The Fargo Statesman and The Ellis County Statesman (Arnett, Okla.), Vol. 12, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 25, 1937 Page: 4 of 8
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ELLIS COUNTY STATESMAN ARNETT OKLAHOMA
Where Blast Killed Hundreds of Children
GIFTS FOR EASTER
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And For Every Occasion
News Stand
Cosmetics — Candy
Shaving Supplies
Greeting Cards
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The Fargo Statesman
and
The Ellis County
Statesman
I-- i i 1 i aggggsgga
Lulu Hiatt Smith Owner
IeRoy L Beardsley Editor
' 1 — L ua
Published Every Thursday
Arnett Oklahoma
tinbscrlptlou Rate $ lC 1 per year
! Entered at the postofftce of Ar-
) nett Oklahoma as second-class
mall matter under the act of Cob
' KieBS March I 1171
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This editor got out a piper
last Thursday with an article
that said that the ‘ ‘Great
Dust Was No More” and then
the werst dust of the season
blew up Friday from the south
This editor is glad that all
our subscribers are getting the
! paper on time as the ‘rawhid
’ ing” those birds can give a
man on some crack about the
weather or other error is
fierce However we collected
" several dollars on subscription
j Saturday
We still insists that the
'Dust Bowl is No More” and
' that a crop of weeds grass
wheat and planted row: crops
' will cover the ground before it
- drys out again se bad that
the dust will be a menaace to
' health
o
Oklahoma was predicted a
desert by 1987 in an article by
J Willis Stovall in Monday’s
Daily Oklahoman He is a
University Geologist at Nor
man and probably never spent
even one summer in north-west
Oklahoma However his art-
icle is good when he says that
something must be done or the
erosion of the land by wind
and floods will have a bad
effect on the entire state He
doesn’t knew of course that
if Russian thistles were plant-
ed as he suggests that they
always blow up and away dur-
ing the first strong winds of
early spring and leave the
ground bare Many miles of
fence have been blown away
each spring by the thistles
lodging against fences
He should have visited the
Panhandle counties and talked
to the old time settlers who
homesteaded that land and
got some expert opinions from
people who know- what is
wrong and how to fix it
Right now those people are
needing seed and help to plant
the ‘‘Dust Bowl” If they
had that now at planting time
the trouble would soon be over
O
The English Learn
The United States began it
Our government invented and
launched and carried through
the program of paying hand-
some bonuses to those farmers
who refuse to produce wheat
or cotton or pigs And now the
English have decided to bor-
row a page from the Yankee
book and introduce the same
plan into Albion After a
long and careful cogitation
they have decided to pay the
duke of Windsor a fair-sized
salary not to be king Who
said that the English refuse
to follow an American ex-
ample — Oklahoman
o
Circumnavigation of the
globe by air mail will be
accomplished during 1937
Postmaster General Farley has
announced extension of tran-
spacific air-mail service from
Manila to China effective late
in March The final link in
the 'round-the-world air-mail
chain will be welded when the
“Hindenburg” resumes its
scheduled transatlantic flights
this summer
General view of the New London
the school and snuffed out the lives
BLAST KILLS 500
III TEXAS SCHOOL
Search Debris for Mangled
Bodies of Children
Dead and Dying
New London Tex — Work-
ers are still searching the
wreckage of the London Con-
solidated school for more
bodies to be added to the toll
of the worst school disaster
in the world’s history
Hundreds of students were
literally blown to bits in a
gas explosion which demol-
ished the richest rural school
in America ten minutes be-
fore the boys and girls would
have been dismissed for the
day Estimates placed the
total dead at about 500
Gov James V Allred Immediately
declared martial law and sent all
state highway patrolmen to the
scene which is 12 miles north -of
here National Guard troops were
ordered out as the entire populace
of the neighborhood thronged about
the school hysterically waiting for
the bodies of their loved ones to be
dragged forth President Roosevelt
promised every aid from the fed-
eral government
At the time of the mighty blast
fifty or more mothers were attend-
ing a Parent-Teacher association
meeting In the school gymnasium
a separate building several hundred
feet away from the main structure
Hearing ' the rumble of the blast
they rushed to the windows in time
to see a hail of debris flying through
the air and the big building collaps-
ing upon their children
Mothers Race to Aid
Screaming hysterically the moth-
ers raced across the campus and
with their bare hands clawed at
the debris trying desperately t o
reach the children whose cries could
be heard from beneath the crumbled
structure Nearby oil fields some
of which could be seen from the
school grounds shut down and
frantic workers rushed in to try to
rescue those who still remained
alive
The terrible force of the erup-
tion sent the mangled bodies of
boys and girls flying through the air
like they were rag dolls The brick
walls were blasted out The roof
raised in the air and then fell back
on to the mass of crying and strug-
gling humanity Bricks were hurled
more than a quarter of a mile
Dismembered bodies lay all
around on the school lawn Some
were decapitated Others haJ limbs
missing Some of the children still
were alive
The scene quickly became one of
extreme confusion Hysterical wom-
en fainted shrieked and prayed
kneeling on the grass
Many parents the women either
screaming hysterically or silently
sobbing ran frantically from one
body to another seeking their loved
ones There were gasps of horror
and occasionally a woman slump-
ing to the ground in a faint indicat-
ing she had found what she had
fearfully hoped she wouldn’t
Mutilation of the bodies made
their tragic task increasingly diffi-
cult One couple hovered over the
form of a little boy his face and
body so mangled and bloody they
couldn’t be certain if he were
their son
“Must Be Jim” Mother Cries
“0 it’s Jim it must be Jim"
sobbed the woman Picking up one
of the little 'victim’s feet she ar-
gued hysterically with her hus-
band ‘‘See it’s his tennis shoes”
she cried “I remember he asked
me to wear them to school this
morning”
"No no" her husband replied al-
most happily “Jim changed into
his other shoes when he came home
for lunch”
"O merciful God he may still be
alive then” the mother cried as
they got up and hurried away to
scan other little bodies
For a few minutes after the roof
caved in leaving jagged remnant's
of wall standing like the ruins of a
medieval castle flames shot out
above the wreckage But the build-
ing was of fireproof construction
and the blaze having almost noth-
ing to feed upon soon died out It
was well that it did for nearby
communities have only small fire
fighting forces
The narrow roads to the school
situated between the oil field com
Consolidated school New London Texas after the explosion that wrecked
of hundreds of school children in the worst school tragedy in all history
munities of London and New Lon-
don unincorporated hamlets soon
were clogged with a stream of ve-
hicles More than 13000 persons assem-
bled at the scene In the next few
hours either anxious over the fate
of their relatives to help In the res-
cue work or sightseeing
Call Doctors and Nurses
Every available ambulance doc-
tor and nurse in all surrounding
towns were summoned by telephone
and radio As far away as from
Shreveport La came doctors and
nurses by airplane sent by the
American Red Cross
Thirty doctors and seventy-two
nurses twelve of them from the
Red Cross came from Dallas Ac-
companying them were twelve am-
bulances twenty-five embalmers
and five hearses
All sorts of vehicles— laundry
trucks private cars ambulances
and what not— sped to the scene
and were used to carry the bodies
away But with no one in author-
ity and hundreds of persons wrought
up to a frenzy many of the cars
soon were entangled in a hopeless
snarl
Because of this situation Gover-
nor Allred ordered all state high-
way patrolmen on duty in the dis-
trict to hurry here and take com-
mand All available Texas Rangers and
highway policemen also were being
rushed there from Dallas Houston
Austin and Tyler Fingerprint ex-
perts were sent from Austin on the
possibility they might assist in iden-
tifying the bodies many Texas
school children having been finger
printed
Find Few Survivors
Five hundred workers from the oil
fields arrived at the wrecked build-
ing soon after the explosion and
leaped into the ruins But there
were few survivors for them to res-
cue and their main work was car-
rying out bodies
Later an additional 1000 men
went to work on the debris In the
early stages they passed up the
bodies of those obviously dead in the
hope of finding those in whom there
might be life
Three hundred and sixty bodies
were taken by ambulance truck
and every possible conveyance to
Henderson Dozens of other bodies
were taken to Kilgore Overton Ark
Troup Longview and Tyler
While waiting for the arrival of
sufficient vehicles to move the great
number of dead the bodies were car-
ried from the wreckage and laid in
long rows on the lawn
Mothers and fathers dragged the
bodies of still more victims into the
school gymnasium until the vehicles
came back for more loads There
the children and their teachers lay
side by side many of them unidenti-
fied Few Injured Will Live
The superintendent who saw the
school disintegrate before his eyes
said that of the 770 odd children and
teachers believed to have been In
the building not more than 100 es-
caped death Many of the injured
who were removed from beneath
the tons of steel and concrete he
said were so badly injured that
they could not live
Most of the younger children at-
tending the nearby grammar school
had been dismissed before the disas-
ter occurred and were out of harm’s
way Some were playing about the
yard however and saw the school
building collapse
Mrs Evelyn Hooker a welfare
worker for Rusk county in which
the school is located and a friend
Mrs William C Roberts were driv-
ing past the school at the time the
explosion occurred
“1 looked up” said Mrs Hooker
“just in time to see the top of the
building suddenly rise in the air
It seemed that the whole building
moved up and the walls were flung
out A black pall of smoke appeared
to hover over the building
Clothing Torn Off
“Then we saw the children O it
was terrible Some of the smaller
ones who must have been playing
in the yard or were in the entrances
of the building ran into the streets
They were bleeding and crying hor-
ribly Their clothing had been torn
off many of them"
A V Waldrop physical educa-
tion teacher at the school was con-
ducting a class in physical educa-
tion on the grounds shortly before
the blast Ee left the class momen-
tarily to enter the building 'At
that moment the explosion oc-
curred One of the first to reach the scene
was R K Carr an employee of
the Tidewater Associated He
dashed into the wreckage and car-
ried out the body of a little girl It
was his daughter
Stricken School
Was U S Richest
Located in Heart of East
Texas Oil Fields
Henderson Tex— The Lon-
don Consolidated school
wrecked in the horrible ex-
plosion which blotted out the
lives of hundreds of children
instantly is believed to have
been the finest rural school
of its type in the United
States In the heart of the
East Texas oil fields it is lo-
cated in one of the wealthiest
sections of the world
The blast itself is believed to have
been caused by explosion of natural
gas from the seven oil wells on the
school campus
The school district encompasses
some thirty square miles with an
assessed valuation of 16 million dol-
lars The community sprang up al-
most over night following the dis-
covery of one of the most productive
oil fields known
Quickly Paid For
With “black gold" flowing from
its own wells the school plant had
no ‘difficulty in raising the several
hundred thousand dollars spent in
its construction It is not only debt
free but its original value has mul-
tiplied many times
In 1931 when wealth gushed out
of the ground for the communities
of London and New London the
schools serving the two villages
were merged and the present dis-
trict set up
The school lies midway between
the two communities
' The site of the disaster scene can
readily be located by drawing a line
from Tyler a city of 35000 largest
in the district to Henderson
1500 in Eight Grades
The wrecked school had an en-
rollment of 1500 students from the
fifth grade to the third year of high
school
The building had been constructed
in units the first of which was built
in 1934 The completed structure
contained 30 classrooms and an au-
ditorium large enough to accommo-
date half of the total enrollment
Equipped to teach stenography
music manual training and sew-
ing as well as academic subjects
it was the proud boast of the com-
munity that its institution was as
fine as could be found in any rural
section of the country
At one side of the main building
stood the gymnasium and at the
other stood a grade school for chil-
dren from the kindergarten to the
fifth grade The home of the super-
intendent also stood on the school
grounds
All Are Fireproof
All of the buildings were of fire-
proof construction and ample size
The grade or grammar school was
a two story brick building about 100
by 125 feet
The main building had a two story
unit in the center about 50 feet wide
and 60 feet deep which housed the
auditorium and various laborato-
ries and wings on either - side
These wings each 30 feet deep and
65 feet long gave the building a
frontage of 180 feet
From a high window of the school
one could look out across a plain
dotted almost solidly as far as the
eye could reach by oil derricks
Thousands of these rear their smut-
covered skeletons from 50 to 100 feet
in the air
Smooth Dirt Roads
Broad dirt roads of the sort listed
on road maps as first class C grade
are the main highways here They
are almost as smooth as glass and
at this time of the year are dry
Ditches are three feet deep on each
side and the shoulders in some
cases are edged with asphalt or
gravel
Under the scorching sun that
beats down with stifling force nine
months out of the year the houses
and other wooden structures are
like tinder boxes dry as dust and
ready to burst into flames at the
slightest spark
Practically no building Is more
than two stories high Many of the
office buildings stores and even
the banks in the villages are only
one-story affairs
Despite the dirt roads and bare
earth nearly everyone in the school
district is well-off financially be-
cause of the oiL
The people ride in expensive cars
for the most part to their enter-
tainment in Dallas Houston Fort
Worth and Shreveport
Beardsley
On the East I
Side of the I
Easter Clothes
Dresses - Coats - Suits - Hats
HECOX STYLE SHOP
“The Place To Buy Good Clothss”
I Arnett Cleaners
YAI T HAVE TRIED the REST
SO GIVE US A TRIAL
We can make you a Special Price on
Suits and Sweaters
I We strive to please you All work guaranteed
C A Ralls
Arnett Oklahoma
: NOW is the Time to Buy YOUR SPRING
Suits - Coats - Dresses - Hats
A large stock to select your Spring Clothes From
The Leader Store
ARNETT Northeast Corner of Square ORLAHOMA
-
For Best Prices on
Petroleum Products
Feed and Seed of all kinds at all times
I Line of gasoline oil
VltieS OciVlCc and all the products
A V
Phone 160
PALACE
Grocery and Market
Fresh Meat-Fruit-Vegetables
Hardware Plumbing Pump
Electric and Hunter’s
Supplies
C O SHAFFER
Arnett - - Oklahoma
Gift Shop
I Arnett
I Oklahoma
Chesnut
& s'"ic' Arnett Okla
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Beardsley, LeRoy L. The Fargo Statesman and The Ellis County Statesman (Arnett, Okla.), Vol. 12, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 25, 1937, newspaper, March 25, 1937; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1815316/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.