Bath School disaster
The Bath School disaster, also known as the Bath School massacre,[c] was a series of violent attacks perpetrated by Andrew Kehoe upon the Bath Consolidated School in Bath Charter Township, Michigan, United States, on May 18, 1927. The attacks killed 38 children and 6 adults, and injured at least 58 other people. Prior to the explosions at the school, Kehoe had murdered his wife, Nellie Price Kehoe, and firebombed his farm. Arriving at the site of the school explosion, Kehoe died when he set off explosives concealed in his truck.
Kehoe, the 55-year-old school board treasurer, was angered by increased taxes and his defeat in the April 5, 1926, election for township clerk. It was thought by locals that he planned his "murderous revenge" following this public defeat. Kehoe had a reputation for being difficult, on the school board and in personal dealings. In addition, he was notified in June 1926 that his mortgage was going to be foreclosed upon. For much of the next year, Kehoe purchased explosives and secretly hid them on his property and under the school.
On the day of the disaster, Kehoe set off explosions at his farmstead and at the Bath Consolidated School, destroying his farm and ripping through the north wing of the school. As rescue efforts began, Kehoe drove up to the schoolyard in his shrapnel-filled truck and triggered a second explosion, killing himself and four others, as well as injuring bystanders.
During the rescue and recovery efforts, searchers discovered a further 500 pounds (230 kg) of explosives under the south wing of the school that had been set to go off simultaneously with the initial explosion. Kehoe had apparently intended to destroy the entire school, and everyone in it.
Background[edit]
Bath Township[edit]
Bath Charter Township is a civil township located 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the city of Lansing in the U.S. state of Michigan. The township covers 31 square miles (80 km2)[10] and the small unincorporated village of Bath is within its borders. The township itself lies within Clinton County, Michigan, an area of some 566 square miles (1,470 km2).[11]
In the early 1920s the area was primarily agricultural. After years of debate, Bath Township voters approved the creation of a consolidated school district in 1922, along with an increase in township property taxes to pay for a new school. When the school opened, it had 236 students enrolled from grade 1 to grade 12. The school's creation was controversial, but Monty Ellsworth wrote in his book about the disaster that consolidated schools had great advantages over the smaller rural schools they replaced.[2] All landowners within the township area had to pay higher ad valorem property taxes. At the time of the bombing, Bath Township had about 300 adult residents.[12]
Coroner's inquest[edit]
The coroner arrived at the scene on the day of the disaster and swore in six community leaders that afternoon to serve as a jury investigating the death of Superintendent Huyck.[64] Informal testimony had been taken on May 19 and the formal coroner's inquest started on May 23.[71][72] The Clinton County prosecutor conducted the examination, and more than 50 people testified before the jury.[73] During his testimony, David Hart stated that Kehoe had told him that he had "killed a horse"[74] and The New York Times reported people as saying that Kehoe had "an ungovernable temper" and "seemed to have a mania for killing things". Neighbors testified that he had been wiring the buildings at his farm about that time and that he was evasive about his reasons.[12]
Kehoe's neighbor Sidney J. Howell testified that after the fire began at the Kehoe farm, Kehoe warned him and three men to leave there, saying, "Boys, you are my friends, you better get out of here, you better go down to the school."[75] Three telephone linemen working near Bath Township testified that Kehoe passed them in his truck on the road toward the school, and they saw him arrive there. His truck swerved and stopped in front of the building. In the next instant, according to the linemen, the truck blew up, and one of them was struck by shrapnel.[76][77] Other witnesses testified that Kehoe paused after stopping, calling Huyck over to the truck and that the two men struggled before Kehoe's truck was blown up.[40]
Although there was never any doubt that Kehoe was the perpetrator, the jury was asked to determine if the school board or its employees were guilty of criminal negligence.[71] 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 suspect 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.”[71]
The inquest determined that Kehoe murdered Huyck on the morning of May 18. It was also the jury's verdict that the school was blown up as part of a plan and that Kehoe alone, without the aid of conspirators, murdered 43 people in total, including his wife Nellie. Suicide was determined to be the cause of Kehoe's death, which brought the total number of dead to 44 at the time of the inquest.[1]
On August 22, three months after the bombing, fourth-grader Beatrice Gibbs died following hip surgery. Hers was the 45th and final death directly attributable to the Bath School disaster,[78] which made the event the deadliest attack ever to occur in an American school to date.[53] Richard Fritz, whose older sister Marjorie was killed in the explosion, was injured and died almost one year later of myocarditis at the age of eight. Although Richard is not included on many lists of the victims, his death from myocarditis is thought to have been directly caused by an infection resulting from his injuries.[79]
Michigan state historic site marker
Plaque at the entrance of James Couzens Memorial Park
Artist Carleton W. Angell presented the board with a memorial statue in 1928 entitled Girl With a Cat (also known colloquially as Girl With a Kitten).[30][80] The Bath School Museum in the school district's middle school contains many items connected with the disaster,[81] including the statue.[82]
In 1975, the Couzens building was demolished[83] and the site was redeveloped as the James Couzens Memorial Park, dedicated to the victims. At the center of the park is the Bath Consolidated School's original cupola, which survived the disaster and remained on the school until the Couzens building was torn down.[34] After some debate, a Michigan State Historical Marker was installed at the park in 1991 by the Michigan Historical Commission.[84] In 2002 a bronze plaque bearing the names of those killed in the disaster was placed on a large stone near the entrance of the park.[85]
On November 3, 2008, the town announced that tombstones had been donated for Emilie and Robert Bromundt, the last two bombing victims whose graves were still unmarked. A grant from a foundation paid for the grave markers.[45] In September 2014, a gravestone was installed at the grave of Richard A. Fritz, whose death in 1928 was attributed to injuries sustained in the explosion. The gravestone was paid for by an author writing about the disaster for a book.[79][86]
A documentary on the disaster was released in 2011, including interviews with various survivors which had been taped starting in 2004.[87] May 18, 2017, the disaster's 90th anniversary, was marked with a panel discussion at the Bath Middle School.[87] On May 1, 2022, weeks short of the disaster's 95th anniversary, Irene Dunham, the last Bath School student from the time of the disaster, died at age 114.[88]
The disaster is regarded by some as an act of terrorism. Arnie Bernstein, author of Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing said that it "resonates powerfully for modern readers and reminds us that domestic terrorism and mass murder are sadly not just a product of our times".[89] Medical experts writing in Journal of Surgical Research characterized the disaster as "the largest pediatric terrorist disaster in U.S. history".[90] Harold Schechter, who wrote Psycho USA and Maniac, called the disaster "a horrendous act of terrorist mass murder".[91]