Place: Bath, Michigan.
Andrew Kehoe, a farmer who served
as treasurer of the local school board, was furious with new taxes
levied to pay for the then 5-year-old school. He openly opposed
the creation of the consolidated school in 1924, believing it
would create financial problems.
For much of the spring in 1927,
Kehoe strung wires and hid dynamite in the basement of the
250-student school about 10 miles northeast of Lansing. He
was able to do this because school administrators thought Kehoe,
known for his penny-pinching ways, was doing odd jobs to save the
school the expense of hiring an electrician.
Kehoe was pushed over the edge when
the mortgage on his farm was foreclosed. It seems that by
wiring up the school he was punishing Bath's citizens. In
particular the one's that had voted for the new tax, a tax that he
believed had left him with not enough money to keep paying the
mortgage of his farm.
So, A few minutes before 9:45 on
May 18, 1927, apparently a sunny May morning, Kehoe entered the
school. Most students were inside, finishing up exams the day
before school was to recess for the summer. It would seem he
set a timing device for his 'gift' to the townsfolk of Bath.
