AT TEXAM SCHOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 67, 20 March 1937, Page 9

SHOCKING DISASTER AT TEXAM SCHOOL.

. 1 G4S EXPLOSION. Building on Oil Field Blown To Pieces. t BETWEEN 500 AND 600 DEAD, c c United Press Association, —Copyright, i i l (Received 10 a.m.) ' ' NEW iORK. March 10. j A shocking disaster occurred yes- 1 terda.v at the New London High f School, Overton, Texas, when an explosion of accumulated natural gas in the basement blew the roof oil' the ! building and razed three walls. The j roof crashed back on the collapsing t walls and a fire followed. r Estimates agree that between 000 and COO lives were lost, the majority of the ' victims being pupils and the rest i teachers. * i The total number inside the building ( at the time was 739. Most of them were in the auditorium, which was in tiie direct path of the explosion. ,Thc ! ages of the pupils ranged from six to ' 17 years. Maiiy of them were reported 1 to have been trapped in the ruins of the 1 building. ' Horrified parents ran frantically about < the scene seeking some word as' to the i fate of their children. Mrs. Joe Jlerka, the first arrival on the scene, said: "I saw children lying everywhere. At least 00 per cent of them were killed or 1 injured." 1 The local radio station broadcast the ■ news of the disaster. Mr. R. G. Barbour, superintendent of the Overton Oil Refining Company, was an eye-witness • of the explosion, and led the rescue • • efforts. , Parents Wait in Dread. i Many parents drove to town to search , for their children,' while others waited [ at home near radio sets, by which the , name of each of the identified dead was : [ broadcast. Debris is being leaded into lorries j and hauled away to permit of a further . i search. Scattered here and there are ' ■ text books, children's garments, and • odds and ends of school equipment. ■ Before the discovery of oil the school ) was just a little wooden structure with less than 100 students and four i teachers, but oil was struck on the ; original school property and on it now I are 12 wells yielding the school a i royalty, with which a 1.000,000-dollar plant was built on a new location. It was probably the largest, and certainly the richest, consolidated rural school in the world. The superintendent, Mr. W. O. Shaw, said that many of the bodies were i mangled beyond identification. Scores of injured had to be treated, and ambulances and doctors from neighbouring towns were pressed into service. The building was the largest rural school in America. Overton is 100 miles east of Dallas, in the heart of the great East Texas gas and oil field. r 300 Bodies Identified. The latest- news from Overton states f that 300 of the 400 bodies . 'ecovered | j have been identified. Probably it will I be another day before a complete tabulation of the dead and injured will be possible. Some of the bodies have been sent as far as Shrove Port, Louisiana. Undcri takers within 100 miles' radius have i been summoned to assist in the funeral ' preparations, and an emergency call t has been sent for eofiins. One hundred National Guardsmen are maintaining order at the site of the wrecked school and 3000 gloved men • are searching the ruins and receiving directions by means of a loud-speaker. Ropes around the grounds have kept parents away. Children's Awful Ordeals. A representative of' the "New York Times" in a telegram from Overton says ) he interviewed several of tlic survivors of the explosion. - Lawrence Barker, aged 10, said: "I was in the Study Hall when the explosion occurred. Suddenly the lloor rose amid a terrible noise like exploding • dynamite. I was hit on the back of the head by something. "I jumped out of the window, which was on the second floor. I saw from 20 to 30 dead bodies before I leaped." Paula Echols, aged 15, said: "There { was a roar and the entire roof fell in r upon us in one piece. I could sec one t leg of my teacher in the corner near . her desk." a Martha Harris, aged IS, said: "The earth shook and broken glass came showering down. I looked out of a window in the Home Economy Building, where I was studying, and saw friends dying like flies. "I saw little children blown out through the roof. Some were hung up there and others fell tg, the ground. I saw girls of my class jumping out of windows. "My brother Milton, aged 16, jumped and was hardly scratched, receiving only a little bruise. I saw a girl fall out of a window, the jagged glass of which cut off one of lier legs like a knife. ' "I shall never forget how I saw my playmates' bodies torn. It was horrible."