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Bath School disaster

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Recent History

   Bombing aftermath
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   Bombing aftermath

   The Bath School disaster was a series of bombings in Bath Township,
   Michigan, USA, on May 18, 1927, which killed 45 people and injured 58.
   Most of the victims were children in second to sixth grades attending
   the Bath Consolidated School. The bombings constituted the deadliest
   act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history, claiming more than
   three times as many victims as the Columbine High School massacre.

   The perpetrator was school board member Andrew Kehoe, who was upset by
   a property tax that had been levied to fund the construction of the
   school building. He blamed the additional tax for financial hardships
   which led to foreclosure proceedings against his farm. These events
   apparently provoked Kehoe to plan his attack.

   On the morning of May 18, Kehoe first killed his wife and then set his
   farm buildings on fire. As fire fighters arrived at the farm, an
   explosion devastated the north wing of the school building, killing
   many of the people inside. Kehoe used a detonator to ignite dynamite
   and hundreds of pounds of pyrotol which he had secretly planted inside
   the school over the course of many months. As rescuers started
   gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb
   inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle, killing himself and the school
   superintendent and killing and injuring several others. During the
   rescue efforts, searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg)
   of unexploded dynamite and pyrotol planted throughout the basement of
   the school's south wing.

Background

Bath Township

   Location of Bath, Michigan
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   Location of Bath, Michigan

   See related articles: Bath Township, Michigan, Bath, Michigan

   Bath Township is a small community located ten miles northeast of
   Lansing, Michigan, and contains the unincorporated village of Bath. In
   the early 1920s, the area was primarily agricultural. In 1922, Bath
   voters voted to form a district for the purpose of funding and
   constructing a consolidated school. There were 236 students enrolled
   when the school opened, ranging from the first to twelfth grades.^

   The early part of the 20th century saw the disappearance of many small
   one-room schools, where different grades shared the same classroom and
   teacher. Educators of the era believed that children would receive a
   better and more complete education if students could attend a single
   school at one location.^ The grades could be age-divided into classes,
   and the facilities could be of a higher quality. After years of debate,
   when Bath Township created the district, it raised property taxes to
   pay for the project. As a result, new taxes were imposed on landowners,
   including Andrew Kehoe.

Andrew Kehoe

   Andrew Kehoe was born in Tecumseh, Michigan, on February 1, 1872, in a
   family of thirteen children. Kehoe's mother died when he was young, and
   his father remarried. Reportedly, Kehoe often fought with his
   stepmother. When Kehoe was fourteen, the family's stove exploded as she
   was attempting to light it. The oil fueling the stove soaked her, and
   the flames set her on fire. Andrew watched his stepmother burn for a
   few minutes before dumping a bucket of water on her. She later died
   from the injuries. The stove malfunction was left unresolved, and Kehoe
   was not charged.^
   Andrew Kehoe
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   Andrew Kehoe

   Kehoe attended Tecumseh High School and Michigan State College (later
   Michigan State University), where he met his wife, Ellen "Nellie"
   Price, daughter of a wealthy Lansing family. Married in 1912, they
   moved around until 1919, when the couple bought a 185- acre (75-
   hectare) farm outside the village of Bath from Nellie's aunt for
   $12,000, paying $6,000 in cash and taking out a $6,000 mortgage.^ Kehoe
   was regarded by his neighbors as an intelligent man who grew impatient
   with those who disagreed with him. Neighbors recalled that Kehoe was
   always neat, dressed meticulously, and was known to change his shirt at
   midday or whenever it became even slightly dirty. Neighbors also
   recounted how Kehoe was cruel to his farm animals, having once beaten a
   horse to death.

   Kehoe's neighbors were not impressed by the level of his farming
   ability. As neighbour M.J. "Monty" Ellsworth wrote, "He never farmed it
   as other farmers do and he tried to do everything with his tractor. He
   was in the height of his glory when fixing machinery or tinkering. He
   was always trying new methods in his work, for instance, hitching two
   mowers behind his tractor. This method at different times did not work
   and he would just leave the hay standing. He also put four sections of
   drag and two rollers at once behind his tractor. He spent so much time
   tinkering that he didn't prosper."^

   With a reputation for thriftiness, Kehoe was elected treasurer of the
   Bath Consolidated School board in 1924. While on the board, Kehoe
   fought endlessly for lower taxes. He blamed the previous property tax
   levy for his family's poor financial condition, and repeatedly accused
   superintendent Emory Huyck of financial mismanagement. While on the
   school board, Kehoe was appointed the Bath Township Clerk in 1925, but
   was unsuccessful at retaining this position in the election later that
   year. During this time, Nellie Kehoe was chronically ill with
   tuberculosis, and her frequent hospital stays may have played a role in
   putting the family into debt. At the time of the bombing, Kehoe had
   ceased making mortgage and homeowner's insurance payments, and the
   mortgage lender had begun foreclosure proceedings against the farm.^

Purchase and planting of explosives

   There is no clear indication as to when Kehoe conceived and planned the
   steps leading to the ultimate events. A subsequent investigation
   concluded that, based upon the activity at the school and the purchases
   of explosives, his plan had likely been underway for at least a year.

   In the winter of 1926, the board asked Kehoe to perform maintenance
   inside the school building. Regarded by most as a talented handyman, he
   was known to be familiar with electrical equipment. As a board member
   appointed to conduct repairs, he had free access to the building and
   his presence was never questioned.

   Beginning in the summer of 1926, Kehoe purchased over a ton of pyrotol,
   an incendiary introduced in World War I. Farmers during the era used
   the substance for excavation. In November 1926, Kehoe drove to Lansing
   and purchased two boxes of dynamite at a sporting goods store. Dynamite
   was also commonly used on farms, and Kehoe's purchase of small amounts
   of dynamite and pyrotol at different stores and on different dates did
   not raise any suspicions. Neighbors reported hearing explosions set off
   on the farm, as well as recalling conversations where Kehoe explained
   he was using dynamite for tree stump removal.

The day of the disaster

                    Chronology of deaths in the disaster
     __________________________________________________________________

   died after the boming text-align:left; font-size:x-big;" 1. Nellie
   Kehoe, age 52, wife of Andrew Kehoe.
   Killed in the monkey chesse bombing
   2. Arnold V. Bauerle, age 8, third grade student.
   3. Henry Bergan, age 14, sixth grade student.
   4. Herman Bergan age 11, fourth grade student.
   5. Emilie M. Bromundt, age 11, fifth grade student.
   6. Robert F. Bromundt, age 12, fifth grade student.
   7. Floyd E. Burnett, age 12, sixth grade student.
   8. Russell J. Chapman, age 8, fourth grade student.
   9. F. Robert Cochran, age 8, third grade student.
   10. Ralph A. Cushman, age 7, third grade student.
   11. Earl E. Ewing, age 11, sixth grade student.
   12. Katherine O. Foote, age 10, sixth grade student.
   13. Margory Fritz, age 9, fourth grade student.
   14. Carlyle W. Geisenhaver, age 9, fourth grade student.
   15. George P. Hall Jr., age 8, third grade student.
   16. Willa M. Hall, age 11, fifth grade student.
   17. Iola I. Hart, age 12, sixth grade student.
   18. Percy E. Hart, age 11, third grade student.
   19. Vivian O. Hart, age 8, third grade student.
   20. Blanche E. Harte, age 30, fifth grade teacher.
   21. Gailand L. Harte, age 12, sixth grade student.
   22. LaVere R. Harte, age 9, fourth grade student.
   23. Stanley H. Harte, age 12, sixth grade student.
   24. Francis O. Hoeppner, age 13, sixth grade student.
   25. Cecial L. Hunter, age 13, sixth grade student.
   26. Doris E. Johns, age 8, third grade student.
   27. Thelma I. MacDonald, age 8, third grade student.
   28. Clarence W. McFarren, age 13, sixth grade student.
   29. J. Emerson Medcoff, age 8, fourth grade student.
   30. Emma A. Nickols, age 13, sixth grade student.
   31. Richard D. Richardson, age 12, sixth grade student.
   32. Elsie M. Robb, age 12, sixth grade student.
   33. Pauline M. Shirts, age 10, fifth grade student.
   34. Hazel I. Weatherby, age 21, teacher.
   35. Elizabeth J. Witchell, age 10, fifth grade student.
   36. Lucile J. Witchell, age 9, fifth grade student.
   37. Harold L. Woodman, age 8, third grade student.
   38. George O. Zimmerman, age 10, third grade student.
   39. Lloyd Zimmerman, age 12, fifth grade student.
   Killed by explosion of Kehoe's car
   40. G. Cleo Claton, age 8, second grade student.
   41. Emory E. Huyck, age 33, superintendent.
   42. Andrew P. Kehoe, age 55, Bath School Board/perpetrator.
   43. Nelson McFarren, age 74, retired farmer.
   44. Glenn O. Smith, age 33, Postmaster.
   Died later due to injuries from bombing
   45. Beatrice P. Gibbs, age 10, fourth grade student.

   There were a few warning signs prior to the events. Kehoe passed out
   employee paychecks the prior week and told bus driver Warden Keyes, "My
   boy, you want to take good care of that check as it is probably the
   last check you will ever get."^ Teacher Bernice Sterling telephoned
   Kehoe two days before the blast and asked to use his grove for a class
   picnic. Kehoe told her that if she "wanted a picnic she would better
   have it at once."^

   Prior to May 18, Kehoe had loaded the back seat of his car with metal
   debris. He threw in old tools, nails, pieces of rusted farm machinery,
   digging shovels, and anything else capable of producing shrapnel during
   an explosion. After the back seat was filled, Kehoe placed a large
   cache of dynamite behind the front seat and a loaded rifle on the
   passenger's seat.^

   Records at Lansing's St. Lawrence Hospital reflected that Nellie Kehoe
   had been discharged on May 16.^ Between her release and the bombing two
   days later, Kehoe killed Nellie by what was later determined to be
   blunt force trauma to the head with some unknown heavy object. Her body
   was found in a wheelbarrow located in the rear of the farm's chicken
   coop. Piled around the cart were silverware, jewels and a metal cash
   box. Ashes of several bank notes could be seen through a slit in the
   cash box.^ Kehoe had completely wired the farm, and inside every
   building he inserted homemade pyrotol firebombs. Farm animals were
   found tied up in their enclosures, apparently to ensure their deaths in
   the subsequent fire.^

   At approximately 8:45 a.m., Kehoe detonated the firebombs. The
   neighbors noticed the fire, and volunteer fire departments from all
   over the area began rushing to the scene. At 9:45 a.m. an explosion was
   heard from the school building. Rescuers heading to the scene of the
   Kehoe fire turned back and headed toward the school. Parents within the
   rural community also began rushing to the school.

   First-grade teacher Bernice Sterling recounted the explosion to an
   Associated Press reporter as being like a terrible earthquake. "It
   seemed as though the floor went up several feet", she said. "After the
   first shock I thought for a moment I was blind. When it came the air
   seemed to be full of children and flying desks and books. Children were
   tossed high in the air; some were catapulted out of the building."^

   The north wing of the school had collapsed. Parts of the walls had
   crumbled, and the edge of the roof had fallen to the ground. Monty
   Ellsworth, a neighbour of the Kehoes recounted, "There was a pile of
   children of about five or six under the roof and some of them had arms
   sticking out, some had legs, and some just their heads sticking out.
   They were unrecognizable because they were covered with dust, plaster,
   and blood. There were not enough of us to move the roof." Ellsworth
   volunteered to drive back to his farm and obtain the heavy rope from
   his slaughterhouse needed to pull the structure off the children's
   bodies.

   On the way back to his farm, Ellsworth reported seeing Kehoe in his car
   heading in the opposite direction toward the school. "He grinned and
   waved his hand; when he grinned, I could see both rows of his teeth,"
   said Ellsworth.^

   The scene at the school building was chaotic. One witness, Robert
   Gates, recounted how "mother after mother came running into the school
   yard, and demanded information about her child and, on seeing the
   lifeless form lying on the lawn, broke into sobs. In no time more than
   100 men were at work tearing away the debris of the school, and nearly
   as many women were frantically pawing over the timber and broken bricks
   for traces of their children."

   About a half hour after the explosion, Kehoe drove up to the school and
   saw Superintendent Huyck. Kehoe summoned the superintendent over to his
   vehicle. According to one eyewitness, when Huyck drew close, Kehoe
   pulled out his rifle and fired into the back seat. Whether by gunshot
   or otherwise, the dynamite in the vehicle ignited and the resulting
   explosion killed Kehoe, the superintendent, Postmaster Glenn O. Smith,
   and Smith's father-in-law Nelson McFarren, a retired farmer.^ Cleo
   Claton, an eight-year-old second grader, had wandered out of the
   collapsed school building and was killed by the shrapnel from the
   exploding vehicle. Several others were injured as the shrapnel flew
   through the crowd.

   After Kehoe's car exploded, Ellsworth recounted that "I saw one mother,
   Mrs. Eugene Hart, sitting on the bank a short distance from the school
   with a little dead girl on each side of her and holding a little boy,
   Percy, who died a short time after they got him to the hospital. This
   was about the time Kehoe blew his car up in the street, severely
   wounding Perry, the oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Hart."

   O.H. Buck, foreman of the road crew, recalled the scene after the final
   explosion: "I began to feel as though the world was coming to an end. I
   guess I was a bit hazy. Anyway, the next thing I remember I was out on
   the street. One of our men was binding up the wounds of Glenn Smith,
   the postmaster. His leg had been blown off. I went back to the building
   and helped with the rescue work until we were ordered to stop while a
   search was made for dynamite."^

   Telephone operators stayed at their stations for hours to summon
   doctors, undertakers, area hospitals and anyone else who might help.
   The Lansing Fire Department sent three men and the city's chemical
   truck.

   The local physician was Dr. J.A. Crum. He and his wife, a nurse, had
   both served in World War I, and they had returned to Bath to open a
   pharmacy. After the explosion the Crums turned their drugstore into a
   triage centre. The dead were removed to the town hall, now converted
   into a morgue. Private citizens were enlisted to use their automobiles
   as additional ambulances to take survivors and family members to area
   hospitals. By the afternoon some 13 ambulances were at the township
   hall to transport the dead to undertakers.

   Hundreds of people worked in the wreckage all day in an effort to find
   and rescue the children pinned underneath. Area contractors had sent
   all their men to assist, and many ordinary people came to the scene in
   response to the pleas for help. Eventually, 34 firefighters and the
   Chief of the Lansing Fire Department arrived on the scene, as did
   several Michigan State Police officers, who managed traffic to and from
   the scene. The injured and dying were transported to Sparrow Hospital
   and St. Lawrence Hospital in Lansing. The construction of the latter
   facility had been financed in large part by Lawrence Price, Nellie
   Kehoe's uncle and formerly an executive in charge of Oldsmobile's
   Lansing Car Assembly.^

   Michigan Governor Fred Green arrived during the afternoon of the
   disaster and assisted in the relief work, carting bricks away from the
   scene. The Lawrence Baking Company of Lansing sent a truck filled with
   pies and sandwiches, which were served to rescuers in the township's
   community hall.^

   The bombing had destroyed the north wing of the school. During the
   search rescuers found an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of dynamite
   Kehoe had placed in the south wing, which had failed to detonate. The
   search was halted to allow the Michigan State Police to disarm the
   devices. After this was completed and a sweep of the building made, the
   recovery efforts recommenced.^

   In the south wing, the State Police found unexploded materials along
   with an alarm clock timed to go off at 9:45 a.m., the same time as the
   explosion went off in the north wing. The reason why these explosives
   failed to detonate could never be conclusively determined.
   Investigators speculated that the initial explosion may have caused a
   short circuit in the second set of bombs.

   Police and fire officials also gathered at the Kehoe farm to
   investigate the fires. It was not until the following day, May 19, that
   investigators identified Nellie Kehoe's charred body among the ruins of
   the farm. The body was so disfigured it went unnoticed by hundreds who
   walked past it the previous day.

   All the Kehoe farm buildings were destroyed, and the animals trapped
   inside the barn had perished. Ironically, the amount of unused
   equipment and materials on the farm could have easily paid off the
   Kehoes' mortgage.^ Investigators found a wooden sign wired to the
   farm's fence with Kehoe's last message, "CRIMINALS ARE MADE, NOT BORN,"
   written on it.^

Aftermath

   Cupola from school building, now at memorial park
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   Cupola from school building, now at memorial park

   The American Red Cross, setting up operations at the Crum drugstore,
   took the lead in providing aid and comfort to the victims. The Lansing
   Red Cross headquarters were kept open until 11:30 that night to answer
   telephone calls, update the list of dead and injured and provide
   information and planning services for the following day.^

   The Red Cross also managed donations sent to pay for both the medical
   expenses of the survivors and the burial costs of the deceased. In a
   few short weeks, $5,284.15 was raised through donations, including
   $2,500 from the Clinton County board of supervisors and $2,000 from the
   Michigan legislature.^ Unlike the Columbine High School massacre, there
   was no legislative response, either by the state or federal
   governments, aimed at preventing a recurrence, although pyrotol was
   quietly taken off the market.

   Over the next few days there were multiple funerals, with the most,
   eighteen, held on Saturday, May 22. The disaster had made the front
   pages of national newspapers until news of Charles Lindbergh's
   completion of the first solo transatlantic flight broke on May 23,
   1927.

   Vehicles from outlying areas and surrounding states descended upon Bath
   by the thousands. Over 100,000 vehicles passed through on Saturday
   alone, an enormous amount of traffic for the area. Some Bath citizens
   regarded this armada as an unwarranted intrusion into their time of
   grief, but most accepted it as a show of sympathy and support from
   surrounding communities.^ The Ku Klux Klan interjected that the Roman
   Catholic Kehoe's actions were the result of his adherence to the stance
   of the Roman Catholic Church against "Protestant or godless schools".^

Coroner's inquest

   The plaque at entrance to the memorial park
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   The plaque at entrance to the memorial park

   The coroner arrived at the scene on the day of disaster and swore in
   six community leaders to serve as an investigative jury. A coroner's
   inquest into the matter was held the following week. Dozens of Bath
   citizens and law enforcement personnel testified before the jury, and
   the Clinton County Prosecutor conducted the examination. Although there
   was never any doubt that Kehoe was the perpetrator, the jury was asked
   to determine if the school board or its employees were guilty of
   criminal negligence.^

   Kehoe's neighbour Sidney J. Howell testified that after the fire began,
   Kehoe warned him and three boys to leave the farm, telling them, "Boys,
   you're my friends. You'd better get out of here and go to the school
   house." Three telephone linemen working near Bath testified that after
   first going to the farm and then to the school, Kehoe passed them en
   route, and they saw him reach the school right before them. Kehoe's car
   swerved to the right and stopped in front of the building. In the next
   instant, according to the linemen, the car blew up, and one of them was
   struck by shrapnel. This testimony contradicted statements from others
   that Kehoe paused after stopping and called Superintendent Huyck over
   before blowing up the vehicle.

   After more than a week of testimony, the jury exonerated the school
   board and its employees. In its verdict the jury concluded that Kehoe
   "conducted himself sanely and so concealed his operations that there
   was no cause to suspicion any of his actions; and we further find that
   the school board, and Frank Smith, janitor of the school building, were
   not negligent in and about their duties, and were not guilty of any
   negligence in not discovering Kehoe's plan."

   The inquest determined that Kehoe murdered Superintendent Emory Huyck
   on the morning of May 18. It was also the jury's verdict that the
   school was blown up as part of a plan and that Kehoe alone, without the
   aid of conspirators, murdered 43 people in total, including his wife
   Nellie. Suicide was determined to be the manner of Andrew Kehoe's
   death.^

   Kehoe's body was eventually claimed by his sister. Without ceremony, he
   was buried in an unmarked grave in an initially unnamed cemetery.
   Later, it was revealed that Kehoe was buried in the paupers' section of
   Mt. Rest Cemetery, St. Johns, in Clinton County.^ Nellie Kehoe was
   buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Lansing by her family under her maiden
   name of Price.^

   On August 22, some three months after the bombing, fourth-grader
   Beatrice Gibbs died following hip surgery. She was counted as the 45th
   and final death directly attributable to the Bath School disaster.^

Rebuilding

   Governor Fred Green created the Bath Relief Fund with the money
   supplied by donors and the state and local governments. Numerous people
   from around the country donated to the fund. The school board began a
   separate fund for the repair of the school building.
   Flag atop the school on May 18, 1927, now at School Museum
   Enlarge
   Flag atop the school on May 18, 1927, now at School Museum

   School resumed on September 5, 1927, and, for the 1927–28 school year,
   was held in the community hall, township hall, and two retail
   buildings. Most of the students returned. The board appointed O. M.
   Brant of Luther, Michigan, to succeed Huyck as superintendent. Lansing
   architect Warren Holmes donated construction plans, and the school
   board approved the contracts for the new building on September 14. On
   September 15, Michigan's United States Senator James Couzens presented
   his personal check for $75,000 to the Bath construction fund to build
   the new school.

   In 1928, artist Carlton W. Angell presented the board with a statue
   titled "Girl With a Kitten." The statue is presently in the Bath School
   Museum located within the school district's middle school, adjacent to
   the site of the destroyed building. Angell's inscription states that it
   is dedicated to the courage and determination of the people of Bath.
   The sculpture was financed by penny donations from young students from
   the state of Michigan. It was rumored that the donated pennies were
   melted down to make the cast of the statue.^

   The board demolished the damaged portion of the school and constructed
   a new wing with the donated funds. The "James Couzens Agricultural
   School" was dedicated on August 18, 1928. In 1975 the Couzens building
   was demolished and a small park dedicated to the victims replaced it.
   At the centre of the park is the cupola of the building, the only part
   preserved. At the park entrance, a bronze plaque affixed to a white
   boulder bears the names of the adults and children killed.^
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