Judge Charles C. Nott Jr. was away in Connecticut when the bomb destroyed his home. The explosion instead killed a night patrolman, William Boehner. He was a private security guard who patrolled the neighborhood as part of his business named "Boehner Manhattan Night Patrol".

The bomb exploded outside the home, heavily damaging the exterior, blowing out the windows, and even cracking open the front stone steps.

Although Judge Nott theorized that the bombing may be related to his sentencing of two anarchists in a foiled bombing of St. Patrick's Cathedral many years earlier, police suspected the bombers may have confused New York judge Charles Nott with federal judge Charles Knox, who presided over cases during the First Red Scare, targeting Bolshevik terrorists. Flyers found nearby were signed as "The Anarchist Fighters" and police attempted to track down the perpetrators based on the unique light red paper used for the flyers.

The bombing was determined to be part of eight simultaneous bombings across eight cities by a group called the Galleanists, followers of Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, targeting judges and government officials. The same group is suspected of carrying out a massive bombing on Wall Street that would occur one year later in 1920.