Saturday, November 22, 2014

"Criminals Are Made, Not Born" - The Deadliest School Killing In U.S. History

It was not Columbine with 13 dead, it was not Sandy Hook at 27 dead nor was it even Virginia Tech with 32 dead although that may be the record high fatalities for school shootings (source of those numbers).

Nope, the deadliest school massacre in the USA took place way back in 1927 in Bath Township, Michigan. On May 8, 1927, Andrew Kehoe detonated dynamite and pyrotol in the Bath Consolidated School that killed 38 (36 children and two teachers). He then detonated another explosion in his truck, in which he was parked near the school, killing another 5 people including himself. Prior to that he had destroyed his house and farm buildings killing two horses while at it. Prior to all that carnage he also had killed his wife. The death toll was yet increased, about three months later, when another child died as a result of injuries from the blast.

The death toll of his rampage was: Mrs. Kehoe his wife - 1, children and teachers who died that day in the school - 38, other innocents who were killed when Kehoe detonated the explosives in his truck - 4, Kehoe himself when the truck went up - 1, and another child who died later as a result of injuries sustained in the school bombing - 1. So the total of those actually killed due to the actual school bombing alone was 39 and the total number of victims killed in all by Kehoe was 44, add to that Kehoe himself and the overall death toll was 45.

I imagine you could argue that Kehoe killed 44 people at the school since when he detonated the explosives in his truck he was outside the school at the scene of that crime. If you want to be a purest and consider only those who were killed that had been inside the school, then counting only those 39 killed as a result of the school bombing alone - it is still the worst school massacre in U.S. history.

To read more about it and to learn about the quote in the title of this post, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_bombings

All the best,
Glenn B
 

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