Clinton County Republican-News May 26, 1927 Former Farm Bureau Mgr., Bath People Describe Andrew Kehoe; Say He Couldn't Pay Taxes Because He Refused to Work "Two years ago I received a letter from Andrew Kehoe and after reading it I said, 'If anyone but Kehoe had written such a letter I would have thought sure he was insane.'" The above statement was made by Howard V. Kittle, former Clinton county agent and Farm Bureau manager, in discussing the Bath disaster with the Republican-News Tuesday. "I had written Kehoe, together with several other Bath men, asking him to give me the names of farmers in the community who had good seed corn for sale", continued Mr. Kittle who is now secretary of the Michigan Bean Jobbers association with headquarters at Saginaw. "In reply Kehoe refused to give me any information I wanted and intimated that the only way farmers would ever get their just dues would be to let their crops all fail and starve the rest of the people. That was his attitude during the last few years I knew him. He seemed to think that all farmers were being imposed upon and that it would take nothing short of a panic to get the knowledge of the farmers' plight before the general public." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KEHOE'S REPLY In answer to Mr. Kittle's questionnaire about seed corn Kehoe replied as follows: "Owing to the fact that I get nothing out of it in the way of salary, I fail to see how I am benefited by aiding my competitors. Yours truly, A. P. KEHOE" By "competitors" it is understood that Kehoe referred to his fellow farmers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Harte, whose home is directly across the road from the Kehoe place, was speaking. "When I first came to St. Johns, Andrew Kehoe was a man of considerable weight in his community. He became a member of the Farm Bureau and assisted in the first Clinton county Farm Bureau drive in 1920. After his first membership expired he did not join again nor would he give the Bureau any assistance." Mr. Kittle was shown the picture which has been printed in several papers as Kehoe's photograph. "That does not resemble the man at all", he said. "I knew him well and he never looked like that." Mr. Kittle stated that Kehoe had never purchased any pyrotol from the local Farm Bureau to his knowledge. "Andrew Kehoe came here from Tecumseh about eight years ago and we have been neighbors, though we never did get along. There never were any hard words for we let him alone. "Kehoe didn't work. I'd like to know how a man could run an 80-acre farm and sit around in a smoking jacket and smoke cigars. He didn't harvest his corn last fall and didn't order the thresher to stop at his place. Look there by the road - his last year's bean crop rotted. "This spring he hasn't made any attempt to farm the place, but he might have. He had a tractor and every tool he needed and he knew how to operate them. "He was a very bright man. He had been graduated from Michigan State College and he knew a lot about electricity. He could fix anything. "For several months he had lived there alone, getting some of his meals in town. We saw him working around Monday with wire, but we didn't dream what he was up to. "He sold his chickens some time ago and we wondered a little Tuesday when we saw him putting straw in the henhouse, but figured perhaps he was going to get some more chickens. "I guess his financial troubles did something to make him so fiendish. He purchased the farm when he moved here. It is the old Lawrence Price place. His wife is a niece of Mr. Price of Lansing and the daughter of Patrick Price, both men now dead. "The Lawrence Price heirs held a $6,000 mortage on the place and when he made no effort to farm it this spirng they took steps to foreclose. We understand interest on the mortgage amounted to about $2,600 and he owed $400 more in taxes. "While we were fighting the fires on my roofs we were called to the telephone. Some one said, 'The school's blown up.' "I hurried to Bath in my car and was trying to help at the school. I noticed Kehoe's car and saw him beckon the superintendent, Mr. Huyck, to his car. Then I think he pulled a pistol and shot into dynamite. "The next minute there was a terrific explosion and the automobile, the superintendent and Kehoe were torn to pieces. The explosion smashed the rear windows of my car parked nearby. Any one in it surely would have been killed." Residents of the village said Kehoe has complained continually about the high taxes occasioned by the new school. In an effort to gain Kehoe's interest in village and township affairs he had been made township clerk, according to Bert Detloff, member of the school board. Continual wrangling, however, made his work in this office impossible. A second effort to gain his support was when he was made treasurer of the school board, an office he held this year and which it was believed he used as a cloak to shield his operations in planting hundreds of pounds of dynamite in the school. "The difference between Huyck and Kehoe was a personal one", Mr. Detloff said. "Kehoe felt that Huyck had no business in board meetings and said so and I understand they had words privately about the matter." A rumor went around Bath Wednesday afternoon to the effect Kehoe had taken school funds but this was stopped by Detloff, who said: "Kehoe made a good treasurer. He handled the funds in an adequate manner but he always complained about the amount of expense. I'd like to see another school similar to ours run any more economically. "His books always tallied with those kept by the secretary and the money was kept in the bank." Mrs. Emory E. Huyck, widow of the superintendent, and her father added a little more regarding Kehoe and the school. They said he had opposed the building from the first and did not fall in with the plans of the rest of the community. Mr. Huyck went to Bath after three years of teaching experience and took over the management of the consolidated school as it was nearing completion. He had done virtually all the organization work necessary for the new building.