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Bath School disaster

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Bombing aftermath

The Bath School disaster was a series of bombings of a farm, school and car in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927. The bombings killed 45 people and injured an additional 58; most of these were children in the second through sixth grades. The Bath School disaster is the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in United States history, claiming more than three times as many victims as the Columbine High School massacre.

Bath Consolidated school board member Andrew Kehoe was upset by a property tax levy used to fund the school building. He blamed the additional tax for putting his farm into foreclosure. 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 rocked the school building. A detonator Kehoe planted in the school ignited dynamite and hundreds of pounds of pyrotol. The detonation killed the majority of the victims. While rescuers were gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped and detonated a bomb in his shrapnel-filled vehicle. With this, Kehoe killed himself and the school superintendent, as well as killing and injuring several more. 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

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 the Bath voters elected to form a district for the purpose of funding and constructing a consolidated school. On the day of the disaster, there were 236 students enrolled within the school ranging from the first to twelfth grades.[1]

The early part of the 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.[2] The grades could be age-divided into classes, and the facilities could be of a higher quality. After years of debate, Bath Township created a district and property taxes were raised to pay for the project. As a result, the new taxes were imposed on landowners, including Andrew Kehoe.

Andrew Kehoe

Andrew Kehoe was born in Tecumseh, Michigan, on February 1, 1872. One 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 never criminally charged.[3]

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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 rather wealthy family. Married in 1912, they moved around until in 1919 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.[4] 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 in midday or whenever it became even slightly dirty. Neighbors also recounted how Kehoe was cruel to his farm animals, having once beat a horse to death.[5]

Kehoe's neighbors were not impressed with the extent of his farming ability. As neighbor 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."[6]

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 attributed the previous property tax levy for his family's poor financial condition and repeatedly blamed the superintendent Emory Huyck for financial mismanagement. While continuing to hold his seat 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 bank had begun foreclosure proceedings against the farm.[7]

Purchase and planting of explosives

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Explosives recovered from under the school

There was 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. And 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.[8]

The day of the disaster

Chronology of deaths in the disaster
Died before the bombings
1. Nellie Kehoe, age 52, wife of Andrew Kehoe.
Killed due to the School 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. Beatrice P. Gibbs, age 10, fourth grade student.
16. George P. Hall Jr., age 8, third grade student.
17. Willa M. Hall, age 11, fifth grade student.
18. Iola I. Hart, age 12, sixth grade student.
19. Percy E. Hart, age 11, third grade student.
20. Vivian O. Hart, age 8, third grade student.
21. Blanche E. Harte, age 30, fifth grade teacher.
22. Gailand L. Harte, age 12, sixth grade student.
23. LaVere R. Harte, age 9, fourth grade student.
24. Stanley H. Harte, age 12, sixth grade student.
25. Francis O. Hoeppner, age 13, sixth grade student.
26. Cecial L. Hunter, age 13, sixth grade student.
27. Doris E. Johns, age 8, third grade student.
28. Thelma I. MacDonald, age 8, third grade student.
29. Clarence W. McFarren, age 13, sixth grade student.
30. J. Emerson Medcoff, age 8, fourth grade student.
31. Emma A. Nickols, age 13, sixth grade student.
32. Richard D. Richardson, age 12, sixth grade student.
33. Elsie M. Robb, age 12, sixth grade student.
34. Pauline M. Shirts, age 10, fifth grade student.
35. Hazel I. Weatherby, age 21, school teacher.
36. Elizabeth J. Witchell, age 10, fifth grade student.
37. Lucile J. Witchell, age 9, fifth grade student.
38. Harold L. Woodman, age 8, third grade student.
39. George O. Zimmerman, age 10, third grade student.
40. Lloyd Zimmerman, age 12, fifth grade student.
Killed after Kehoe's car exploded
41. G. Cleo Claton, age 8, second grade student.
42. Emory E. Huyck, age 33, superintendent.
43. Andrew P. Kehoe, age 55, Bath School Board.
44. Nelson McFarren, age 74, retired farmer.
45. Glenn O. Smith, age 33, Postmaster.

There were a few warning signs prior to the events. Kehoe passed out employee paychecks the prior week and had 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."[9] Teacher Bernice Sterling had 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."[10]

Prior to May 18, 1927, 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.[11]

Records at Lansing's St. Lawrence Hospital refelected that Nellie Kehoe had been discharged on May 16, 1927.[12] Sometime between her release and the day of the bombing, Kehoe had killed Nellie by what was later determined to be blunt force trauma to the head with some unknown heavy object. Her body was later 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.[13] 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.[14]

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."[15]

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. Farmer Monty Ellsworth, a neighbor 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.[16]

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."

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Kehoe's car after the explosion

About a half hour after the explosion, Kehoe drove up to the school and saw Superintendent Emory E. 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. 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.[17] 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, and several of his assistants 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 hit 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."[18]

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, 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 center. 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 thirteen ambulances were at the township hall to transport the dead to undertakers.

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Nellie Kehoe's body.

Hundreds of people worked in the wreckage all day in an effort to find and rescue the children pinned underneath the wreckage. 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, thirty-four fire fighters 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, ironically, was financed in large part by Lawrence Price, a former executive in charge of Oldsmobile's Lansing Car Assembly and Nellie Kehoe's uncle.[19]

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 that were served to rescuers in the township's community hall.[20]

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 that 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.[21]

In the south wing, the State Police found unexploded materials along with 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.

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Kehoe's last message wrapped inside one of the farm's fences.

Police and fire officials also gathered at the Kehoe farm to investigate the fires. It was not until the following day, May 19, 1927, 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.[22] Investigators found a wooden sign wired to the farm's fence containing Kehoe's last message, "CRIMINALS ARE MADE, NOT BORN," burned onto the surface.[23]

Aftermath

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 the night of the disaster to answer telephone calls, update the lists of dead and injured and provide information and planning services for the following day.[24]

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, some $5,284.15 was raised through donations including both a $2,500 contribution from the Clinton County board of supervisors and an additional $2,000 donation the Michigan legislature approved.[25] Unlike the Columbine High School massacre, however, 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 being eighteen on Saturday, May 22. The disaster had made the front pages of national newspapers until news of Charles Lindbergh's completion of the first 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.[26] The Ku Klux Klan interjected that the Roman Catholic Kehoe's actions were the result of his adherence to the church dogma opposing secular education.[27]

Coroner's inquest

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The plaque at entrance to the memorial park

The coroner arrived at the scene on the day of disaster and picked 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 question of Kehoe's involvement, the jury was asked to determine if the school board or its employees were guilty of criminal negligence.[28]

Kehoe's neighbor 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 Kehoe deliberately murdered Superintendent Emory Huyck on the morning of May 18, 1927. It was also the jury's verdict that the school was blown up as part of a deliberate plan and that Kehoe alone, without the aid of conspirators, murdered forty-three people in total, including his wife Nellie. Suicide was adjudicated to be the cause of Andrew Kehoe’s death.[29]

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 pauper's section of Mt. Rest Cemetery, St. Johns, in Clinton County, Michigan.[30] Nellie Kehoe was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Lansing by her family under her maiden name of Price.[31]

On August 22, 1927, some three months after the bombing, fourth-grader Beatrice Gibbs died following hip surgery. She was counted as the forty-fifth and final death directly attributable to the Bath School disaster.[32]

Rebuilding

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Girl with a Kitten by Carlton W. Angell

Governor Fred Green created the Bath Relief Fund with the monies 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.

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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, 1927. On September 15, 1927, Michigan's United States Senator James Couzens presented his personal check to the Bath construction fund for $75,000 for the construction of a new school.

In 1928 artist Carlton W. Angell presented the board with a statue titled "Girl With a Kitten." The statute 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.[33]

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 center 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.[34]

References

  • Ellsworth, M.J. (1928). The Bath School Disaster. LC Control Number: 29010236.
  • Gado, Mark (2005). Crime Library: Hell Comes to Bath. Link
  • Parker, Grant (1992). Mayday, History of a Village Holocaust. ISBN 0960495800.
  • Pawlak, Debra (2000). Mediadrome: Just Another Summer Day.Link
  • Wilkins, Gene H. (2002). The Bath School Disaster, May 18, 1927. ASIN B0006RW8CU.

Notes

  1. ^ Ellsworth, M.J. (1928) The Bath School Disaster, Ch. 1. The Bath School Memorial.
  2. ^ Public Education (1993). Encyclopedia of American Social History.
  3. ^ Gado, M. (2005) Hell Comes to Bath, Part 2, CrimeLibrary.com.
  4. ^ Parker, G. (1980) Mayday, History of a Village Holocaust 27. Liberty Press
  5. ^ Gado, op cit, Part 2.
  6. ^ Ellsworth, op cit., Ch. 3.
  7. ^ Ibid.
  8. ^ Gado, op cit., Part 2.
  9. ^ Ellsworth, op cit., Ch. 2
  10. ^ School Dynamiter First Slew Wife, New York Times (May 20, 1927) The New York Times.
  11. ^ Gado, op cit., Part 3.
  12. ^ Parker, op cit. 97-98.
  13. ^ New York Times (May 20, 1927} op cit.
  14. ^ Gado, op cit., Part 3.
  15. ^ Fate's Whim Foils Plot to Sacrifice All Pupils, Associated Press (May 19, 1927).
  16. ^ Ellsworth, op cit., Ch. 2
  17. ^ Pawlak, D. (2000) Just Another Summer Day: The Bath School Disaster Mediadrome.
  18. ^ New York Times, op cit. (May 20, 1927)
  19. ^ Parker, op cit. 76.
  20. ^ Ellsworth, op cit., Ch. 2
  21. ^ Pawlak, op cit.
  22. ^ Ellsworth, op cit., Ch. 2
  23. ^ Gado, op cit., Part 5
  24. ^ Report: Bath Relief Work, Clinton County Republican News, (June 2, 1927) Clinton County Republican News.
  25. ^ Ewing Reports on Bath Fund, Clinton County Republican News (June 23, 1927) Clinton County Republican News.
  26. ^ Board Votes Aid for Bath, Clinton County Republican News (May 26, 1927) Clinton County Republican News.
  27. ^ Circular: Roman Catholic Dynamites Bath Public Schools (May, 1927) Knights of the Ku Klux Klan .
  28. ^ Parker, op cit. 160.
  29. ^ Clinton County Republican News, op cit. (May 26, 1927) Clinton County Republican News.
  30. ^ Daggy, J., Information About the Bath School Disaster, at p. 13 (2001) Michigan State University.
  31. ^ Ibid. at p. 37.
  32. ^ Ibid. at p. 29.
  33. ^ Gado, op cit., Part 6.
  34. ^ Daggy, J.L. (2001) The Bath Memorial Park Michigan State University.

General information

Historical research and commemorative materials

Bath today

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