Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing (39 page)

My wife, Cheryl Diddia-Bernstein, the strongest person I know.

My parents, Sheila and Gene Bernstein; and my in-laws, Nancy and Chuck Diddia: unfailingly supportive and understanding of my obsessions.

Jan Pagoria (my guardian angel) for all the usual reasons.

Above all, my heartfelt admiration and thanks to the witnesses and survivors of May 18, 1927: Harold Burnett, Willis Cressman, Lee Mast, and Josephine Cushman Vail. You have been so generous with your memories. Words cannot convey my gratitude for your faith in me. You have taught me so much about the unshakable resiliency of the human spirit. There is a balm in Gilead.

1
. Willis Cressman, interview with the author, June 1, 2007.

2
. Josephine Cushman Vail, interview with the author, June 3, 2007.

3
. “Virginia Tech Massacre,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Virginia_tech_shooting (accessed January 5, 2007).

4
. Cressman interview.

5
. Vail interview.

6
. “Amish School Shooting,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Amish_school_shooting#Other_contemporary_school_shootings (accessed February 9, 2007).

1
. Harold Burnett,
History of Bath Charter Township, 1826–1976
(Bath: Harold B. Burnett, 1978), 1.

2
. Ibid., 15.

3
. Ibid., 18.

4
. Ibid., 20.

5
. Ibid., 21.

6
. Gene Wilkins,
My Scrapbook on the Bath School Bombing of May 18, 1927
(Bath: Timber Wolf, 2002), 4.

7
. Gene Wilkins,
Reflections of Bath, Michigan: Historical Look at the Bath/Park Lake Area through the Lens of a Camera
(Bath: Timber Wolf, 2005), 1.

8
. Ibid., 4.

9
. Ibid., 23–25.

10
. Ibid., 5.

11
. Ibid., 5.

12
. “Thomas Edison,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas
_Edison#Electric_light (accessed March 12, 2007).

13
. Burnett,
History of Bath Charter Township,
112.

14
. Ibid., 114.

15
. Ibid., 131–38.

16
. Ibid., 138.

17
. “Dynamite,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamite
(accessed June 5, 2007).

18
. “Pyrotol,”
Answers.com
,
http://www.answers.com/topic/pyrotol
(accessed June 5, 2007).

19
. Cressman interview.

1
. Vail interview.

2
. “In the Matter of the Inquest as to the Cause of Death of Emery E. Huyck, Deceased,” May 25, 1927, 182.

3
. Florence Lowe Platt, interview with the author, May 19, 2007.

4
. M. J. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster
(Bath: M. J. Ellsworth, [1927] 2001), 26.

5
. Grant Parker,
Mayday: The History of a Village Holocaust
(Perry, MI: Parker Press, 1980), 195.

6
. Parker,
Mayday,
196.

7
. Ibid.

8
. Ibid.

9
. “Kehoe as Boy Made Electrical Devices,”
Lansing State Journal,
May 20, 1927.

10
. Ibid.

11
. Parker,
Mayday,
196.

12
. Ibid., 198.

13
. Ibid., 200.

14
. Ibid., 199.

15
. Ibid., 197.

16
. Ibid., 203.

17
. Ibid., 201.

18
. Ibid., 203.

19
. Ibid.

20
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
26.

21
. “Kehoe Knew Few as Friend,”
Lansing State Journal,
May 19, 1927.

22
. Parker,
Mayday,
204.

23
. Ibid.

24
. Ibid.

25
. Ibid.

26
. Ibid., 205–6.

27
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
28.

28
. Parker,
Mayday,
206

29
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
28.

30
. Parker,
Mayday,
206–7.

31
. Ibid.

32
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
28.

33
. Parker,
Mayday,
26.

34
. Ibid., 25.

35
. Ibid., 208.

36
. Ibid., 211.

37
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
26.

38
. Ibid., 29.

39
. Parker,
Mayday,
25.

40
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 200.

41
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
29.

42
. Ibid., 29–30.

1
. Laurence Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
(New York: Touchstone, 1994), 176–77.

2
. Ibid., 162–67.

3
. Ibid., 78.

4
. Lee Mast, interview with the author, October 7, 2005.

5
. Ibid.

6
. Harold Burnett, interview with the author, November 18, 2007.

7
. Wilkins,
Reflections of Bath,
70.

8
. Parker,
Mayday,
3.

9
. “Friday Afternoon Club,” handout, undated.

1
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
30.

2
. Ibid.

3
. Ibid.

4
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 124.

5
. Ibid., 55.

6
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
31.

7
. Parker,
Mayday,
3.

8
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
35.

9
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 60.

10
. Ibid., 181.

11
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
30.

12
. Patti Seehase, interview with the author, June 2, 2007.

13
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
30.

1
. Burnett,
History of Bath Charter Township,
161–62.

2
. Ibid., 162.

3
. Ibid., 162–64.

4
. Ibid., 171.

5
. Parker,
Mayday,
10.

6
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
4.

7
. Ibid., 5.

8
. Wilkins,
My Scrapbook,
11.

9
. Parker,
Mayday,
12.

10
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
36.

11
. “Bath School Head Given Final Rites,”
Lansing State Journal,
May 23, 1927.

12
. Parker,
Mayday,
13–14.

13
. Ibid., 14.

14
. Ibid., 18.

15
. Cressman interview.

16
. Burnett,
History of Bath Charter Township,
199.

17
. Ibid.

18
. Parker,
Mayday,
18–19.

19
. Ibid., 21.

20
. Ibid., 28.

21
. Parker,
Mayday,
30.

22
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
38.

23
. Parker,
Mayday,
33–37.

24
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
39.

25
. Parker,
Mayday,
38.

26
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
38.

27
. Parker,
Mayday,
82.

28
. Ibid., 51.

29
. “Assorted Quotes and Notes in Honor of Our Nation’s Independence Day,” Vision Forum,
http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/articles/2005-07-01_001.aspx
(accessed August 1, 2007).

30
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 148–49.

31
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
31.

32
. Parker,
Mayday,
32–36.

33
. Ibid., 44–45.

34
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 130–31.

35
. Parker,
Mayday,
51–57.

36
. Ibid., 58–60.

37
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
29.

38
. Parker,
Mayday,
225.

39
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
39.

40
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 58.

41
. Ibid., 64.

42
. Ibid., 60–62.

43
. Ibid., 60.

44
. Parker,
Mayday,
60.

45
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 146.

46
. Ibid.

47
. “Kehoe Knew Few as Friend,”
Lansing State Journal,
May 19, 1927.

48
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 22–23.

1
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 202–3.

2
. Parker,
Mayday,
43.

3
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 202.

4
. Ibid., 205–6.

5
. Ibid., 202–3.

6
. “Bomber’s Wife Is Found Slain, 44 Dead in Dynamite Tragedy,”
Chicago Daily Journal,
May 19, 1927.

7
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
31.

8
. Ibid., 35–36.

9
. Ibid., 36.

10
.”Former Farm Bureau Mgr., Bath People Describe Andrew Kehoe,”
Clinton County Republican-News,
May 26, 1927.

11
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 343.

12
. M. S. Sweet, “Bath,”
Lansing Capital Times,
December 31, 1926.

13
. “The Weather,”
Lansing State Journal,
December 31, 1926.

14
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 63–64.

15
. Ibid., 203.

16
. Ibid., 203–4.

17
. “M.S.C. Graduate, Teacher at Bath School Has Thrilling Memories,”
Lansing State Journal,
May 21, 1927.

18
. Parker,
Mayday,
50.

19
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 26.

20
. Ibid., 270–75.

21
. Ibid., 185–86.

22
. Ibid., 343.

23
. Ibid., 20–21.

24
. Ibid., 132.

25
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
32–33.

26
.
Lansing State Journal,
May 18, 1927.

27
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 172.

28
. Ellsworth,
The Bath School Disaster,
31–32.

29
. Parker,
Mayday,
97.

30
. Ibid.

31
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 182–83.

32
. Parker,
Mayday,
98–99.

33
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 173.

34
. Ibid., 136.

35
. “Kehoe Advised School Picnic ‘Right Away,’”
Lansing State Journal,
May 19, 1927.

36
. “In the Matter of the Inquest,” 186.

37
. Ibid., 209.

38
.
Clinton County Republican-News,
May 26, 1927.

39
. “The Making of Modern Michigan,”
http://archive.lib.msu.edu/MMM/
JG/04/a/JG04a001.htm (accessed June 1, 2008).