SCHOOL PICNIC DAY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 20 May 1927, Page 5

SCHOOL PICNIC DAY

HEARTRENDING SCENES

NEW YORK, 19th -May

A villager at Bath who witnessed the explosion at the schoolnouse said': "The whole wing seemed to lift about four feet. The walls caved outward and the roof toppled into the interior of a heavy cloud of smoKe spread in all directions. Then I heard the .screaming of. children and saw women come running from every direction."Robert Gates, who helped Jn the rescue, said that mother after mother came running to the school demanding information about the children, and on seeing lifeless forms, hysterically sobbed and swooned. Soon there were more than a -hundred men tearing away the debris, and almost as many women frantically searched the \ ruins. Gates said lie saw more than one woman lift brick and mortar heavier than the average man would think of handling without a crowbar.

The charred bodv of Kehoc's wife was found in the. ruins" of their fqrm, which was destroyed by fire after the explosion. The most tragic irony of the situation lies in the fact that this was the dav scheduled for the,school picnic and mothers had been cooking and baking cakes for manv days and making new dresses for the little girls, whose crushed and mangled bodies are now awaiting burial. There is some discussion on the suggestion to hold one big funeral for 41 tho victims, but tho inhabitants, mostly women, did not sleep all night and are at present too dazed to comprehend the situation fullv and make arrangements. Manv are half crazed with grief.

CASUALTY LIST GROWS

NEW YORK, 18th May :

The latest casualty list in connection with the Bath (Michigan) explosion gives 42 dead, most of whom are children, and 49 injured, some of whom are oxpected to die.