Clinton County Republican-News May 19, 1927 FIEND DYNAMITES BATH SCHOOL; 44 DIE Andrew P. Kehoe, Demented Farmer, Transforms Whole Community Into Vast Morgue and Hospital Maniac Views His Work, Then Kills Himself, School Superintendent And Two Others by Blowing Up Car; List of Injured Totals 40; All But 7 of 43 Dead Are Children Forty-three are dead, among them 37 innocent children, and 40 others are injured, some of them fatally, to satisfy one man's lust for vengeance. Clinton county's greatest calamity, a heart-breaking tragedy that stirred the whole state, descended upon Bath village Wednesday morning when the north wing of the Consolidated school building was deliberately dynamited by Andrew P. Kehoe, Bath township farmer and member of the school board. He also blew up his own farm buildings and then drove to the school yard, called Supt. E.E. Huyck to his car and touched off another charge of explosive which killed not only himself and Huyck, but two other Bath men standing nearby. The school explosion occurred at 9:30 a.m., while most of the pupils were writing their final examinations. School was due to close for the summer in two days. Without warning the charge, set by a time clock, wiped out the entire north wing of the building in which were housed the third, fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Both floors and the whole building rocked under the blast. Doors were torn off and the rooms were filled with flying plaster, glass and other debris. The main entrance and stairway were blown away. The pupils on the first floor in the south and east wings escaped through windows. Those on the upper floor climbed out on the roof of the east wing and descended by means of ladders. Kehoe's terrible revenge was not as complete as he had planned. After the explosion enough dynamite was found hidden in the building to have blown the whole structure to bits and killed every pupil and teacher in it. The explosive charges were all wired together and were intended to explode simultaneously but the wire connections were defective and the majority of the 200 students in the building escaped. The story of Kehoe's crime is almost unbelievable. He had strongly opposed the Consolidated school from the beginning. He contended that such an educational system was too expensive and had enough supporters in this belief to get himself elected a member of the school board. He then fought for a 10-grade instead of a 12-grade school, but was overruled. He became more bitter than ever and is said to have threatened to get even with the community. Last year after the death of Maud Detluff, township clerk, he was appointed to fill the vacancy and was a candidate for the office at the election last spring. He was defeated and this added to his rage against his fellow townsmen. The owner of a fine farm, he neglected to work it and was forced to secure a mortgage. Just recently the mortgage was foreclosed and Kehoe swore that high school taxes cost his [sic] his farm. From this point he became a fiend in human form, very probably losing his mind. Secretly he planted dynamite in the school and wired it so a time clock would set off the charge. It is said he stole the explosive from a road contractor. No one knows for certain. Neither is it known when he accomplished his fiendish work at the school, but he had a key to building and must have labored late at night. So much dynamite was found that it is believed he planted it within the past few days else it would have been discovered. Kehoe's next step was to prepare for his own destruction. He placed explosive in all of his farm buildings and another heavy charge in his car. All was ready. The man waited near this home a mile west of the village until he heard the blast at the school. He then set off his buildings which immediately caught fire. After this second explosion Kehoe was seen driving toward the village, evidently to find out the result of his terrible deed. Arriving at the school he saw Supt. Huyck whom he hated. Calling Huyck to his car he blew up the machine, supposedly firing into the charge of explosive with a rifle or revolver. The blast instantly killed Nelson McFarren, 70, a former member of the school board and fatally injured McFarren's son-in-law, Glenn Smith, 33, postmaster at Bath. Smith lived long enough to say to a friend, "I'm done for, he didn't want any witnesses". The sound of the explosion, heard for miles, and telphone messages telling of the terrible tragedy, brought hundreds to the scene within a short time. The first to arrive were parents of the school children. The next hour brought scenes that Bath community will never forget. Men and women tearing at the wreckage in their haste to rescue the injured and carry out the lifeless forms of little children. Grief-stricken mothers and fathers in search of their boys and girls, many of whom could not hear the sound of frantic voices calling out their names. Mrs. L.A. Warner, who lives near the school, was one of the first to reach the school yard. "I ran around to the southeast corner of the building", said Mrs. Warner, "and there I saw the upper story windows packed with children, some with their legs hanging out and apparently ready to jump to the ground. Supt. Huyck was marshaling the pupils out on the roof of the east wing and called to me to get men, ladders and axes." The ladders were quickly brought and the children came safely down. Mr. Huyck then hurried to the nearby home of Mrs. Mina Shaw to telephone for more help. As he came hurrying back, Kehoe called him to his car and he met his death. Within an hour after the blast, state police, several fire companies, a dozen ambulances, Red Cross and hospital workers, physicians, nurses and men to clear away the wreckage, most of them from Lansing, had hurried to the scene. As the roof, floors and other wreckage were gradually cleared away the bodies of the victims were tenderly carried to a little mound in the school yard, there to be identified by the parents and taken away to undertaking establishments. The injured were rushed to hospitals. Later in the day the town hall on the main street of the village was opened as a morgue and the bodies taken there for identification. Throughout the day the heart-breaking work went on. One father with the bodies of two children already found, helped clear away the debris. Beneath shattered boards he uncovered the body of his third child, a son. Several famililes lost two or three children. What was believed to be the last body was taken out at 5 p.m. but the volunteer crews went on clearing away the wreckage until 10 at night. Prosecutor Wm. C. Searl, Sheriff B.J. Foxx and Coroner C.E. Lamb worked until early this (Thursday) morning checking the dead. It is the prosecutor's list that is printed in another column of this issue. The list was checked over from the school census by Miss Mattie A. Smith, school commissioner, who worked until late at night at Bath. Thousands visited the scene of the tragedy, many remaining until late at night. The road was black with cars and traffic was so heavy that state police had to take charge as far as four miles from the village. Coming into Bath from the east motorists first saw the smoking ruins of the Kehoe buildings a mile west of the village. Scarcely a stick or stone was left above the ground. In the barn a team of horses lay dead and farm machinery was twisted and battered by the explosion. Upon reaching the village the absence of window panes in the vicinity of the school was the first thing at [sic] catch the eye of the visitor. Practically every window within a block of the ill-fated building was shattered. In front of the school yard the few remaining pieces of the Kehoe car lay at the edge of the road. The machine was torn to bits and all that remained was the steering rod and part of the motor. Until noon and after the few vestiges of Kehoe's remains were hidden under a canvass not far from his wrecked car, but were later removed. Throngs watched the work of rescuing the bodies, other hundreds crowded the walks to and from the morgue a block and one-half away. There was nothing they could do to help. There was no comfort for the sorrowing parents and relatives and all that trained hands could do was already being done for the injured by the nurses and physicians. Charitable organizations passed out sandwiches, rolls and coffee to the workers and the squads of police and Boy Scouts who patroled the school yard and streets.