TEXAS SCHOOL TRAGEDY

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 388, 20 March 1937, Page 5

TEXAS SCHOOL TRAGEDY

SIX HUNDRED CHILDREN DEAD IN GAS EXPLOSION. HORRIBLE SCENES WITNESSED. Hundreds of children and teachers were killed as the result of an explosion at the New London High School, near Overton, Texas. Three hundred feet away in the gymnasium, in a separate building, 50 mothers were attending a parents and teachers’ meeting. The noise of the explosion caused them to rush to the windows. Where the school had been they saw only a heap of twisted steel, bricks and broken concrete, from which flames were shooting.

The schol roll is more than 1500, but the younger children had been dismissed. It lacked only ten minutes to dismissal time for the remainder when the tragedy occurred.

TRAPPED IN FIRE SCHOOL WALLS FALL IN Frantic, Hysterical Mothers. Press Association—*sopyrrglit. Overton (Texas), March 18. It is estimated that 600 children and teachers were killed in an explosion at the New London High School. Most of the 1300 students were in the auditorium, which was in the direct path of the blast. It was at first stated that a boiler exploded. There was no boiler in the building, which was heated by natural so-called “wet" gas from a nearby oilfield. It seemn likely that leaking gas, which was odourless, accumulated under the building and was ignited by the flame of one of the radiators which a few hours before had been lit when the temperature fell to 50 degrees. The roof of the building was lifted in the air and crashed back on the collapsing walls. Fire followed, and many children are reported to have been trapped in the building. Horrified parents ran frantically about seeking some word regarding the fate of their children.

Many bodies were mangled beyond identification, and scores of children were admitted to hospital. Ambulances an dphysicians from neighbouring towns were pressed into service. The dead include 30 or 40 teachers. The number inside the building at the time of the blast was definitely fixed at 739. The cause of the explosion was established as due to gas accumulation in the basement. Three hundred feet away in the gymnasium, in a separate building, -50 mothers were attending a parents and teachers’ meeting. The noise of the explosion caused them to rush to the windows. Where the school had stood they saw only a heap of twisted steel, bricks and broken concrete, from which flames were shooting. Screaming hysterical!!, mothers raced across the campus and clawed at the debris with bare hands to reach the children whose cries were heard beneath the debris. Nearby oilfields were closed and the workers, who were the fathers of the children, hurried to the scene. There were so many rescuers that they at first handicapped and impeded one another.

Search for Bodies. The State police arrived and restored order and assigned tasks to the rescuers.. Darkness threatened to halt the activity, but oil company electricians strung huge floodlights over the wreckages. The rescue work and the search for bodies continued. One hundred bodies were recovered shortly after dark. The injured were taken to churches and homes. Twelve uninjured children were found to be saved by a bookcase which held off the mortar and bricks. A woman, who was first arrival on the scene, said that she saw children tying everywhere. At least 90 per cent, were killed or injured. Mr. R. C. Barbour, superintendent of an oil-refining company, who was an eye-witness and a leader in the rescue efforts, estimated the dead at over 600 children and teachers. Overton is 100 miles east of Dallas, in the heart of the great East Texas oil and gas field. The building was knowi* locally as the largest rural school in America. It was a combination of grade and high school students whose ages ranged frcm six to seventeen/

Bodies were sent to as far as Shreveport, Louisiana. Undertakers within a 100-mile radius were summoned to assist the funeral preparations. An emergency call was sent for coffins. One hundred National Guardsmen are maintaining order at the wrecked school. Three thousand gloved men Beached the ruins, receiving directions from a lour-speaker. Ropes around the grounds kept the parents away. Many drove to the town to search for their children. Others waited at home near the radio, by which the name of each identified child was broadcast. The debris was loaded on to lorries and hauled away to permit further search. Scattered here and there were

text-books, children’s garments and odds and ends of school equipment. Before the discovery of nil the school was just a little wooden structure with less than 100 students and four teachers, but oil struck on the original school property, on which are now 12 wells yielding the school royalty with which a £200,000 plant was built on a new location. It was probably the largest and certainly the richest consolidated rural school in the world. The school part of a. milliondollar educational plant serving two school districts. It was completely modern, and was surrounded on all sides by oil derricks.

The school enrolment was more than 1500, but the younger children had been dismissed. It lacked only ten minutes to dismissal time for thd remainder when the blast occurred. Many of the younger children, playing in the campus, saw the building collapse. A teacher was directing a class in physical exercises 100 yards from the school when a flying brick struck and killed one boy of the group. Superintendent W. C. Shaw was walking across the campus at the time. He said that his own son, aged 17, was inside.

The dead bodies stretched in long rows on the grass, coered with sheets. Hours after the explosion screams and moans from injured-could yet be heard from the wreckage, giving rise to hope that the dead toll might be less than at first feared, but Mr. Shaw said that many survivors were so injured that it would be impossible for them to live.

The little community at New London has ho hospital facilities. It is located a few miles from Overton, where there are only the scantiest facilities.

Witnesses said that the explosion was not loud, but was just a muffled boom and a tumbling noise as the building disintegrated.

Children’s Stories. The New York Times’ Overton correspondent says that Lawrence Baxter, aged 16, said that he was in a .study in the hall when the explosion occurred. “Suddenly the floor rose in a terrible blast like dynamite. 1 was hit on the back of the head by something. I jumped out of a second-floor window. I saw 20 or 30 dead before leaping." Paula Echols, aged 15, said: “The entire roof fell on us in one piece. I could see one leg of my teacher by the corner of her desk.". Martha Harris, aged 18, said that the earch shook and broken glass came showering down. “I looked out of the window of the Home Economy building where I was studying," she said. “I saw my friends dying like flies. Children were blown out through the roof. Some hung up there and others fell to the ground. I saw girls of my class jumping out of the windows. My brother Milton, aged 16, jumped and was hardly scratched, only a little bruised. I will never forget how I saw my playmates’ bodies torn. It was horrible.”

Martial law was declared at the scholo and in the vicinity to facilitate rescue work. The Federal Red Cross, the War Department and the Bureau of Mines set relief investigatory machinery in motion. Appeals for aid were broadcast throughout the State. Private motor-lorries were used to supplement available ambulances. The chief of the State Safety Department sent finger-print experts to aid identification. The State Health Officer ordered all department doctors and nurses of two counties to mobilise at the scene. Twenty-five automobiles parked in the vicinity were demolished. Re scue work was better organised as the night progressed. A huge crane employed on the oil fields lifted tons of concrete debris, acetylene torches cut steel girders and lorries carried off the injured. President Roosevelt issued a statement from Warm Springs to-day. “With the rest of the nation I am shocked," he said. “I only hope that further information will lessen the scope of the tragedy. I have asked all Government agencies to render every assistance in their power."