ANGUISH-STRICKEN PARENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 49, 20 May 1927, Page 1

ANGUISH-STRICKEN PARENTS

BLOWING-UP OF SCHOOL IN MICHIGAN

FRANTIC MOTHERS SEARCH RUINS

ANGUISH-STRICKEN mothers frantically searching brick and mortar ruins for the mangled bodies of their children were seen in the Michigan village of Bath after they heard of the explosion of the village school by the maniac Kehoe. The next day was to have been the school picnic, a day of rejoicing, but the heavy fall of sorrow now is there, and the talk is of funerals.

By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Reed. 8 a.m. BATH (Michigan), Thursday. A villager who witnessed the explosion at the school house said: “The whole wing seemed to lift about four feet. The walls caved outward and the roof fell into the interior. A heavy cloud of smoke spread in all directions, then I heard the screams of the children and saw the women come running in every direction.” Robert Gates, who helped in the rescue, said: “Mother after mother came running to the school and de-

manded information of her child, and on seeing the lifeless form hysterically sobbed and swooned. “Soon more than a hundred men were tearing away the debris, and almost as many women frantically searched the ruins. I saw more than one woman lift bricks and mortar heavier than the average man would think of handling without a crowbar.” The charred body of Kehoe's wife was found in the ruins of their farm, which was totally destroyed by the fire following the earlier explosion there. The most tragic irony of the situation lies in the fact that this day was scheduled for the school picnic. The mothers had been cooking and baking cakes for many days and making new dresses for the little girls, whose crushed and mangled bodies are now awaiting burial. There is some discussion about holding one big funeral for all the vietime, but the inhabitants and most of the women have not slept all night. At present they are too dazed to comprehend the entire situation or make arrangements. Many are half-crazed with grief.— A. and N.Z.