6 In 1920, Wall Street in New York City fell victim to a deadly terrorist attack. To this day, no one has claimed responsibility or been prosecuted for the attack.

September 16, 1920, Wall Street in New York was bustling as usual with bankers and stockbrokers when an unforeseen event took place. As the church bells struck 12 noon, 100 pounds of dynamite detonated in front of the Assay Office.

Apparently, the dynamite was concealed in a horse-drawn wagon that had been parked for some time in front of the Assay Office. A J.P. Morgan employee, Andrew Dunn, later recalled, “That was the loudest noise I ever heard in my life. It was enough to knock you out by itself.”

That day Wall Street looked like more of a battlefield than a financial district. The streets were covered with debris, blood, and charred bodies. The explosion killed 30 men and women on the spot. Later, eight more people succumbed to their injuries. Hundreds of people were injured with many of them getting serious burns.

A day after the attack, postal workers uncovered flyers that have been dropped into the mailboxes in Wall Street. The flyers read, “Remember, we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners, or it will be sure death for all of you.

American Anarchist Fighters.” This immediately led the authorities to suspect the Galleanists, a gang of anti-government Italian anarchists led by Luigi Galleani, but they could not uncover any more evidence to charge the Galleanists.

The FBI followed numerous leads but they couldn’t come close to any significant evidence. The last known inquiry into the bombing took place in 1944. The FBI reopened the case and concluded that the explosion was most likely caused by “Italian anarchists or Italian terrorists.”

Mario Buda, a Galleanist, was also considered as a likely suspect but was never charged. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack even after 98 years. (source)

7 During the WWII, French women having babies with German soldiers were punished by shaving their heads bald. This was done so that everyone would know they betrayed their country.

There are many dark sides to war, and in most cases, it is the innocent and oppressed that suffer. One such dark side to the war was the brutal head-shaving and beating of women in France who had been charged with collaborating with the enemy. Basically, the women, who have been known to have physical relationships with German soldiers, were publicly harassed and punished by shaving their head bald.

The punishment of shaving women’s hair, which is supposed to be the most seductive feature of a woman, dates back to the biblical times. It was a common punishment for adultery. During the 20th century, it was reintroduced as a means to ridicule women who had physical relationships with the enemy or were prostitutes.

During World War II, this act of humiliation was repeated on French women accused of collaborating with the German soldiers. Apart from shaving their heads, they were paraded in the streets, marked with black ink, and even stripped half-naked. At least 20,000 women have been documented to have had their heads shaved. (source)

8 Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s (secret) medical report could have saved India from getting partitioned.

Freedom at Midnight, a book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, delves into the partition of India. According to them, the partition could have been avoided if “the most closely guarded secret in India” had been known. The secret was that Jinnah was suffering from tuberculosis and had just a year or two to live.

How would that knowledge have stopped the partition? If the people opposing the partition would have had knowledge of Jinnah’s approaching demise, then they would have definitely stalled the process until he was too ill to make decisions or had passed away. Jinnah knew this and kept his secret well-guarded. He died 11 months after the formation of Pakistan. (source)

9 In the 1960s, the CIA spent $20 million to train cats to be spies. Known as the Acoustic Kitty Project, the first mission was sabotaged when the cat was allegedly killed by a taxi.

The Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology branch of the CIA was responsible for launching the Acoustic Kitty Project. Their main intention was to use cats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies.

The procedure involved implanting a microphone in the cat’s ear canal. Also, a small radio transmitter was placed at the base of the cat’s skull and a thin wire went into its fur. The cat would be able to record as well as transmit sounds from its surroundings.

The first mission for the Acoustic Kitty Project was to eavesdrop on two men who were talking in the park. The cat was released nearby, but it was immediately killed by a taxi. In 2013, a former director of the technical branch of the CIA, Robert Wallace, said that the project was abandoned due to difficulties in training the cats.

In any case, the project was considered a failure and was shut down in 1967. A former CIA officer, Victor Marchetti, said that the project cost around $20 million. (source)

10 In September 1957, a group of nine brave Black students, known as the Little Rock Nine, enrolled in an all-White school. There was so much protest that 1,200 soldiers had to escort them for their first class.

The Little Rock Nine referred to a group of nine African-American students who enrolled in the Little Rock Central High School. The year was 1957. During that time, most of the schools in America practiced segregation laws in which Black students were not allowed to attend all-White schools.

The Supreme Court had passed a law in 1954 that asked all schools to abolish segregation. The Little Rock Central High School agreed to comply with the law and implemented the registration of Black students in 1957.

There were many protests when the news of nine Black students being admitted to the all-White school got out. Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to physically block the students from entering the school campus.

One of the nine students, Elizabeth Eckford, recalled later, “They moved closer and closer. … Somebody started yelling. … I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the crowd—someone who maybe could help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.”

The crowd became so hostile towards the young students that President Eisenhower had to send federal troops for their security. One thousand two hundred soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army were ordered to accompany the nine students. Amidst verbal and physical abuse, the nine made their way into the school towards the end of September 1957.

Even though the Little Rock Nine made their way into the school on 25th September, they had to suffer the abuse of their White counterparts throughout their school years. But they had the courage to go back every day. In 1999, each of the nine students was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the then US President Bill Clinton. (source)