Evening star., 1927-05-19
Continued from First Page.1


McFarran, an aged man, were stand
ing on the sidewalk a few feet away
| Suddenly a terrific blast came from
| the machine. The bodies of kehoe
and Huyck were blown to bits. Nc
Farran was killed outright and Smith
| so badly injured that he died in a
hospital shortly afterward. kehoe S
| car was torn to pieces. The rear
wheels and differential were hurled
across the road.
kehoe's wife was the first victim
| Of his fury, it was established today.
! Portions of her body were found in
| the ashes OF one of the outbuildinga
| on the Keh0e farm. Her skull was
| crushed. leading to the belief Kehoe
killed her before casting her body into
| the building to be burned.
The discovery was made by Roy
Cole, a deputy sheriff.
No Eye Witness.
Part of the framework of Kehoe's
car was wrapped about telephone
pole Is rods down the road and on the
other side.
There are two versions Of the explo-
sion In kehoes car. One was that he
fred a rifle into a load Of powder in
the blast by touching a button in an
electric circuit while sitting in the car
No one actcually saw the explosion.
Besides kehoe, Huycl<, Smith and
McFarran. the other adult killed was
Hazel Wetherbee an instructor.
According TO Charles Lane. State fire
marshal the electrical wiring leading
to the dynamite and powder charges
planted in the school building was so
well done that he was not sure 1t
could have been installed by one per-
son. Enough unexploded dynamite
and powder was found to fill small
truck, and Lane expressed doubt that
kehoe could have gone into the school
house. night after night, with small
quantities of the explosive. as would
have been necessary mad he been un-
aided
Explosive Concealed in Floors.
About an hour before the blast ke-
hoe, with Bert Detluff, the village
blacksmith and a number Of the
school board inspected the building
and reported everything all right. The
dynamite had been cleverly concealed
in the floors. Frank Smith, janitor OF
the building, declared Kehoe seemed
anxious to ''get away from there"
Neither Smith nor Detluff was injured
Kehoe. graduate of the Michigan
State College, in opposing establish
ment Of a consolidated school drawing
pupils from surrounding farms, claim
ed the structure would make school
taxes burdensome. Recently a mort
gage on his farm was foreclosed. His
neighbors said he had dynamite
complex" He was always blowing
something up" around his farm. He
was also an accomplished electrician
and recently completely wired his
house. The wiring for the explosion
of the farm house and outbuildings
was complicated affair. A timing
apparatus was found, wired in the
chicken coop. the only structure not
destroyed. Wires were found leading
to the house and barns from the tele-
phone lines passing on the road in
front.
Nailed to a tree in front of the
house there was rude sign, "Crimi-
nails are made, not born
The equipment with which Kehoe
apparently had planted the explosive
in the basement ceiling of the school
consisted Of six lengths of caves
trough pipe. three bamboo fishing rods
and four Windmill rods. Such equip
ment was removed from the basement
of the undamaged wing Of the school.
Blamed School Tax.
The mortgage on Kehoe's farm was
held by Mrs. Lawrence Price of
Lansing, widow of Mrs. Kehoe' s
uncle. Sheriff Fox, who served the
foreclosure notice, declared Kehoe at
the time said, "If it hadn't been for
! that $500 school tax, I might have
paid of this mortgage"
Mrs. Price said that when she men
toned foreclosing to Kehoe he de-
clared, "WeH, If I can't live in that
house no one else will"
All the little victims of the school
blast were pupils of the third, fourth
fifth and sixth grades. They ranged
in age from to 16. Bernice Sterling.
first grade teacher, described the eX-
plosion as like a terrible earthquake.
Most of her pupils escaped unhurt.
| They had Just started marching
around the room for morning exercise
when the explosion rocked the build.
ing.
at seemed as though the floor went
up several feet" she said. After
| the first shock thought for moment
/ was blind. When it came the air
seemed to be full Of children and
Iylng OeSkS ana DOCKS. CnllQreu were
| tossed high in the air; some were
catapulted out of the building"
Outside the scene was one Of hor
ror and confusion.
! Children were hurled through win
dows and over crumbling walls tc
light in the school yard, dead. The
bodies We're laid out in long rows or
the grass. Only their feet showed
Mostly they were shabby feet, with
soles worn through or shoes, sizes toe
large, seemingly handed down from
| father to son.
Many Carried Home.
Mothers, flushed from bending over
kitchen stoves, rushed to the scene
when they heard the blast. Thos:
who had children in the school rar
frantically up and down the line Of
childish feet. A scream, and one
would seize limp form and hug it tC
her breast. Some of them, half crazet
by the tragedy, clasped their dead chill
dren in their arms and ran home
Scattered around the yard were the
forms of injured children. Mothers
whose love overcame their judgment
carried many of them to their homes
not realizing that every available
physician from nearby towns was a
the school and medical attention a
home was impossible.
| AmbuIanceS drove up and loaded IL