J.P. Morgan

Shortly before midnight on Friday, July 2, 1915, police responded to the U.S. Capitol where an explosion had just rocked the Senate wing. Fortunately they found no fatalities – a byproduct of the fact that Congress was not in session and the building was lightly staffed at night. But, there was plenty of carnage and, obviously, great concern about security.

The next evening, Washingtonians opened their Evening Star newspaper to find a peculiar letter under the headline, “Letter Received by the Star Thought to Have Bearing on the Explosion.” The diatribe began, “Unusual times and circumstances call for unusual means.”

Given that he was a pretty important fellow with a busy schedule, it’s also no surprise that J.P. Morgan didn’t want to waste a lot of time in transit between D.C. and New York. After all, he had deals to strike, businesses to reorganize and railroads to consolidate amongst other items on his “to-do” list. And so, on January 23, 1911, Morgan took it upon himself to set a new world record for rail travel between D.C. and the Big Apple.