Clinton County Republican-News May 19, 1927 BATH SCHOOL COST $50,000 DISTRIST'S [sic] OUTSTANDING INDEBTEDNESS IS $35,000 TODAY Structure Was Dedicated 5 Years Ago; Will Get No Insurance The Bath Consolidated school, only institution of its kind in Clinton county, was dedicated five years ago last March. It was designed by R.V. Gay and was built for $50,000. The area it serves includes six school districts, four in Bath and one each in Dewitt and Victor, all united into one consolidated district which bonded itself for $43,000 to erect the building. A total of $8,000 has been paid on the bonds, leaving an indebtedness of $35,000. The building was insured against fire but it is doubtful if this insurance will cover the loss caused by the explosion. Andrew Kehoe was one of the school directors and treasurer of the board. The other directors are Melvin Keyes, George Morris, Bert Detluff and George Spanger. The school has 12 grades with 10 teachers on the faculty: Supt. E.E. Huyck and Miss Hazel Weatherbee, [?] grade teacher, who were killed; Miss Blanche Harte, fifth grade teacher, badly injured; F.C. Huggett, principal; Frank Flory, Evelyn Paul, Nina Matson, Miss Gubbins, Miss Sterling and Miss Guberkunst. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bath People Stunned by Shock; Will Not Realize Great Loss for Days; Gas Station Man Sees Kehoe Drive Past Towards Bath Shortly after the explosion the school yard was filled with grief-stricken and almost distracted parents. Only a few of the dead and injured had been taken out. Mothers and fathers were running up and down crying out the names of their children. Crazed with grief many sought in vain and were forced to wait until the wreckage had been cleared away before they learned whether their little ones had been spared or were among the steadily mounting list of dead. By noon, when the first of the hundreds from Lansing, St. Johns and other cities had begun to assemble, all was changed. Many of the parents had gone with their children to the hospital or were mourning over them at the morgue. Those still waiting seemed dazed after the first terrible shock had passed. The realization of what had happened had not come to them as yet. At one point there was a disturbance in the crowd as a woman fainted - a few monents later a young man, overcome with grief, completely lost control of himself and had to be quieted by officers. But for the most part the relatives and friends were dry-eyed and tight-lipped. The shock seemed to have numbed their senses and days will elapse before they can fully realize their great loss. -------------------- "I heard the first explsion at 9:30", says Monty J. Ellsworth, who operates a gas station a half-mile west of Bath and midway between the village and Andrew Kehoe's farm. "I rushed out and looked toward Bath as the noise seemed to come from that direction but could see nothing. I then turned and looked west and just then every building on the Kehoe farm burst into smoke and flames. I started to get into my car but before I started Andrew Kehoe drove by going toward Bath. He smiled and waved his hand and that's the last I ever saw of him." Ellsworth's son, a second grader in the Bath school, escaped uninjured. -------------------- Just a block from the wrecked school, in the residence which houses Bath's telephone exchange, newspapermen by the score from the larger cities of the state telephoned to their home papers the story of the tragedy as the heart-breaking work of rescuing the bodies from the ruins went on. Staff writers for the Associated Press sent the messages that were telegraphed to the four corners of the country and published on the front pages of practically every newspaper in the land. Down at the school house cameras clicked and moving picture machines ground out hundreds of feet of films to record the picture which will be reproduced on the screen and printed page. Millions will read of this calamity, one of the greatest Michigan ever suffered, and will abhor the very name of the one responsible. -------------------- Emory E. Huyck, superintendent, who was killed when he was called to the car of one of the school directors, Andrew P. Kehoe, had been the head of the Bath school since the consolidation and had built up a high standard of scholarship in the school. He was a graduate of M.S.C. and taught the agricultural courses. He is survived by his wife, who formerly taught in the Bath school. -------------------- A coroner's jury has been named which, in accordance with law, will determine the cause of the death of the 41 adults and children who were victims of the Bath disaster. The jurors are: W. Coleman, I.E. Everett, Clarence Tollman, Bert Wilcox, Alton Church & Ed Drumheller. The inquest was set for 10 o'clock this (Thursday) morning by Coroner C.E. Lamb.