ABOUT WIKIPEDIA
AND WHAT IS AVAILABLE THERE
COMPILATION AND
COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
MAY 18, 2020
THE WIKI MAIN
PAGE BELOW SHOWS THE MOST RECENT ARTICLES AND A SELECTION OF RECENT NEWS STORIES
WITH CLICKABLE LINKS. THIS PIECE ON THE BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BOMBING,
SOMETHING THAT I WAS TOTALLY UNAWARE OF, GRABBED MY ATTENTION.
THE BATH
CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BOMBING HERE SHOWS THAT PEOPLE GOING TOTALLY BONKERS AND
KILLING EVERYBODY IN SIGHT ISN’T JUST A MODERNDAY PHENOMENON. I DON’T THINK IT’S
A COINCIDENCE THAT THE STRESS OF ECONOMIC HARDSHIP THAT SO MANY WERE LIVING
THROUGH IN 1927 WAS CAUSING HUGE PERSONAL STRESSES. TO GET A GLIMPSE OF LIFE IN
THOSE DAYS, READ “THE GREAT GATSBY,” A TRULY BEAUTIFUL NOVEL WRITTEN BY ONE
OF AMERICA’S GREATEST WRITERS, F. SCOTT FITZGERALD.
THAT WAS ANOTHER
TIME PERIOD WHEN THE COST OF LIVING HAD SKYROCKETED WHILE WAGES HAD NOT, AND
THE FINANCIAL GAP BETWEEN THE LOWER LEVELS OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND THAT OF THE
UBERWEALTHY WAS EXTREME, CREATING A CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF NEAR DESPERATION
AND DEEP ANGER. IT’S THE SETTING FOR THE FALL OF THE STOCK MARKET IN 1929 AND
THE GREAT DEPRESSION. WHEN THE DEPRESSION HIT, TOO LARGE A PORTION OF OUR POPULATION
WERE ALREADY POOR TO NEARLY POOR, SO THE WHOLE COUNTRY WAS BROUGHT TO ITS’ KNEES.
MY FATHER AND MOTHER
WERE BOTH YOUNG ADULTS THEN AND THEIR STORIES OF LIFE SHOWED A GRIM LEVEL OF
POVERTY. MY MOTHER HAD TO QUIT SCHOOL BECAUSE HER PARENTS COULDN’T COME UP WITH
THE TUITION TO THE ONLY SCHOOL NEARBY, A CHURCH ACADEMY, AND ONE OF MY FATHER’S
TELLING PHRASES WAS “TAKE A BIG BITE OF BREAD AND A LITTLE BITE OF MEAT.”
SINCE THAT IS
OUR CURRENT SITUATION AS WELL, PEOPLE LIKE SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS ARE SPEAKING
OUT AND CONSIDERING NEW WAYS FOR AMERICA TO DO BUSINESS AND LIVE LIFE. IN MY
VIEW, HE IS RIGHT AND THE SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY CONSERVATIVE ARE WRONG. IF
THE CONSERVATIVE WEREN’T SO DEEPLY UNGENEROUS AND SANCTIMONIOUS I COULD DEAL
WITH THEM MUCH BETTER. I AM GLAD THAT SANDERS HAS COME ONTO THE SCENE IN A BIG
WAY AND AGITATED FOR WHAT IS GOOD.
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From today's
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Bath School
disaster
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PHOTOGRAPH -- Bath
Consolidated School after the explosion
The Bath School
disaster, also known as the Bath School massacre, was a series of violent
attacks perpetrated by Andrew Kehoe on May 18, 1927, in Bath Township, Michigan,
United States. The attacks killed 38 elementary schoolchildren and 6 adults,
and injured at least 58 other people. Prior to his timed explosives going off
at the Bath Consolidated School building, Kehoe had murdered his wife, Nellie
Price Kehoe, and firebombed his farm. Arriving at the site of the school
explosion, Kehoe died when he detonated 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. He was thought by
locals to have planned his "murderous revenge" after that public
defeat. Kehoe had a reputation for difficulty 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 until May 1927,
Kehoe purchased explosives. He secretly hid them on his property and under the
school.
On May 18,
1927, Kehoe then set off almost simultaneous explosions at his farmstead and at
the Bath Consolidated School. His devices destroyed the farm's buildings and
ripped through the north wing of the Bath Consolidated School building. As
rescuers began working at the school, Kehoe drove up to the schoolyard and
detonated dynamite inside his shrapnel-filled truck. The truck explosion killed
Kehoe plus four other people, and also injured bystanders. During the rescue
and recovery efforts, searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of
unexploded dynamite and pyrotol in the south wing of the school that had been
set to go off at the same time as the initial explosions in the north wing;
Kehoe had apparently intended to destroy the entire school and kill everyone in
it.
Bath Township
Bath Township
is a civil township located 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the city of Lansing
in the US state of Michigan. The township covers 31 square miles (80 km2)[1]
and the small unincorporated village of Bath is within its borders. The township
itself is within Clinton County, Michigan, an area of some 566 square miles
(1,470 km2).[2] In the early 1920s the area was primarily agricultural. After
years of debate, Bath Township voters approved the creation of the Bath
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 in grades 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.[3] All landowners within the township area had to pay higher ad
valorem property taxes. At the time of the bombing, the unincorporated village
had about 300 adult residents.[4]
Andrew Kehoe
Main article:
Andrew Kehoe
Andrew Philip
Kehoe was born in Tecumseh, Michigan, on February 1, 1872, into a family of 13
children and attended the local high school. After graduating, Kehoe studied
electrical engineering at Michigan State College in East Lansing and moved to
St. Louis, where he worked as an electrician for several years.[5] Sometime
during this period he suffered a head injury in a fall and was semi-conscious
or in a coma for a period of several weeks.[6][7] He later returned to Michigan
and his father's farm.
After his
mother's death, Kehoe's father Philip married a much younger widow, Frances
Wilder, and a daughter was born. On September 17, 1911, as his stepmother
attempted to light the family's oil stove, it exploded and set her on fire.
Kehoe threw a bucket of water on her, but the fire was oil-based and his action
spread the flames more rapidly, which engulfed and immolated her body. The
injuries were fatal and she died the next day.[8] Some of Kehoe's later
neighbors in Bath believed that he had caused the stove explosion.[5][9][Note
1]
Kehoe married
Ellen "Nellie" Price in 1912 at the age of 40. Seven years later,
they moved to a farm outside Bath.[10] Kehoe was said to be dependable, doing
favors and volunteer work for his neighbors.[11] He was also described as being
notoriously impatient with any disagreement; and he had shot and killed a
neighbor's dog that had come on his property and annoyed him by barking. He had
beaten one of his horses to death when it did not perform to his
expectations.[3]
Kehoe had a
reputation for frugality, and was elected in 1924 as a trustee on the school
board for three years and treasurer for one year. He argued strongly for lower
taxes,[12] and later superintendent of the board M. W. Keys said that he
"fought the expenditure of money for the most necessary
equipment".[4] Kehoe was considered difficult to work with, often voting
against the rest of the board, wanting his own way and arguing with the
township financial authorities. He protested that he paid too much in taxes[13]
and tried to get the valuation of his property reduced[14] so he would pay
less. In 1922, the Bath Township school tax was $12.26 on a thousand dollars
valuation (with the valuation on Kehoe's farm being ten thousand dollars). In
1923 the school board raised the tax to $18.80 per thousand dollar valuation
and in 1926 the taxes went up to $19.80. This meant that Kehoe's tax liability
went from $122.60 in 1922 to $198.00 in 1926.[3] In June 1926 Kehoe was
notified that the widow of his wife's uncle, who held the mortgage on his
property, had begun foreclosure proceedings.[4][15] Following the disaster
Sheriff Fox, who had served the foreclosure notice, reported that Kehoe had
muttered "If it hadn't been for that $300 school tax. I might have paid
off this mortgage." [15] Mrs. Price, the mortgage holder, also reported
that Kehoe had stated "If I can't live in that house, no one else
will." when she had mentioned foreclosure to him.[15]
Kehoe was
appointed in 1925 to temporarily fill the position of town clerk, but he was
defeated in the April 1926 election. This public rejection by the community
angered him. Ellsworth wrote that he thought that this defeat was the reason
why Kehoe had planned his "murderous revenge"; using the bombings to
destroy the Bath Consolidated School and kill the community's children and many
of its members.[3][14] In Bath Massacre, Arnie Bernstein cites Robert D.
Hare's Psychopathy Checklist and says that Andrew Kehoe "fits the profile
all too well".[16]
Kehoe's
neighbor A. McMullen noted that Kehoe had stopped working on his farm
altogether for most of the preceding year, and he had speculated that Kehoe
might be planning suicide. Kehoe had given him one of his horses about April
1927, but McMullen returned it for this reason.[14] It was discovered later
that Kehoe had cut all his wire fences as part of his preparations to destroy
his farm, girdling young shade trees to kill them and cutting off his grapevine
plants before putting them back on their stumps to hide the damage. He gathered
lumber and other materials and put them in the tool shed which he later
destroyed with an incendiary bomb.[14]
By the time of
the bombing, Nellie Kehoe had become chronically ill with what resembled
tuberculosis, for which there was no effective treatment or cure at the time.
Her frequent hospital stays may have contributed to the family's debt. Kehoe
had ceased making mortgage and homeowner's insurance payments months
earlier.[5]
Purchase and
planting of school explosives
There is no
clear indication of when Kehoe conceived the idea of massacring the
schoolchildren and townspeople, but Ellsworth, who was a neighbor, thought that
Kehoe conceived his plan after being defeated in the April 5, 1926, township
clerk election.[17] The general consensus of the townspeople was that he had
worked on his plan at least since the previous August.[14] Bath School Board
member M. W. Keyes was quoted by The New York Times:
I have no doubt
that he made his plans last Fall [1926] to blow up the school ... He was an
experienced electrician and the board employed him in November to make some
repairs on the school lighting system. He had ample opportunity then to plant
the explosives and lay the wires for touching it off.[4]
Kehoe had free
access to the school building during the summer vacation of 1926.[13] From
mid-1926, he began buying more than a ton of pyrotol, an incendiary explosive
used by farmers during the era for excavation and burning debris. In November
1926, he drove to Lansing and bought two boxes of dynamite at a sporting goods
store.[18] Dynamite was also commonly used on farms, so his purchase of small
amounts of explosives at different stores and on different dates did not raise
any suspicions. Neighbors reported hearing explosions set off on the farm, with
one calling him "the dynamite farmer".[19] Following the disaster it
was reported that Michigan State Police investigators had discovered that a
considerable amount of dynamite had been stolen from a bridge construction site
and that Andrew Kehoe was suspected of the theft.[15][20] Investigators also
recovered a container of gasoline in the school's basement. The container was
rigged with a tube and investigators speculated that Kehoe had planned that the
gasoline fumes would ignite from a spark scattering burning gasoline throughout
the basement.[4] In the undamaged section of the school it was found that Kehoe
had concealed the explosives in six lengths of eavestrough pipe, three bamboo
fishing rods and what were described as "windmill rods" that were
placed in the basement ceiling.[21]
Kehoe purchased
a .30-caliber Winchester bolt-action rifle in December 1926, according to the
testimony of Lieutenant Lyle Morse, a Michigan State Police investigator with
the Department of Public Safety.[5][18][Note 2]
Further
preparations
Prior to May
18, Kehoe had loaded the back seat of his truck with metal debris capable of
producing shrapnel during an explosion.[14] He also bought a new set of tires
for his truck to avoid breaking down when transporting the explosives. He made
many trips to Lansing for more explosives, as well as to the school, town, and
his house. Ida Hall, who lived in a house next to the school, saw activity
around the building on different nights during May. Early one morning after
midnight she saw a man carrying objects inside. She also saw vehicles around
the building several times late at night. Hall mentioned these events to a
relative but they were never reported to police.[22]
Nellie was
discharged from Lansing's St. Lawrence Hospital on May 16,[23] and was murdered
by her husband some time between her release and the bombings two days later.
Kehoe put her body in a wheelbarrow at the rear of the farm's chicken coop,
where it was found in a heavily charred condition after the farm explosions and
fire. Piled around the cart were silverware and a metal cash box. The ashes of
several banknotes could be seen through a slit in the cash box.[4] Kehoe placed
and wired homemade pyrotol firebombs in the house and throughout the farm
buildings.[14]
Day of the
disaster
Farm bombs
At
approximately 8:45 a.m., Kehoe detonated the firebombs in his house and farm
buildings, causing some debris to fly into a neighbor's poultry brooding
house.[24] Neighbors noticed the fire, and volunteers rushed to the scene.[4][25]
O. H. Bush[Note
3] and several other men crawled through a broken window of the farmhouse in
search of survivors. When they found no one in the house, they salvaged what
furniture they could before the fire spread into the living room. Bush
discovered dynamite in the corner; he picked up an armful of explosives and
handed it to one of the men.[4] As Kehoe left the burning property in his Ford
truck, he stopped to tell those fighting the fire that they should get to the
school and then drove off.[24]
North wing
explosion
Classes at Bath
Consolidated School began at 8:30 a.m. Kehoe had set an alarm clock in the
basement of the north wing of the school which detonated the dynamite and
pyrotol he had hidden there at about 8:45 a.m.[26] Rescuers heading to the
scene of the Kehoe farm fire heard the explosion at the school building and
turned back in that direction. Parents within the rural community rushed to the
school.[27] The school building resembled a war zone,[28] with 38 people killed
in the initial explosion, mostly children.[29][30]
Eyewitnesses
and survivors were interviewed afterwards by newspaper reporters. First-grade
teacher Bernice Sterling told an Associated Press reporter that the explosion
was like an earthquake: "...the air seemed to be full of children and
flying desks and books. Children were tossed high in the air; some were
catapulted out of the building."[31] Eyewitness Robert Gates said the
scene was pure chaos at the school:
Mother after
mother came running into the school yard, and demanded information about her
child and, on seeing the lifeless form lying on the lawn, sobbed and
swooned...In no time more than 100 men were at work tearing away the debris of
the school, and nearly as many women were frantically pawing over the timber
and broken bricks for traces of their children. I saw more than one woman lift
clusters of bricks held together by mortar heavier than the average man could
have handled without a crowbar.[32][33]
Ellsworth
recounted: "I saw one mother, Mrs. Eugene Hart, sitting on the bank a
short distance from the school with a little dead girl on each side of her and
holding a little boy, Percy, who died a short time after they got him to the
hospital. This was about the time Kehoe blew his car up in the street, severely
wounding Perry, the oldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Hart."[27]
The north wing
of the school had collapsed, leaving the edge of the roof on the ground.
Ellsworth recalled that "there was a pile of children of about five or six
under the roof".[27] He volunteered to drive back to his farm and get a
rope heavy enough to pull the school roof off the children's bodies. Returning
to his farm, he saw Kehoe driving in the opposite direction, heading toward the
school. "He grinned and waved his hand," Ellsworth said. "When
he grinned, I could see both rows of his teeth."[27]
Truck explosion
Kehoe drove up
to the school about half an hour after the first explosion. He saw
Superintendent Huyck and summoned him over to his truck. Charles Hawson
testified at the inquest that he saw the two men grapple over some type of long
gun before Kehoe detonated the dynamite stored in his truck,[34] immediately
killing himself; Huyck; Nelson McFarren, a retired farmer;[35] and Cleo
Clayton, an 8-year-old second grader. Clayton had survived the first blast and
then wandered out of the school building; he was killed by fragmentation from
the exploding vehicle.
The truck
explosion spread debris over a large area and caused extensive damage to cars
parked a half-block away, with their roofs catching on fire from the burning
gasoline.[27] It injured several others and mortally wounded postmaster Glenn
O. Smith, who lost a leg and died before making it to the hospital.[28][27] O.
H. Bush recalled that one of his crew bound up "the wounds of Glenn Smith,
the postmaster. His leg had been blown off."[4]
Recovery and
rescue
Telephone
operators stayed at their stations for hours to summon doctors, undertakers, area
hospital workers, and anyone else who might help. The Lansing Fire Department
sent several firefighters and its chief.[36] Local physician J. A. Crum and his
wife, a nurse, who had both served in World War I, turned their Bath drugstore
into a triage center. The dead bodies were taken to the town hall, which was
used as a morgue.[27]
Hundreds of
people worked in the wreckage all day and into the night in an effort to find
and rescue any children pinned underneath. Area contractors sent all their men
to assist, and many other people came to the scene in response to pleas for
help. Eventually, 34 firefighters and the chief of the Lansing Fire Department
arrived, as did several Michigan State Police officers who managed traffic to
and from the scene. The injured and dying were transported to Sparrow Hospital
and St. Lawrence Hospital in Lansing. The construction of the St. Lawrence
facility had been financed in large part by Lawrence Price, Nellie Kehoe's
uncle and formerly an executive in charge of Oldsmobile's Lansing Car
Assembly.[37] Michigan Governor Fred W. Green arrived during the afternoon of
the disaster and assisted in the relief work, carting bricks away from the
scene. The Lawrence Baking Company of Lansing sent a truck filled with pies and
sandwiches which were served to rescuers in the township's community hall.[27]
During the
search for survivors and victims, rescuers found an additional 500 pounds (230
kg) of dynamite which had failed to detonate in the south wing of the school.
The search was halted to allow the Michigan State Police to disarm the devices,
and they found an alarm clock timed to go off at 8:45 a.m. Investigators
speculated that the initial explosion may have caused a short circuit in the
second set of bombs, preventing them from detonating. They searched the
building and then returned to the recovery work.[4]
Police and fire
officials gathered at the Kehoe farm to investigate the fires. State troopers
had searched for Nellie Kehoe throughout Michigan, thinking that she was at a tuberculosis
sanatorium, but her charred remains were found the day after the disaster,
among the ruins of the farm.[4] All the Kehoe farm buildings were destroyed.
Kehoe's two horses had burned to death, trapped inside the barn. Their
carcasses were found with their legs hobbled together with wire, preventing
their escape or rescue when the farm's buildings blew up and caught fire.[14]
Investigators found a wooden sign wired to the farm's fence with Kehoe's last
message stenciled on it: "Criminals are made, not born".[4]
Aftermath
The American
Red Cross set up an operations center at the Crum drugstore and took the lead
in providing aid and comfort to the victims. The Lansing Red Cross headquarters
stayed open until 11:30 that night to answer telephone calls, update the list
of dead and injured, and provide information and planning services for the
following day.[39] The local community responded generously, as reported at the
time by the Associated Press: "a sympathetic public assured the
rehabilitation of the stricken community. Aid was tendered freely in the hope
that the grief of those who lost loved ones might be even slightly
mitigated."[40] The Red Cross managed donations sent to pay for both the
medical expenses of the survivors and the burial costs of the dead. In a few
weeks, US$5,284.15 (equivalent to $77,774 in 2019) was raised through
donations, including $2,500 from the Clinton County Board of Supervisors and
$2,000 from the Michigan Legislature.[41]
The disaster
received nationwide coverage in the days following, sharing headlines with
Charles Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic crossing[42][43] (though Lindbergh's
crossing received much more attention)[44] and eliciting a national outpouring
of grief. Newspaper headlines from across the United States characterized Kehoe
as a maniac, a madman, and a fiend.[29][45][46]
People from
across the world expressed sympathy to the families and the community of Bath,
including letters from some Italian schoolchildren. One 5th grade class wrote:
"Even if we are small, we understand all the sorrow and misfortune that
has struck our dear brothers." Another Italian class wrote: "We are
praying to God to give to the unfortunate mothers and fathers, the strength to
bear the great sorrow that has descent on them, we are near to you in spirit."[47]
Kehoe's body
was claimed by one of his sisters and his body was buried in an unmarked grave
in the paupers' section of Mount Rest Cemetery in St. Johns, Michigan.[48] The
Price family buried Nellie Price Kehoe in a Lansing cemetery under her maiden
name.[49][50][51]
Vehicles from
outlying areas and surrounding states descended upon Bath by the thousands.
Over 100,000 vehicles passed through on Saturday alone, an enormous amount of
traffic for the area. Some Bath citizens regarded this as an unwarranted
intrusion into their time of grief, but most accepted it as a show of sympathy
and support from surrounding communities.[52] Burials of individual victims
started that Friday, two days after the disaster.[53][50] Funerals and burials
continued on Saturday and Sunday until all the dead were buried.[54] For a time
following the tragedy the town and Kehoe's burned-out farm continued to attract
curiosity seekers.[55]
Coroner's
inquest
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.[54] Informal testimony had been taken on May 19 and the
formal coroner's inquest started on May 23.[56][57] The Clinton County
prosecutor conducted the examination, and more than 50 people testified before
the jury.[58] During his testimony, David Hart stated that Kehoe had told him
that he had "killed a horse"[59] 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.[4]
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."[60] Three telephone linemen working near Bath 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.[61][62] 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.[34]
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.[56] 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.”[56]
The inquest
determined that Kehoe murdered Superintendent Emory 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.[52]
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,[63] which made it the deadliest attack ever to occur in an
American school.[42] Richard Fritz, whose older sister Marjorie Fritz was
killed in the explosion, was injured in the explosion 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.[64]
Rebuilding
Governor Green
quickly called for donations to aid the townspeople and created the Bath Relief
Fund with the money supplied by donors, the state, and local governments.[4]
People from around the country donated to the fund.[65]
School resumed
on September 5, 1927, and, for the 1927–1928 school year, was held in the
community hall, township hall, and two retail buildings. Most of the surviving
students returned. The board appointed O. M. Brant of Luther, Michigan, to
succeed Huyck as superintendent. The Lansing architect Warren Holmes donated
construction plans, and the school board approved the contracts for the new
building on September 14. On September 15, Michigan's US Senator James J.
Couzens presented his personal check for $75,000 (equivalent to $1,103,879 in
2019) to the Bath construction fund to help build the new school.[66][67]
The board
demolished the damaged portion of the school and constructed a new wing with
the donated funds. During the reconstruction dynamite was found in the building
on three separate occasions.[68] The James Couzens Agricultural School was
dedicated on August 18, 1928.[65] The Kehoe farm was completely plowed to
ensure that no explosives were hidden in the ground and was sold at auction to
pay the mortgage.[69]
Legacy
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).[24][70] The Bath School
Museum in the school district's middle school contains many items connected
with the disaster[71] including the statue.[72]
In 1975, the
Couzens building was demolished[73] 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 building was torn down.[28] After some debate,
a Michigan State Historical Marker was installed at the park in 1991 by the
Michigan Historical Commission.[74] 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.[75]
The town
announced on November 3, 2008, 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.[76] 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.[64][77]
A documentary
on the disaster was released in 2011, including interviews with various
survivors which had been taped starting in 2004.[78] On May 18, 2017, the
disaster's 90th anniversary was marked with a panel discussion at the Bath
Middle School.[78]
Medical experts
have seen this unique act of historic school terrorism as a way to "to
gain perspective on pediatric patterns of injury and future disaster
preparedness".[79]
State of
Michigan Historical marker with gold text on a green background, standing in a
field of snow
Michigan state
historic site marker
bronze plaque
listing the people's names who died during the disaster (with the exception of
the Kehoes), fixed to a large boulder
Plaque at the
entrance of James Couzens Memorial Park
Red-roofed
white cupola from the 1927 building, surrounded by a small white picket fence
Cupola from the
school building, displayed at James Couzens Memorial Park
See also
*List of
rampage killers (school massacres)
*List of
school-related attacks
*List of attacks
related to primary schools
*List of
attacks related to secondary schools
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