The quaint little cemetery that houses the mortal remains of former President James Monroe shot into public gaze when a garbage bag containing 10 pounds of military-grade C-4 explosives was found. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly did not feel that the explosives had any connection with terrorism since there were no detonators along with it. He felt that the bag of explosives might be several years old based on the condition of the bag and its contents. T he garbage bag full of military explosives was initially found by the caretaker of the cemetery mid last year. Since he didn’t know what was inside he left it standing by the fence for a whole year. On Sunday, a volunteer and few cemetery board members came across it during a tour. Although the individually wrapped bricks had explosives written clearly written on it, it looked so old and crumbly that they assumed it was a movie prop. They carried it over to the garbage dump and left it there. The volunteer had second thoughts later in the day and decided to inform the police about the bag.
The New York City Marble Cemetery is situated in a neighborhood with a history of political radicalism. The Hells Angels clubhouse, which is a part of the police inquiry, is situated only half a block away from the cemetery. The members of the group denied any knowledge of the explosives. The police have also found a message on the sidewalk outside the cemetery written in chalk which said ‘I hope one of you find this.’ The police however have not been able to definitely say that this had anything to do with the bag that was found inside.
In another incident on the same day, the police have found what they describe as a rambling religious message written on a piece of paper in a squad car parked nearby. The note has referred to the street on which the cemetery is located.
The explosives have been taken to the police bomb lab in Bronx for further analysis.
