the Black Tom Island and the Kingsland Explosions of 1916 and 1917 respectively. There were acts of sabotage as well as terror. The Black Tom Explosion in New Jersey has been historically described as one of the worst acts of terrorism on U.S. soil. Three women, (Anna Rushnak, Lulu Chapman and Mena Edwards) unlikely witnesses to the events at Black Tom, were vital in initiating and in furthering the investigation into this terrorism. Anna and Lulu faced the awful and awesome tasks of realizing that one of their own relatives (Michael Kristoff) was a saboteur in the Black Tom Explosion and had to be reported. This report started the investigation into the possibility of German sabotage. Only a few miles away, but widely separated by culture, by fame, and by circumstance was the young and beautiful Kodak model, Mena Edwards. She traveled in the highest and most elite German circles in Manhattan. It would take her a few years to report what she knew about Black Tom This book is the story of these four women and their acts of courage: acts that differed in how and when they occurred and in the circumstances faced by these women, but courageous nonetheless but once she did, she opened doors for the Mixed Claims Commission to require Germany to make reparations for its acts of sabotage on U.S. soil. Though there are excellent accounts of the Black Tom Explosion itself and circumstances surrounding it, none emphasize the roles of these three women. In terms of the Kingsland Explosion, Tessie McNamara stayed at her switchboard making calls and warning workers until she was almost blown out of her office. Her actions are credited with saving about 1400 workers at the plant. America's "Telephone Girl" did receive adulation at the time but her act of courage must never be forgotten. A new generation of reader needs to consider how she responded. This book is the story of these four women an

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543962147

Book preview

(Pictures of the women on the cover and on the title page are from the Public Domain and in the case of Mena, Anna and Lulu from the Black Tom Story, these resemble descriptions of the main characters. No actual pictures of these women could be found. The fourth picture is Tessie McNamara and that is her photo from the newspaper.)

ISBN: 9781543962147

Susan Anthony-Tolbert

2019, All rights reserved.All photos shown in this book were found in the Public Domain. All proceeds will benefit non-profit Historical Societies and Foundations.

Dedication

To all those women throughout history who have performed courageous acts whether publicly acknowledged or in private and especially to the four women of these stories: Anna, Lulu, Mena and Tessie.

To all those who suffered through an act or acts of terrorism, especially the Nine-Eleven Twin Towers Attack and the Oklahoma City Bombing.

To my husband, Dorian, for his never-ending love, friendship and support.

(This Photo is in the Public Domain.)

Table of Contents

Prologue: July 28th, 29th, and 30th, in NYC and Surrounding Areas

Chapter One: Background to The Acts of Courage 

Chapter Two: Life in Bayonne for Anna Rushnak and Lulu Chapman

Chapter Three: Early Summer, 1916, Bayonne, New Jersey

Chapter Four: Michael Felix Kristoff and the Black Tom Explosion

Chapter Five: The Kodak Girl, Miss Mena Edwards

Chapter Six: Black Tom Explosions: Early Morning Hours of July 30, 1916

Chapter Seven: The Aftermath of the Explosions: Costs and Concerns

Chapter Eight: Anna, Lulu and Mena Shortly after the Black Tom Explosions

Chapter Nine: Michael Felix Kristoff after the Black Tom Explosion

Chapter Ten: Another Woman of Courage in the Struggle against German Saboteurs:  The Story of Kingsland and Tessie McNamara

Chapter Eleven: The Explosion at Kingsland

Chapter Twelve: The Mixed Claims Commission and the Affidavits of Anna, Lulu and Mena

Chapter Thirteen: Epilogue: What Happened to the Women of Courage?

Appendix

References

About the Author

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank my husband, Dorian Tolbert, for providing not only technical computer skills, but for discussing the details of the Black Tom Explosion and the Kingsland Explosion ad infinitum while I wrote this book.

        Thanks are in order to Dr. Margery Miller, Mr. Victor Gramigna-Robertson; Mr. and Mrs. Bud Disney for their encouragement and support as always. I am indeed fortunate to call them life-long friends.

        Deep appreciation is offered to Mr. J. Don Horton, President, WW II Coastwise Mariners, who, as always, provided his expertise on all things related to barges, tugs, the sea, seaports and coastwise shipping in the eras of World War One and World War Two. I consider myself very lucky to have him as a dear friend and as a consultant.

        In writing this book, the availability of newspapers from the times of the explosions was a tremendous benefit. I tried to read as many accounts of these acts of sabotage from newspapers all over the United States as possible. It was not feasible to include every newspaper article I read. However, the articles referenced should give the reader a feeling for what was reported; how it was reported and for the time line of the reporting. The text offers readers accounts from the following newspapers: The New York Times; The New York Sun, The New York Star; the New York Herald; The New York Tribune; The New York Daily News; The Philadelphia Inquirer; The Baltimore Sun; The Asbury Park News;  The Scranton Republican; The Central New Jersey Home News; The Evening Times , Sayre, Pa; The Atlantic Tribune; The Kingston Daily Freeman; The York Daily; The Evening Public Ledger; and The Courier News of Bridgewater, New Jersey.

      The accounts and information from the Mixed Claims Commission, United States and Germany, Record Group 76 housed at College Park, Maryland were invaluable and a treasure-trove of information on the Black Tom Sabotage and the Kingsland Sabotage. An explanation of the workings and determinations of this Commission are presented in Chapter 12. For further information on the Commission the reader is encouraged to access https://history.army.mil/reference/Nararg.HTM and https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10497539.

Prologue: July 28th, 29th, and 30th, 1916 in NYC and Surrounding Areas

        World War One was raging in Europe and had been for about two years. President Wilson was elected on a "Keep America out of War" Platform. Many Americans considered that the war was far away, across an ocean, over-there and would not directly impinge on their way of life. There were others who were not so sure. There were some who were making millions of dollars by selling goods and munitions to the Allies. Manufacturers, steel mills, chemical plants and railroad companies transporting munitions and goods benefited from a war in which the U.S. was neutral. Workers did too! There was a ready supply of jobs –- much needed jobs.

        By the 29th and 30th of July, 1916, the United States was not quite as neutral as Wilson proclaimed. In addition to selling munitions to the Allies, the U.S. was interring ships of the Central Powers that had sought refuge in American ports from the superior British Navy. German sailors were also being interred. As can easily be imagined, Germany objected.

If Americans were thinking of foreign politics, their concern would more likely be with Mexico than Europe.  Power had been seized in Mexico by a so-called despot named General Victoriano Heurta.  He had murdered Francisco Madero, the former leader. Wilson dispatched American troops to rid Mexico of Heurta, a thorn in Wilson’s side for sure.  In 1916, the President saw himself as the Apostle of Peace and his deployment of troops as missionary diplomacy. After recognizing the ‘new’ government of Venustiano Carranza, the U.S. found itself in conflict with a former Carranza ally, Pancho Villa.  The cat-and- mouse chases between him and the U.S. Army under General Pershing were headline news.  In the minds of many U.S. citizens, Villa came to represent mindless violence, blatant robbery and reckless endangerment. March of 1916 saw Pancho Villa invade U.S. territory.  Though he was never captured, it was not because of a lack of pursuit by the U.S. Army.  Things were quite tense for a time but then in February, 1917 normal diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Mexico were finally restored and U.S. troops were withdrawn.   

        The year 1916 was also a time of exciting inventions, new trends and the development of new products. Nineteen sixteen was the year of the famous Coco Cola formula; the invention of the Tommy gun and the bobby pin; the publication of Einstein’s theory of relativity; and the introduction of windshield wipers for automobiles. Ked sneakers (Keds) were beginning to be sold for walkers of all ages. Enrico Caruso recorded ‘O Solo Mio’ for the Victor Talking Machine Company.

        Women were demanding more rights. This was also the year of better recognition for women swimmers: the first U.S. National women’s swimming competition was held. Mary Pickford became the first female film star to get a million dollar contract.  Jeannette Rankin was the first women to be elected to Congress as the Republican representative from Montana.  And, women’s skirts were rising to about 10 inches from the floor instead of ankle length.

Frozen foods were appearing in grocery stores. Kraft cheese had been on the market for a year. Both were exceedingly popular. Bayer aspirin was relieving pain. The first blood transfusions with cooled and stored blood were being used.  Taxicabs had also been introduced the previous year and were going strong. NYC would soon become the ‘land of the taxi!’

        The weather for Friday, July 28th and for Saturday, July 29th was stellar in New York and the surrounding Jersey cities: a mild 65 in the morning with a day-time high of 74 and a return to 65 at night. These were the type of summer days that encouraged the middle and upper class New Yorkers and New Jerseyites to go outside. Trips to Coney Island were planned that Friday. Those families headed out for a day of fun on Saturday morning. Neighbors conversed on the sidewalks.  It there were any glitches in the spectacular weekend that lay ahead, they were the strike of the railroad employees who worked the streetcars in the city, specifically the Red Line; an epidemic of polio and the reports of shark sightings off the beaches of Brooklyn and Long Island. These would encourage some to stay home, sleep late, and have a leisurely breakfast over the newspapers of the day. This Friday was the day when a pinch hitter for the Brooklyn Robins gave them a narrow win over the St. Louis Cardinals. New Yorkers were delighted with Casey Stengel! For those not interested in baseball, they could look forward to Saturday matinees; orchestra concerts; or the Ziegfeld Follies. It should be noted, however, that because of the infantile paralysis scare children under 16 were not allowed in many theaters.

        That Friday night of July 28th, a beautiful young photographic model, an American, was one of the first to arrive at 123 West 15th Street in Manhattan, New York.  She was slim, feminine, dressed meticulously and was somewhat conversant in German. She slipped quietly into the downstairs entrance of the building owned by a new-found friend. Then, this hostess escorted her upstairs to one of the parlors where she sat posed and poised to the delight of the arriving male guests. Other pretty women arrived. German business men, German military, and German diplomats who were living in the U.S., whether as naturalized citizens, visitors, or second generation, came one by one. The guests at the brownstone never came in groups. It was always one by one. They rarely left in groups. Again, the departures were one by one.  This downstairs entrance of 123 West Fifteenth Street became quite heavily trafficked among visitors and quite frequently discussed by neighbors during 1915 and 1916. 

Delicious food and seemingly unlimited quantities of wine were always available at 123! On that night, as had been the case for many nights before, there were maps of strategic local American targets with directions. There were discussions of plans and types of explosives in German. The hostess sang several operatic selections also in German. The neighbors were well aware of the frequent guests, the operatic concerts, and the young women whom they judged to be prostitutes. These were the topic of discussions when neighbors would meet and greet each other in their walks along West 15th Street. There were always a few parked cars on the street of this affluent neighborhood in Manhattan. Yet, there were always taxis arriving and leaving from 123.  Whether the young model went upstairs to offer ‘pleasure’ to one of the German guests that night will never be known.  What is certain: she heard enough about plans for the attack on that Jersey Terminal to make her tremble with fear. In fact, all the way back to her less-than-luxurious hotel that night she worried. She knew full well what was to happen. She feared losing the lifestyle she had come to love. She feared what was to happen to the men at that "Jersey Terminal" and to those in the surrounding neighborhoods.  Of course, she had no idea of how very bad things would be.  The next morning, she boarded a train to the Atlantic Highlands to visit a friend.  All along, she knew the right thing to do, but at that moment she lacked the courage to do it. That courage would come later, much later. The questions for her at the time would be: if and when she should report what she knew; to whom should she report what she knew and who would believe her. Many Americans had no idea that there were saboteurs among them before U.S. involvement in the war. Even in the face of approximately 50 explosions at munitions plants throughout the country in 1915 and 1916, sabotage was not a popular contender as a cause! After all, munitions are dangerous and highly explosive. Accidents can and do happen –- well, not always are they accidents, as will be seen later.

        For an older woman and her daughter across the river in Bayonne, New Jersey, that Friday and Saturday held no promise of  fun at Coney Island or at a theater. There were to be no elaborate dinners and fine wines. Any food that would be served would be prepared by them for hours over a hot stove. They ran boarding homes and were very busy cleaning, cooking, and carrying groceries from the local stores. The beautiful weather certainly did make their tasks easier but there was no rest. The father and brothers of this mother and daughter would be working until the 5 o’clock whistle at the local oil plants and /or steel mills on both Friday and Saturday. Their lives centered on six-day- a-week work. Both women cared for boarders, mostly Slovaks.  In fact, Slovak was the language used in the mother’s home. This family was deeply embedded in the Slovak community.  The younger woman was married and was several months pregnant. Her husband was a clerk at one of the grocery stores in the neighborhood. She and her family knew nothing of events at 123 West 15th Street. They also had no clue as to what the landmark arrival, three weeks earlier, of a German merchant submarine in Baltimore might mean.  The Deutschland made a spectacular trip up the Chesapeake Bay; docked at Baltimore under heavy security and barbed wire fencing; unloaded her cargo( oh, and what cargo that would be!) and fled back down the Bay. While in the port of Baltimore, the Captain and a skipper (a future saboteur) assigned to direct the docking and unloading of the Deutschland, were the toast of Baltimore Society.

A few miles away from the lives and neighborhoods of Jersey City, a young woman was deeply committed in her life-long career. She was employed as a stenographer/telephone operator at a munitions plant in Kingsland, New Jersey. That Saturday of July 29th was her day of rest. She was organizing herself for the work-week ahead. This would include planning her attire, not only for her job but for Church the next day as well. She loved her job and her sense of accomplishment as a ‘working gal.’  She prided herself on her skills, on her commitment to her job and her new-found position at the plant. Despite how some young women were treated at that particular time in history, this young lady was respected by the supervisors and laborers at the plant. And, she had a large Irish family that was close-knit, spirited, humorous and devoted. She was a Catholic and her Church played a big role in her life back in 1916, just as it would in the years to come. 

        Other than the model who had made her way to the Atlantic Highland, none of the other three had any idea that  a mere 15 hours from that Saturday morning, their lives would be changed; their world would be changed; the world would be changed and changed forever! At 2: 08 A. M. Sunday, July 30th, all hell would break loose not far from their homes. The need for courage would be thrust upon all four women.     

Chapter One: Background To the Acts of Courage

Throughout the accounts of World War I, the enormous sacrifices of the military men (and most were males at that time in U.S. history) are certainly obvious. However, women made outstanding contributions and sacrifices too. They served in the U.S. Army and Navy as well as in the Red Cross. They worked near battlefields in the Salvation Army and YMCAs.  Approximately 23,000 nurses served to minister to the ill, wounded, and debilitated soldiers of World War I.1 Some of the women’s contributions were completely overlooked or received short shrift at the conclusion of the war.  Historical accounts have not served those women well. Recently, many of their courageous deeds are coming to light and being celebrated in greater detail. As they should be! 

        There are four women who, in the opinion