At that time my wife, who was upstairs cleaning house, ran to the window facing the east, which brought her in plain sight of the school. By that time, black and white smoke and dust looked as if it was going about one hundred feet in the air. She yelled, "Mv G-- the school house has blown up." She ran downstairs and I ran toward the house and car. I yelled to the section men who had already started for Kehoe's buildings and I told them that the schoolhouse had blown up, but I could make only part of them hear. What I could make hear ran this way. Before they got here and I could get my car started, we could hear the children screaming and moaning at the school. It seemed as if our car would hardly run. It was a ride that none of us will ever forget.

     We got to the school and as we ran across the lawn we met some people who told us our boy, who was in the second grade, was out and all right. I think there were about ten or a dozen people there at that time. The wall had crumbled each way, letting the edge of the roof drop on the brick and cement. There was a pile of children of about five or six under the roof and some of them had arms sticking out, some had legs, and some just their heads sticking out. They were unrecognizable because they were covered with dust, plaster, and blood. There were not enough of us to move the roof. It looked as if hardly anything held it at the top.

     Some of the men thought that if we had ropes we could pull the roof over. I said, "I have lots of ropes in my slaughter house and I will go and get them." I ran out to the street to my machine, a Ford pick-up, I had to go south about four blocks and turn west and just as I got nicely around the corner I met Kehoe in his car going toward Bath. He grinned and waved his hand; when he grinned, I could see both rows of his teeth, in fact, I can see them yet. He must have driven down through Bath, then west a mile and a half. He was seen by two men: Jobe T. Sleight, Jr., and Homer Jenison, Bath township farmers. He also passed one of Mr. Witt's little boys who was in the school and running home. He waved at Kehoe and tried to get a ride but Kehoe paid no attention. He must have turned south half a mile, then east dlown by his burning buildings and then to Bath. I think he went west on the north road thinking that he would meet M. W. Keyes, a member of the school board, and his son, Warden Keyes, a school bus driver. He had had some little trouble from time to time with both of these men. Kehoe dropped the last check he gave Warden and as he picked it up, Kehoe said, "My boy, you want to take good care of that check as it is probably the last check you will ever get." If he had met them, he would have likely shot both of them, as he had his rifle with him.

     There being so much help around the pole I was back down by the machine when Kehoe blew his car up in the street. This was about half an hour after the school exploded. I stood there almost paralyzed for a few moments and I didn't know what to do. Someone stood by me and said, "Well, we must get those dead people out of the cars." We started out toward the road and found superintendent, Mr. Huyck, and Nelson McFarren dead and Glenn Smith, who was bleeding and rolling on the ground, mortally wounded. We didn't see anything of Kehoe's body, as it was blown down the street and across in a low place. No one knew for about an hour what the explosion really was. When we got to Glenn Smith, he was conscious and he tried to get on his feet and he kept saying, "Leave me, boys, and run, these trees are full of it." He must have thought the blast came out of the trees. I went after a piece of rope to stop the blood but by the time I got back, Eddy Drumheller, the township highway commissioner, had pulled off his belt and was binding the leg. Glenn told him when it was tight enough. Glenn's good wife came at that time. As soon as she saw Glenn's condition, she broke down. Glenn said, "O dear, don't worry about me." He started to turn pale green and was getting weaker and he asked why the doctors didn't come. About that time the ambulances pulled up but Glenn passed away before the ambulance reached the hospital. Mr. Huyck and Mr. McFarren were almost unrecognizable.

     At this time the doctors and nurses began to arrive. Doctor and Mrs. Crum, who were doctor and nurse in the World War, now run a drug store in Bath, they practically turned their store and home into a hospital where they gave all the attention in their power. He was on the job with his sleeves rolled up about an hour before other doctors and nurses crime. They haven't stopped helping yet, as they call on some of the children that are back from the hospital.

     The operators in our little exchange stayed at their duty and called doctors, undertakers, and hospitals in Lansing and nearby towns. There were hundreds of people working in the wreckage getting out the children.

     The Consumers' Power Company had a gang of men working in this vicinity who assisted a great deal in the rescue and some of the contractors in Lansing sent their entire force; men from shops, and many others turned in to help.

     Mr. Lefke was in the basement with Lieutenant Donald McNaughton and Ernest Halderman, state troopers, and Lieutenant Lyle W. Morse, assistant chief of the secret service department of public safety. In a short time the came out with about a bushel of dynamite and told the rescuers and all the other people to get back as there was more dynamite in the building. They went back in the basement and found the clock and batterv. They cut the wires and carried out the rest of the dynamite that all together weighed five hundred and four pounds.Then, they told the people that it was safe to go back to work. When one of these brave men was asked why they risked their lives going into such a place, he calmly said, "That is our duty."

     It was about noon before it was found out that Kehoe had brought his wife home from Lansing on Monday night. They immediately thought it was possible for her to have burned up in the house on the farm. Assistant Chief Lefke took the chemical truck out and emptied its contents in the cellar to cool it off enough so they could search for her body. Her charred bodv was not found until the next morning behind what was once called the sheep barn.

     It is a miracle that many parents didn't lose their minds before the task of getting their children out of the ruins was completed. It was between five and six o'clock that evening before the last child was taken out.

     When the doctors got here they detailed three men and myself to take the stretchers to gather up the dead and put them in a row on the grass where we could cover them up.

     Shortly after noon the ladies around town commenced making coffee and sandwiches and getting what they could for the relief workers to eat. A big relief came to these ladies during the afternoon when the Lawrence Baking Company of Lansing sent out a truck load of pies and sandwiches which were served in the community hall during the afternoon and evening. Many thanks to Mr. Lawrence.

     By noon the traffic became a problem, but Lieutenant McNaughton, state trooper, soon mastered the situation by placing his men on corners leading to Bath who stayed on their duty until far in the night. He also kept men on duty watching the school all night. The following Sunday after the explosion, May 22, 1927, was the big problem of handling the traffic, but through the faithful duty of our sheriff, Bart Fox, and his deputies on the north, and Lieutenant McNaughton's men on the east, south, and the west, this problem was solved.

     On Sunday, May 22, following our terrible catastrophe, I think we had the greatest demonstration of American sympathy ever awarded a grief stricken community. Thousands and thousands of cars stayed in line for hours. I have a gas station one-half mile west of Bath on the main road to Lansing, where there was a double row of traffic all day. In the afternoon it took about four hours to get three miles, but I don't remember of hearing a single horn sounded. It was like a great funeral procession. Everyone's heart was filled with sympathy for this grief stricken community. There were a great many funerals this day and it was a handicap getting to the cemeteries but I don't think the grief stricken parents have any hard feeling toward the people who came fromn many miles around to see a sight which I hope human eyes will never rest on again. I sincerely hope that everyone who visited our little community feels that he was met courteously and without prejudice or graft in any respect.

     An example of fullest cooperation at Bath, Mich., schoolhouse wreck (taken out of the August 15, 1927, number of the Red Cross Courier.)

     The relief situation at Bath, Mich., created bv a maniac's act of blowing up a school full of children, is being handled with efficiency by the Chapter in the county of Ingham and adjoining counties. The Rev. Edwin W. Bishop, of Lansing, Chairman of Ingham County Chapter, in his report gives a clear picture of the distressing event. The Case Committee mentioned in this report included William Smith, an attorney of St. Johns, formerly a resident of Bath; Mrs. L. A. Warner, of Bath; Chairman Bishop S. E. Ewing, supervisor of Bath township; State Senator George Hunter, of St Johns, supervisor of Clinton county; Albert Detluff, secretary, Bath school Board, who acted as adviser to the committee appointed by Governor Green; Charlotte W. Lockhart, of the Social Service Bureau, Lansing; Elba L. Morse, nursing field representative, American Red Cross; Lucile Fulk, Executive Secretary, Ingham County Chapter.

     "Upon request," writes the Rev. Mr. Bishop, "I have prepared an outline report of the history of what will probably be known as the Bath disaster. In accepting this appointment I have only acted as the mouthpiece of all the agencies which had been busy in extending relief. With the exception of the trained workers, we were all civilians engaged in our own particular work or professions. I think I am safe in saying that not one of us had been face to face with such a disaster as this where we had certain duties to perform. We were, therefore, unprepared in disaster technique, but we were willing to learn; we had the advice of trained executives, and we tried to do our duty as we saw it day by day. If there has been remissness anywhere it has been due to lack of knowledge and experience rather than to wilful intention.

     "When the news of the disaster came to St. Johns and Lansing the organizations of the Red Cross begin to function according to schedule. A meeting of the boards was thought of earlier, but there were two verv good reasons for not holding it. Our trained workers have been too busy in the work of relief to have been spared for a board meeting, and it seemed wise that the executives themselves should not be interrupted in the work that fell to them. Now that the pressure for immediate relief work is over, we have called all the directors of both boards together that they might be the first to be acquainted with what has alreadv been undertaken and accomplished and that their advice might be given on further procedure."

     "A tribute to the splendid cooperation which has been extended by the individual citizens of Bath, by all the couuty and state authorities, and bv the social service agencies in our own counties and nearby cities is more than due. One of our visiting trained workers has stated that she has never witnessed cooperating agencies work together any more smoothly than in this disaster. We are indeed glad that this has been so. Our memories will be cheered with the thought of the successful team work."

     "In coming now to the picture itself, I must make it an etching with bold outlines rather than a steel engraving overloaded with details, and I shall purposely omit descriptions of the causes or of the disaster itself, concentrating only upon relief adopted and undertaken.

     "On Wednesday morning, May 18, at about 9:45 the first explosion occurred in the consolidated schoolhouse at Bath and naturally the first measures of relief were taken by those in the immediate vicinity. Villagers gathered immediately and began to give all the aid within their power. County and State authorities were quickly notified. St. Johns and Lansing got the news. Word was received at the Social Service Bureau in Lansing, which immediately communicated with the Ingham County Red Cross office across the hall. Judge C. B. Collingwood, Chairman of the Disaster Committee, was notified by Mrs. Leona Weldon, who was the secretary in charge of the Lansing office during the absence of Miss Lucile Fulk, who was attending a national convention at Des Moines, Iowa. The Chairman of the Ingham County Red Cross Chapter was in Rochester, near Detroit, addressing a State conference meeting. Much credit should be given to Mrs. Weldon who, though inexperienced with such a disaster, efficiently set the organization at its task."

     "Dr. Milton Shaw of Lansing was the first physician outside of Bath township to appear on the scene, quicklv followed by the firemen and the police of Lansing. To them were also soon added the State police and the police of Lansing, and all these bodies immediately began to render efficient service. A corps of doctors and nurses, representatives of hospitals of Lansing and St. Johns and neighboring vicinage, came quickly to the scene and began their work of mercy. A corner of the school yard was used for first aid and the ambulances transported those more severelv injured to the hospitals. The dead were reverently laid in a row by themselves and were removed upon identification to homes or undertaking establishments. Mrs. Leota Abrams, of the Social Service Bureau of Lansing, was a tower of strength here. A morgue was opened in the Town hall in Bath. By 1 p.m. most of the severely injured had been transported to the hospitals."

     "Rescue work continued through the afternoon, aided by the wrecking crews of the Reniger and the Christman comstruction companies and the Reo and Olds motor companies of Lansing. A cordon was thrown around the grounds that rescue work might not be hampered. The State police controlled the continually increasing traffic. By the aid of electric lights rescue work was carried on into the night until it was certain that no bodies were left in the ruins. The first day of the tragedy was over and the reparative constructive forces of society had demonstrated their use and effectiveness. The Red Cross headquarters in Lansing was kept open until 11:30 that night, -answering telephone calls, checking up lists of dead and injured, giving information and planning for the next day."

     "Fortunately for us all, Miss Elba Morse, National representative of the Red Cross, was at Stanton, in Montcalm County, where she heard of the disaster. Miss Morse, with Miss Marv Keaveny, Red Cross nurse of Montcalm Chapter, immediately drove to Lansing, reaching there in the night. On Thursday morning they were on the ground with the Red Cross Chapter executives of Clinton and Ingham Counties, and with Miss Charlotte Lockhart of the Social Service Bureau of Lansing."

     "Through the courtesy of Dr. and Mrs. J. A. Crum of Bath a Red Cross field office was installed and a typewriter secured, and this room has been a clearing house for all of the relief agencies. Dr. and Mrs. Crum have also most generously put at the disposal of several committees other rooms in their home. And these headquarters have been busy scenes of activity with many volunteer helpers from St. Johns, Lansing and the vicinity, as well as the executive secretaries and the nurses, loaned by the adjoining counties, ably assisting."

     "The relief work soon naturally divided itself into different committees which functioned in case investigations, in hospital visitation, in home nursing, food and bedding, and in arrangemnents for funerals. A committee of ministers called at homes where death had entered and advised and comforted the sorrowing. Where the family had no choice of an officiating clergyman or had made no arrangements, the committee offered its services."

     "On the afternoon of the disaster Governor Green and Mrs. Green visited the scene, as did Mayor and Mrs. Troyer of Lansing, and Mayor Schoenhals of St. Johns. Executive action was taken on Thursday afternoon in the Governor's proclamation to the citizens of Michigan to rally with volunteer contributions for immediate relief and for permanent rehabilitation, and which appointed a committee to take charge of raising these funds. At a meeting that after noon in the Governor's office, with the Governor and representatives of the Clinton and Ingham County Chapters of the Red Cross, it was understood that the immediate relief funds, as is customary in such cases, should be distributed under the advice of the Red Cross, while any funds for public property rehabilitation should be in control of the Governor's Committee. A disaster case committee to consider the expenditure of such relief as the Governor's Committee could offer was appointed by a general counsel, which was called in the Red Cross headquarters on Thursday afternoon, comprised of all the agencies that were on the ground. This disaster case committee has held four meetings, having completed its recommendations."

     "May it be said, however, in this connection that the principle underlying Red Cross relief is need, not loss. The Red Cross, prohibited by its own charter from becoming an insurance company, cannot reimburse victims of disaster, much as its heart and wishes might be so prompted, with blanket rehabilitation ..... The Red Cross, ably assisted by other social service organizations, both locallv and farther afield, especially by the Social Service Bureau of Lansing, which has been untiring in its efforts of cooperation, have thrown themselves whole heartedlv into this work of immediate relief according to need .... And if there be any questions arising, as freqently arise in other communities, that some of the money collected has gone for salaries and equipment, may the Red Cross and these other social organizations concerned rather proudly say that the resources of these organizations with their trained workers and voluntary workers have been willingly and freely given to this stricken community without a dollar of compensation going to any of us for expenditure of time and effort involved."

     "In reviewing and tabulating acknowledgments of assistance, space will permit me only to make brief mention of organizations. The names of individuals will be found in other more particular records. Among the organizations that should be mentioned as having cooperated in our work of the last week are the following: Rotary Club and American Legion of St. Johns; Board of Supervisors, Clinton County; Clinton County Chapter, American Red Cross; Social Service Bureau, Lansing; Salvation Army, Lansing; St. Lawrence, Sparrow, and Lange hospitals, Lansing; hospital of St. Johns; Red Cross Chapters of St. Johns, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Pontiac, Clare, and Lansing; medical associations of Clinton and Ingham Counties; the State police; police and fire departments of Lansing; the Governor's committee; ministers' funeral committee; Michigan Children's Aid Society; Service Battery of 119th Division, U. S. Army, cots and blankets; Reo and Olds motor car companies; Boy Scouts of America; our undertakers who supplied ambulances."

     "If the combined agencies represented in this report have given, they have also received. It has been an educational experience in humanitarianism. We have all been learners. We have broadened our sympathies and increased our contacts. Like ships that pass in the night, we shall probably never be thrown together again in like circumstances, but as we have passed we have tried to give a cheery hail."