Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

The Bath School Disaster

The Bath School disaster, alsoknown as the Bath School massacre, was a series of violentattacks perpetrated by Andrew Kehoe on May 18, 1927, in BathTownship, Michigan, United States. The attacks killed 38 elementaryschoolchildren and 6 adults, and injured at least 58 other people.Prior to his timed explosives detonating at the Bath ConsolidatedSchool building, Kehoe had murdered his wife, Nellie Price Kehoe, andfirebombed 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 boardtreasurer, was angered by increased taxes and his defeat in the April5, 1926, election for township clerk. He was thought by locals tohave planned his "murderous revenge" after thatpublic defeat. Kehoe had a reputation for difficulty on the schoolboard and in personal dealings. In addition, he was notified in June1926 that his mortgage was going to be foreclosed upon. For much ofthe next year until May 1927, Kehoe purchased explosives. He secretlyhid them on his property and under the school.

On May 18, 1927, Kehoe then set offalmost simultaneous explosions at his farmstead and at the BathConsolidated School. His devices destroyed the farm's buildings andripped through the north wing of the Bath Consolidated Schoolbuilding. As rescuers began working at the school, Kehoe drove up tothe schoolyard and detonated dynamite inside his shrapnel-filledtruck. The truck explosion killed Kehoe plus four other people, andalso injured bystanders. During the rescue and recovery efforts,searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of unexplodeddynamite and pyrotol in the south wing of the school that had beenset to go off at the same time as the initial explosions in the northwing; Kehoe had apparently intended to destroy the entire school andkill everyone in it.

Background

Bath Township

Bath Township is a civil townshiplocated 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the city of Lansing in the USstate of Michigan. The township covers 31 square miles (80 km2) andthe small unincorporated village of Bath is within its borders. Thetownship itself is within Clinton County, Michigan, an area of some566 square miles (1,470 km2). In the early 1920s the area wasprimarily agricultural. After years of debate, Bath Township votersapproved the creation of the Bath Consolidated School district in1922, along with an increase in township property taxes to pay for anew school. When the school opened, it had 236 students enrolled ingrades 1 to grade 12. The school's creation was controversial, butMonty Ellsworth wrote in his book about the disaster thatconsolidated schools had great advantages over the smaller ruralschools they replaced. All landowners within the township area hadto pay higher ad valorem property taxes. At the time of the bombing,the unincorporated village had about 300 adult residents.

Andrew Kehoe

Andrew Philip Kehoe was born inTecumseh, Michigan, on February 1, 1872, into a family of 13 childrenand attended the local high school. After graduating, Kehoe studiedelectrical engineering at Michigan State College in East Lansing andmoved to St. Louis, where he worked as an electrician for severalyears. At some point during this period he suffered a head injury ina fall and was semi-conscious or in a coma for a period of severalweeks. He later returned to Michigan and his father's farm.

After his mother's death, Kehoe'sfather Philip married a much younger widow, Frances Wilder, and adaughter was born. On September 17, 1911, as his stepmother attemptedto 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 andhis action spread the flames more rapidly, which engulfed andimmolated her body. The injuries were fatal and she died the nextday. Some of Kehoe's later neighbors in Bath believed that he hadcaused the stove explosion.