title: The Mad Bomber of New York: The Extraordinary True Story of the Manhunt That Paralyzed a City
author:  Michael M. Greenburg 
description: Greenburg (Peaches and Daddy) hits all the requisite marks in this intriguing but slow-moving chronicle of a serial bomber whose "career" spanned 16 years between 1940 and 1956. Dubbed the "Mad Bomber" by the New York City press, George Metesky's troubles began while he was working at Con Edison's Hell Gate power plant, when an industrial accident left him, he said, with chronic tuberculosis. His worker's compensation claim was denied on a technicality. Meteskylater diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenicdevised a scheme to "punish" Con Ed by planting homemade pipe bombs throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, first at a Con Ed plant, and then in public places, including Radio City Music Hall, Penn Station, Grand Central Station, and movie theaters. Miraculously, only eight people were injured and no one was killed during the spree. Greenburg's account picks up speed with Metesky's apprehension in 1957, after he published letters in a New York newspaper giving some identifying details. A debate raged over his competency to stand trial and which borough would try him. Greenburg, a practicing attorney, weights his account too heavily on the repetitious hunt for Metesky when his legal expertise might have been better used exploring the complex questions of legal competency. (Apr.) <br />(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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  ![Cover](images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## First Activation
  
  
    
  
  
  ### D. A. Wearmouth
  
  
  ### M. P. Wearmouth
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  HARRY and his brother JACK are on an airline flight, headed for a wild
  weekend–a ritual they have enjoyed every May since leaving the army. The trip
  takes a terrifying turn when they land in New York—this year’s destination—to
  find that JFK airport is almost deserted and that the few ground crew they can
  spot have all been brutally slaughtered. Is it a terrorist attack? Or
  something even more menacing? When a security guard appears and offers to help
  the passengers, but promptly shoots the first person off the plane and then
  kills himself, Harry realises that there is something very, very wrong in New
  York City.
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## D.A. & M.P. Wearmouth
  
  
  ## FIRST ACTIVATION
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Chapter 1 – The Plane
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  At thirty-six thousand feet high and travelling six hundred miles per hour,
  our Friday morning flight from Mancheste