At the site, he sees G. Cleo Clayton’s body, clearly dead. Workers are carrying many injured in the car bomb away from the area, as the car still rages with flame.

  The remains of Kehoe’s car, after the blast. (From The Toledo Blade.)

  Workers have gathered around Percy Hart (the 11-year-old boy seen getting onto the bus at the start of the film), who is lying on the ground, with injuries both from the building collapse and from the car bomb. His bruised and bloody body is now riddled with shrapnel, but he is still alive.

  WORKER #1

  (standing over Percy Hart)

  Come on, let’s get him over to his mother.

  The workers gesture over to MRS. EUGENE HART, who is sitting on a rise, not far from the school, with the mangled bodies of Vivian and Iola (her daughters, also seen getting onto the bus at the start of the film). The workers lift Percy and carry him towards his mother.

  With so many workers, Monty Ellsworth is left standing around, wondering what to do. He sees O. H. BUCK, who is also standing around. O. H. Buck is dressed as part of a road crew and was its foreman before hearing the blasts.

  MONTY ELLSWORTH

  That boy there…

  O. H. BUCK

  He was wounded in the school collapse. I think they were carrying him to his mother when the car bomb hit.

  A car parked near Kehoe’s car, showing damage from the car bomb. (From The Toledo Blade.)

  O. H. Buck turns to his road crew, who are binding the wounds of GLENN SMITH, the town’s 33-year-old postmaster, whose leg has been blown off by the car bomb.

  MONTY ELLSWORTH

  God, it’s awful.

  GLENN SMITH

  Leave me, boys, and run. These trees are full of it.

  O. H. BUCK

  I swear it’s the end of the world. It’s Armageddon.

  Monty Ellsworth looks around for something to do. He sees the mangled body of Nelson McFarren, a 74-year-old killed in the car bomb. He returns to O. H. Buck.

  Superintendent Huyck’s car, also damaged by the Kehoe car bomb. (From The Toledo Blade.)

  MONTY ELLSWORTH

  I’ve got something we can do. I brought some heavy rope to get that roof off. Think you can help me carry it from my car?

  O. H. BUCK

  Men, I’m taking my free hands over to the building.

  Some of the rest of the road crew look up in acknowledgement. Monty Ellsworth and O. H. Buck head to Monty Ellsworth’s car.

  Mrs. Hart sits, cradling Percy’s broken body in her arms and crying. The bodies of her two daughters, Vivian and Iola, lie on either side of her, bloody and lifeless.

  INT. BATH TELEPHONE OPERATORS ROOM

  Female telephone operators frantically route calls.

  TELEPHONE OPERATOR #1

  That’s right, there’s been a bombing at the school. We need doctors immediately.

  TELEPHONE OPERATOR #2

  I’m sorry, but we don’t have a list of survivors or of casualties at the moment. You know as much as we do.

  TELEPHONE OPERATOR #3

  Yes, we’ll be needing undertakers. Please send whomever you can.

  TELEPHONE OPERATOR #4

  Yes, officer, we’ll accept any help you can give. But please, I’ve got to call more hospitals now.

  EXT. NEARBY WORKSITE – DAY

  A group of contracted laborers work, putting up a building. The foreman walks onto the site.

  FOREMAN

  Just talked to the boss. He’s sending everyone to Bath, to help out. Everyone.

  EMPLOYEE

  Thank God. It doesn’t feel right, working today.

  FOREMAN

  All the contractors are doing it. No one’s working today.

  The contracted laborers begin to file into their cars.

  EXT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL – COLLAPSED AREA – DAY

  Monty Ellsworth and O. H. Buck work with over 100, including many women, digging through the rubble.

  A local police chief walks up to those digging and shouts at them.

  POLICE CHIEF

  We’ve got to stop digging! Stop! Stop!

  The workers mostly listen and stop.

  POLICE CHIEF

  (continued)

  There may be more bombs in the school! We have got to stop digging while we search the building!

  O. H. BUCK

  I can still hear children down there!

  A view into the collapsed area, taken shortly after the digging was called off. (From The Clinton County Republican News, 26 May 1927, which accounts for inaccuracies in the reporting.)

  POLICE CHIEF

  Nothing will be accomplished if another bomb goes off! This is a police order! We have got to search for more dynamite in the building!

  The workers relent and reluctantly leave the collapsed area.

  EXT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL LAWN – CONTINUOUS

  J. A. Crum, the local doctor (who attended Ellen Kehoe earlier), surveys the chaos, with the wounded and dead lying all around.

  Nearby him, some onlookers have gathered and are pointing at part of the building, marveling at it. Part of the central section’s roof is hanging out, over a void, supported by nothing. Everything beneath it has collapsed. From the roof, a couple of boards hang, dangling, in the shape of a cross.

  Another view of the school, after the collapse. The roof hangs in mid-air over the wreckage. (From Monty Ellsworth’s 1928 The Bath School Disaster.)

  ONLOOKER #1

  Do you see that? That cross?

  ONLOOKER #2

  Oh, it’s a miracle! Surely, it’s a sign… God is here, even in such a horror.

  Crum looks at them with mild disdain, then approaches the local police chief.

  J. A. CRUM

  Officer, has a site been set up yet to take in the wounded?

  POLICE CHIEF

  I don’t know that anything’s been set up yet, doctor.

  J. A. CRUM

  We must set up a triage center. My wife and I both served in the Great War, and we’re familiar with mass casualties. We’ve got to have one point of coordination.

  POLICE CHIEF

  What do you have in mind?

  Another view showing the cross formation some remarked upon. (From Monty Ellsworth’s 1928 The Bath School Disaster.)

  J. A. CRUM

  My drugstore. We’ll turn everything out and make room there. And we’re going to need an emergency morgue.

  INT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL CLASSROOM – DAY

  Policemen enter the room. Books and desks lie everywhere, and a layer of dust covers everything. They begin searching it for unexploded bombs.

  EXT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL LAWN – DAY

  A chemical truck pulls up, manned by three firemen. One gets out and speaks to a local policeman.

  LANSING FIREMAN #1

  Sir? We’re from the Lansing Fire Department. Tell us how to help.

  INT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BASEMENT – DAY

  Policemen descend into the basement. Dust and debris are everywhere. Down to one side, they can see where the structure has utterly collapsed, sending material throughout the basement.

  As the policemen root around, one heads into where Andrew Kehoe hid the second batch of explosives. He looks around, then uncovers the massive pile of explosives, with an alarm clock set on top of it.

  DISCOVERING POLICEMAN

  Oh, my God! Come here! I found it! My God…

  Another policeman arrives at the explosives.

  DISCOVERING POLICEMAN’S COLLEAGUE

  Jesus! This isn’t safe. We have to get out of here.

  EXT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL LAWN – DAY

  The local police chief is now shouting at the crowds.

  POLICE CHIEF

  Attention! Attention! There’s been another bomb found inside. I need everyone back from the building. Back!

  People scurry away from the building. Others, such as mothers cradling dead or injured children, initially fail to m
ove.

  The town CORONER and five TOWN LEADERS approach the police chief.

  TOWN LEADER #1

  If there are more explosives in there, why didn’t they go off?

  POLICE CHIEF

  We don’t know that yet.

  TOWN LEADER #2

  We’ve got to get organized.

  POLICE CHIEF

  We are organizing things. Dr. Crum is setting up a triage center, in his drugstore.

  CORONER

  We’re talking about using the town hall as an emergency morgue.

  POLICE CHIEF

  Good.

  TOWN LEADER #2

  We’ve got all these people standing around. Half of them with cars. We should organize them as ambulances and take some of these injured to hospitals. At least until more real ambulances get here.

  POLICE CHIEF

  Fine.

  TOWN LEADER #3

  Are we sure it was Kehoe in the car?

  POLICE CHIEF

  I saw him point the gun into the back seat and fire, just before it went up.

  TOWN LEADER #3

  Word is his farm was the one on fire, before the school went up.

  POLICE CHIEF

  We don’t know that for sure.

  TOWN LEADER #3

  We should send someone to his farm, to investigate.

  TOWN LEADER #4

  But we know Kehoe did this. The question is whether this was a conspiracy.

  POLICE CHIEF

  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

  TOWN LEADER #4

  This can’t be the work of one man. How could he plant the bombs without anyone noticing? At the very least, the janitor was in on it.

  CORONER

  If there wasn’t collusion here, there may well have been incompetence.

  TOWN LEADER #4

  The point is: there may be other people responsible. Even in this crowd.

  POLICE CHIEF

  Right now, we’re focused on getting those explosives diffused, so we can resume digging those children out. The Michigan state police are on their way.

  TOWN LEADER #5

  But we can’t let these questions go unanswered. If there are additional culprits out there, we have to move immediately.

  POLICE CHIEF

  What do you suggest?

  CORONER

  I’ve got to prepare the town hall. But when this is over, it will fall to me as coroner to lead an inquest into these matters. I know very well how much grieving parents need explanations.

  POLICE CHIEF

  And in the meantime?

  CORONER

  Gentlemen, you’re all respected members of the community and trusted men. I’d like to swear you in now, to serve as the investigative jury for my coming inquest.

  TOWN LEADER #4

  So we’d be empowered by your office to make our own inquiries.

  CORONER

  Yes, and to find the people who should testify at the inquiry. People who can answer these questions definitively. I’ll soon be too busy in my duties to prepare for such matters. I’ll be relying on you. Do you have any objections?

  POLICE CHIEF

  No.

  TOWN LEADER #4

  Then let’s get some people out to the Kehoe farm.

  INT. CRUM’S DRUGSTORE – DAY

  The store’s floor has been mostly cleared. A few volunteers are still clearing things out of the way. A few wounded children, including the terribly wounded Percy Hart, lay on the floor. Percy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hart, stand nearby, as Dr. Crum and his wife, a nurse, attend to the boy.

  MRS. CRUM

  (to the Harts)

  Sir and ma’am, I’m sorry, but it won’t help to stand around. We need to clear this space. I promise you, we’ll get Percy on the first car to the hospital.

  Through the store windows, we see a car pull up outside. Its driver rushes out.

  DRIVER

  (outside)

  I need help! I’ve got a girl from the school!

  Dr. Crum rushes outside and helps the driver lift a girl from the back seat, carrying her inside. Mrs. Crum attends to the girl, while the driver talks to J. A. Crum.

  DRIVER

  Is she okay to work on the child?

  J. A. CRUM

  She was a nurse in the Great War. She was okay with Uncle Sam.

  DRIVER

  I’m sorry. I just came from the school…

  J. A. CRUM

  Can you drive to Lansing? To St. Lawrence Hospital? Do you know it?

  DRIVER

  I had to take my mother there, last year.

  J. A. CRUM

  Good. Help me carry him.

  Dr. Crum and the driver lift the mangled body of Percy Hart, carrying him outside. The Harts follow.

  EXT. CRUM’S DRUGSTORE – DAY

  Dr. Crum and the driver hold Percy Hart, while Eugene Hart opens the car’s back door. Dr. Crum and the driver place the boy on the back seat.

  J. A. CRUM

  These are the boy’s parents. They’re going with you. Now, go, go!

  Dr. Crum heads back inside. The Harts get into the car with the driver, who takes off.

  Another view of the Bath Consolidated School after the bombing. (The original photo is at the Bath School Museum, in Bath, Michigan.)

  EXT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL LAWN – DAY

  There’s a long queue of cars, arriving at the scene. A volunteer is walking down the line, talking to the occupants.

  One is a Michigan state police car, beyond which are a few other such cars.

  MICHIGAN STATE POLICE CHIEF

  Michigan state police. We’re here for bomb removal.

  VOLUNTEER

  We’ll get you through.

  Another Lansing fireman walks up to the local policeman.

  LANSING FIREMAN #2

  We got three more trucks of Lansing firemen back there.

  VOLUNTEER

  We’ve got to get these state police through first, but we’ll get to you.

  EXT. KEHOE FARM – DAY

  The farm is devastated. Every structure is smoldering rubble. All that’s left of the main farmhouse is a chimney and a smoking mound. The volunteer fire brigade truck and its crew (seen at the start of the film) is already on scene. Mrs. Ellsworth and her children stand off, at a distance, watching.

  Kehoe’s farmhouse, after the fire. (From Monty Ellsworth’s 1928 The Bath School Disaster.)

  MRS. ELLSWORTH

  Stay back, children.

  A police car, carrying a couple policemen and a couple of the town leaders, seen earlier at the schoolhouse with the coroner, pulls up to the farm. All get out and approach the volunteer firemen.

  KEHOE FARM POLICEMAN #1

  Anyone hiding out here?

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #1

  There’s nowhere for anyone to hide.

  KEHOE FARM POLICEMAN #2

  When did you get here?

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #2

  We were at the school. Left when they stopped digging. By the time we got here, there was no fire to put out.

  The policemen and town leaders go poking around the farm.

  TOWN LEADER #2

  God, the stink of it.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #2

  It’s the animals. All the animals are burned up.

  One of the policemen, holding his nose, pokes at a dead chicken.

  KEHOE FARM POLICEMAN #1

  This one looks like its feet were bound.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #2

  We saw that. Probably to keep them from escaping the fire.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #1

  He didn’t leave nothing left alive.

  TOWN LEADER #4

  Where’s Kehoe’s wife?

  Just beside them, in a heap of burned debris, is the charred wheelbarrow that holds the burned remains of Ellen’s corpse. The men don’t notice. We can barely make out some silverware, poking through the debris.

  KEHOE FARM POLICE
MAN #2

  Let’s spread out and search the farm. Make sure no one is hiding.

  Everyone walks away from the chicken coop area, glad to be away from the stench, unaware of how close they were to Ellen’s corpse.

  INT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BASEMENT – DAY

  Some Michigan state policemen carefully inspect the bomb.

  MICHIGAN STATE POLICEMAN #1

  Looks live to me. There’s no sign why it didn’t go off, but the alarm’s set for 9:45.

  MICHIGAN STATE POLICEMAN #2

  That’s the time the other side of the building came down. Jesus…

  MICHIGAN STATE POLICEMAN #1

  It should be safe to cut. If it’s set to the alarm.

  MICHIGAN STATE POLICEMAN #2

  Just as long as the alarm doesn’t go off while you’re cutting.

  INT. A CAR – DAY

  The driver seen earlier arrives at St. Lawrence Hospital, carrying Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hart, along with their mangled son, Percy.

  EXT. ST. LAWRENCE HOSPITAL – CONTINUOUS

  The driver disembarks the car.

  DRIVER

  Help!

  Paramedics some rushing out. They lift Percy out of the car and carry him into the hospital, as Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hart follow.

  EXT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL LAWN – AFTERNOON

  An enormous amount of people surround the school, and the streets are clogged with cars.

  The local police chief is again shouting at the crowds.

  POLICE CHIEF

  Attention, everyone! We have diffused the bomb! It is now safe to continue rescue work! Please, come back to the building!

  All over the landscape, men and women rise, carrying themselves back towards the rubble. They remove bricks and various parts of the structure, resuming work just as before.

  A view of the Bath Consolidated School, after the bodies were taken out. (From The Toledo Blade.)

  The Michigan state police chief now approaches the local police chief.

  MICHIGAN STATE POLICE CHIEF

  We’re going to be pulling those explosives out of there, and we need some place to put them. But we’ve also got a huge traffic problem here. I thought I might divert men to directing traffic.

  POLICE CHIEF

  Be my guest.

  In no time, over 100 men and women are at work, pulling out rubble from the collapse. People stand on virtually every section of soil. Mothers are still cradling their dead children. Michigan state policemen stand guard over a small pile of explosives, while others ferry more onto the pile. The streets are clogged with cars, directed by other Michigan state policemen. Among the cars are some ambulances and fire trucks.

 
Julian Darius's Novels