This past week has seen a lot of local anxiety due to the bombing of the Boston Marathon on Monday, especially since the Monument 10K in Richmond was held just before it.

WTVR’s reporter Mark Holmberg recently did a piece on the history of local bombings.

One that he did not include was the 1903 bombing of a Laurel Street streetcar. Click here for the old Times Dispatch newspaper story about that. In that case, the incident was suspected to be related to the labor strife of competing trolley lines.

It’s not always easy to sort out the motivations for such acts. As we wait to learn more about the Boston Marathon suspects, its hard not to wonder what would drive people to do such things.