#con edison

Office of the system operator of New York Edison Co., which distributed all the power generated by the Edison and Allied Companies, October 9, 1928. It looks like old Hollywood's idea of a computer, but the reality was much lower tech. In case of a storm, the operator rang a bell from the storm detector on the roof and ordered the stations to increase their capacity. He knew the capacity, the numbers of feeders in operation, and the voltage generated by looking at the control pilot board, shown above.

Model for ConEdison’s new nuclear power plant

On This Day in New York City History January 21, 1957: After a 16-year bomb planting spree, George Metesky (November 2, 1903 - May 23, 1994) aka The Mad Bomber is arrested at his home in Waterbury, Connecticut. 

Metesky's M.O. was placing pipe bombs in New York City public spaces such as libraries, theaters, phone booths, public restrooms, bus and train terminals. Luckily, while two thirds of his bombs exploded none of the explosions led to casualties. When asked why he was engaging in terrorism for such a long time, he placed blame on his employer Con Edison.

In the letters sent by Metesky to the New York Journal-American newspaper, he claimed that he was leaving bombs because he was never properly compensated for an injury we sustained while working for Con Ed. It would take the work of Con Ed clerk Alice Kelly to discover who the Mad Bomber was.

Kelly was going over worker's compensation files when she discovered a file that had the key words "injustice" and "permanent disability" written on them. Both words had been prominent in the notes that Metesky had sent to the newspaper.

While Metesky was looking for his day in court to show the world how negligent Con Edison was, he would not get his way. Metesky would be found to not be competent enough to stand trial due to reasons of insanity. He was sent to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. He would be later transfered to Creedmoor Psychiatric Center where he stayed until being released in 1973. 

#MadBomber #GeorgeMetesky #ConEd #NewYorkJournalAmerican #NewspaperHistory #CrimeHistory #NewYorkHistory #NYHistory #NYCHistory #History #Historia #Histoire #Geschichte #HistorySisco 

Lower East Side, 1976

PHOTO: John Rosenthal

Clouds (No. 236)