[book cover image courtesy of University of Michigan Press]
Decades before Columbine and Virginia Tech became household names, there was a school called Bath Consolidated School in Bath, Michigan. On May 18, 1927, the Bath Consolidated School fell victim to a tragedy that would leave a toll of 46 victims, most of them young children. In the center of the tragedy was the perpetrator, Andrew Kehoe, who reportedly committed the crime because of a school tax that sent his farm into foreclosure. Kehoe spared no one in this tragedy, including his wife, Nellie. In the end, as happens in most of these mass murders, Kehoe took his own life as well.
[top, Bath Consolidated School; bottom, the aftermath of the north wing. Photos courtesy of Bath School Museum]
I would like to take the opportunity to share with my readers a fascinating book by Arnie Bernstein called "Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing". The decades old tragedy in Bath has many of the same aspects we still see in more modern tragedies. I believe it would lend some insight to how we see these massacres today.
For more information about the book and how to purchase it, please visit Arnie Bernstein's website, www.arniebernstein.com
There is also aWikipedia pagethat chronicles the Bath School massacre and provides a lot of information.
Sources: www.arniebernstein.com; Wikipedia.org (Bath School disaster)
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