THE BATH MASSACRE

The worst school massacre in the United States, in terms of numbers of fatalities, did not take place in Virginia, Colorado, or Connecticut. It occurred instead in Bath Township, at the time a small agricultural community about fourteen miles from Lansing, Michigan. On that tragic day on May 18, 1927, Andrew Kehoe murdered 38 elementary school children and six adults and injured 58 others.

Kehoe's attack was cold-blooded, cruel, premeditated, and methodical. Over a course of several months, he accumulated hundreds of pounds of dynamite and pyrotol--not a difficult thing to do in those more innocent times, as the explosives were commonly sold to farmers (such as Kehoe) for legitimate purposes and were not regulated as they are today. Kehoe purchased them in small quantities at various locations to avoid suspicion. He bought new tires for his truck so that he would not get a flat when hauling around heavy loads of dynamite.

The Bath Consolidated School was built in 1922 as a single structure to replace numerous one-room country schoolhouses which were located in the area. Kehoe was a member of the school board. He was also an electrician who performed repairs on the lighting system in the building. He thus had ample opportunity, which he unfortunately utilized, to install and wire explosives throughout the structure.

On May 18, 1927, or perhaps a day or two prior, Kehoe murdered his wife at his farm. He placed bombs within the house and outbuildings and wired the legs of his horses together so that they could not escape the barn. He also cut all of his fences and girdled his fruit trees so that they would die. At about 8:45 AM on May 18, Kehoe detonated the explosives and blew up his farm.

Meanwhile, at the school, classes started at 8:30 AM. Kehoe, using an alarm clock as a timer, arranged for his school explosives to go off at about the same time as he blew up his house--8:45 AM. The initial blast demolished the north wing of the school and killed 38 people--primarily children. Kehoe had also set a second time bomb composed of 500 pounds (230 kg) of dynamite in the south wing, but the explosion in the north wing apparently caused a short which disarmed the second bomb.

Kehoe was not through. About a half-hour after the initial blast, he drove up to the scene at the school in his truck and called over the Superintendent of Schools. Eyewitnesses indicate that they saw the two men wrestling over a long gun, and the truck then exploded, killing Kehoe, the Superintendent, a retired farmer, the postmaster, and an 8-year old boy.

Why did Kehoe commit his atrocities (other than the fact that he was an evil sadistic wacko)? He was upset about taxes.