THE TEMPER OF ANDREW KEHOE
Andrew Kehoe was born in 1872. His mother died when he was young and his father remarried. It was reported that Kehoe did not get along very well with this stepmother. Kehoe lived on a farm just outside the village of Bath, Michigan. The community was known as the Bath township, a community of just over 7,000 people.
In 1924 he was elected treasurer of the Bath Consolidate school board. As a member of the school board, Kehoe had fought for a long time to try and lower taxes. He blamed a property tax levy for his family's poor financial condition.
After three years of frustration fighting a battle he did not win, Andrew Kehoe snapped. On May 18th 1927, Andrew Kehoe woke up and killed his wife. He then set his farm on fire and went to the school where he had planted a number of bombs. He blew up the north wing of the school and set off another explosion in his car. This explosion killed both himself and the schools superintendent. May 18th would be the deadliest attack on a school in U.S history; 45 people were killed and 58 injured.
Kehoe was described as a man with little patience. His neighbors had witnessed several outbursts of anger in the past but did not do anything about it. Andrew Kehoe was a man who was easily angered and when he got angry, he did terrible things. The tragedy of the events at the Bath Township will stain the pages of our history forever.