Funerals For 44 Killed In School Blast Arranged

Group Burial Plan Abandoned to Relieve Grief of Village Stricken by Explosion.

Bath, Mich., May 20 (AP) - Funeral preparations were completed here Friday 
for the 44 persons killed in the blasting of the village schoolhouse 
by Andrew Kehoe, demented farmer, Wednesday while steps were being taken 
by the state to provide financial relief for the stricken community.

It was planned to bury some of the victims, 37 of whom were children, late 
Friday and the others Saturday.  Plans for a group funeral were abandoned when 
ministers and welfare workers agreed that the mental anguish would be too great.

"It will be hard enough for fathers and mothers to give up their own,
without enduring the trial of seeing all the victims, who a few days ago 
were joyful schoolmates, go to their grave together", one minister said.

Among those who will be Saturday is Kehoe's invalid wife, [whom] the man apparently
killed by pounding in her head.  The body had been tossed into an outhouse where
it was burned when flames destroyed the place prior to the schoolhouse explosion.

Taken From Hospital.
         
Kehoe had taken the invalid woman from a Lansing hospital a few days before, 
presumably to move her to another institution.  Instead he took her to the 
farm home, that she might die with the others.

A relief drive, instituted by Governor Fred W. Green, got under way Friday.  
Funds to be used for construction of a new schoolhouse were being received from
over the state by the Red Cross.  If insufficient money is obtained by popular 
subscription, Governor Green said, the state treasury will be drawn upon.

"There is little enough we can do to lessen the grief", the governor wrote
in his appeal for funds.  "We are not able to share their sorrow.  We can help
with the material problems of the community, and these, I am sure, the people
want to share."
         
Inquiry at Standstill.
         
The police investigation into the tragedy was virtually at a standstill Friday
pending the official inquest called for next Monday.  The theory that Kehoe 
may have had assistance in mining the school was abandoned when it was learned 
that the man had had access at night to the building for several weeks.

Frank Smith, school janitor, told police, that a back door had been sprung 
for three or four weeks and that two other doors had been tampered with 
so they could not be locked.  Officials believed that Kehoe crept into the 
building night after night, each time bearing a load of explosive.  He is
believed to have packed the dynamite in metal pipes which were connected 
with an electrical timing device, installed his batteries and then awaited 
the opportune time to wreak his terrible vengeance on the community
where taxes were so high he couldn't pay off the mortgage on his farm.
         
Explosive Easily Obtained.

Police profess to see nothing unusual in the large amount of explosive 
in Kehoe's possession.  The explosive can be obtained cheaply enough 
by farmers for blowing stumps, they said, from surplus war supplies.