1937 — March 18, Natural Gas Explosion, consolidated school, New London, TX –311-319

–450-700  Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “School Blast Dead Set at 450.” 3-19-1937, p. 1.[1]

—       670  Paris Evening News, Paris, TX. “ETex School Death Toll Now Put at 670.” 3-18-1937, 1.[2]

—       519  El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “School Blast Deaths Set at 519…” 3-19-1937, p. 1.[3]

–200-500  Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “200 to 500…Children Die in School Explosion, 3-18-1937, 1.

—       488  Bodies recovered (reported to the press by an on-scene embalmer on March 19).[4]

—       455  AP. “Faulty Gas Regulator Cited in Blast Inquiry.” Big Spring Daily Herald, TX, 3-21-1937, 1.[5]

—       455  Benson. The Greatest Explosions in History. 1990, p. 69.

—       427  UP. “New London’s School Opens.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 3-29-1937, p3.

—       425  Oelwein Daily Register, IA. “New London, Tex., Mourns Over 425 Funerals.” 3-20-1937, 1.[6]

—       400  Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, TX. “Blast Fatal to 400 Kids.” 3-18-1937, p. 1.[7]

—       399  Bodies removed according to J. R. Peters, “superintending removal of bodies…”[8]

–311-319  Blanchard estimated range.[9]

—       319  Sizer. Texas Disasters: Wind, Flood, and Fire. 2005, p. 168.[10]

—       317  Blanchard tally from three pages of New London Museum (students, teachers, visitors).

—       311  Texas State Historical Commission. “New London School Explosion Historical Marker.”

—     ~300  AP. “Roll Call…of Students Show Death Toll Tragedy…About 300.” 3-30-1937, p.1.

—     <300  History.com. This Day in History… Natural Gas Explosion Kills Schoolchildren.

—       298  Collins, Ace. Tragedies of American History.  2003, p. 52.

—     ~298  May. “New London School Explosion.” Handbook of Texas Online, 6-15-2010.

—       296  Students, teachers (and visitors). “instantly” killed. Texas Historical Commission.

—       295  Wikipedia. “New London School explosion.” 10-12-2017 edit.

—       294  Holen. “The History of Accident Rates in the United States;” in Simon 1995, 102.

—       294  National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.

—       294  National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 137.

—       277  Sizer. Texas Disasters: Wind, Flood, and Fire. 2005, p. 168.[11]

 

Narrative Information

 

History.com: “Nearly 300 students in Texas are killed by an explosion of natural gas at their school on this day in 1937.

 

“The Consolidated School of New London, Texas, sat in the middle of a large oil and natural gas field. The area was dominated by 10,000 oil derricks, 11 of which stood right on school grounds. The school was newly built in the 1930s for close to $1 million and, from its inception, bought natural gas from Union Gas to supply its energy needs. The school’s natural gas bill averaged about $300 a month. Eventually, officials at Consolidated School were persuaded to save money by tapping into the “wet”-gas lines operated by Parade Oil Company that ran near the school. Wet gas is a type of waste gas that is less stable and has more impurities than typical natural gas. At the time, it was not completely uncommon for consumers living near oil fields to use this gas.

 

“At 3:05 p.m. on March 18, a Thursday afternoon, the 694 students and 40 teachers in attendance at the Consolidated School were looking forward to the final bell, which was to ring in 10 minutes. Instead, a huge and powerful explosion, which literally blew the roof off of the building, leveled the school. The blast was felt by people 40 miles away and killed most victims instantly. People rushed to the scene to pull out survivors; hundreds of injured students were hauled from the rubble. Miraculously, some students walked away unharmed; 10 of these were found under a large bookcase that shielded them from the falling building. First-aid stations were established in the nearby towns of Tyler, Overton, Kilgore and Henderson to tend to the wounded. Reportedly, a blackboard at the destroyed school was found that read, “Oil and natural gas are East Texas’ greatest natural gifts. Without them, this school would not be here and none of us would be learning our lessons.”

 

“The exact cause of the spark that ignited the gas was never found, although it is now known that the gas could have been ignited by static electricity. As a result of this incident, wet gas was required to be burned at the site rather than piped away.” (History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, March 18, 1937. Natural Gas Explosion Kills Schoolchildren in Texas)

 

New London Museum:         (317):

List of students killed                         (297): http://nlsd.net/ListOfNames.htm

List of teachers and staff killed          (  16): http://nlsd.net/OthersWhoDied.htm

List of visitors killed                           (    4): http://nlsd.net/OthersWhoDied.htm

 

Sizer: “….At 3:17, Mr. L. R. Butler, the teacher of the manual-training class, decided to test a student’s repair job on his project. With some of his fifteen students standing at his side and the others around the room working on other thins, he plugged in a belt sander. A spark jumped, and in the words of surviving student John Dial, who had been standing next to the machine, ‘It was like being in the middle of a flash of lightning.’….

 

“At the moment of ignition, a fireball ripped into the occupied workshop, fed by the odorless, tasteless, and colorless natural gas that had leaked from the poorly ventilated space beneath the floor into the classroom to mix unnoticed with the air. From that initial spark, the fire burst outward in all directions….

 

“New London had tapped into a ‘free’ gas line that ran adjacent to the school. Throughout East Texas this was common practice. Gas received in this manner was ‘wet’ or ‘residue.’ It could not be legally sold, but Parade, H. L. Hunt’s gas company, ‘allowed’ the area residents to ‘covertly’ tap into the supply since it would be burned as waste anyway…whether or not the tap was properly done is open to speculation….” (Sizer, Mona D. Texas Disasters: Wind, Flood, and Fire. 2005, pp 160 and 169.)

 

Texas State Historical Commission. New London School Explosion (Historical Marker): “Marker Text: New London School Explosion. On March 18, 1937, a massive explosion destroyed the New London Junior-Senior High School, instantly killing an estimated 296 students and teachers. The subsequent deaths of victims from injuries sustained that day brought the final death count to 311. The explosion was blamed on a natural gas leak beneath the school building. Within weeks of the disaster the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring an odor to be added to natural gas, which previously was odorless and therefore undetectable. This memorial to victims of the explosion was erected in 1939.

 

Newspapers

 

March 18, Paris Evening News: “Bodies of 300 Victims Recovered by Relief Crews. Martial Law Declared!

 

“Austin. — Governor Allred declared martial law in the vicinity of New London consolidated school disaster tonight….

 

“By The Associated Press. New London–A constant stream of children who were crushed to death when the New London consolidated school building was shattered by an explosion were being brought from the ruins Thursday night. At least 300 were dead and few of the broken bodies brought out showed any sign of life. Searchlights were strung up by oil field workers and played on the ruins as 1500 men, many of them fathers of children, whose fate they did not know, toiled in frantic search of the debris….

 

“Troy Duran, principal of the high school, estimated 670 students and teachers were killed. W. C. Shaw, superintendent, who lost a child in the blast, said he believed between 300 and 400 were dead. There were 740 students and teachers in the building. First reports said the blast apparently was caused by an accumulation of gas in the boiler….

 

“A low rumble preceded the terrific blast which lifted the roof of the building. The blast sent the walls shattering outward and trapped seven hundred and forty children and teachers. Humble Oil company officials said only about one hundred are alive….They said the victims looked like rag dolls with their clothes torn off….

 

“The explosion occurred at 3:20 p.m., a scant ten minutes before school was to have been dismissed for the day. Twelve hundred students in all were enrolled in school, housed in two buildings. It was the high school building which was wrecked. The grade school building, 100 feet away, was only slightly damaged. Five hundred students who attended classes there had been dismissed for the day.

 

“Witnesses to the explosion said there was an ear-hammering explosion shortly after a grumbling roar….” (Paris Evening News, Paris, TX. “ETex [East Texas] School Death Toll Now Put at 670.” 3-18-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 18, Salt Lake Tribune: “399 Bodies Removed From Shambles; Martial Law Declared in Region; Accumulated Gases Hinted as Cause.

 

“New London, Texas, March 18. (AP) — Ranger Captain Hardy Purvis said Thursday night that 450 students were crushed to death when a shattering blast tore the London consolidated school to bits at 3:20 p.m. Thursday.

 

“Other estimates of the dead ran up to 700. Troy Duran, principal of the school said he believed to total would be 670 students and teachers. There were 740 students in the building, which was reduced to a mass of twisted girders and broken shone when, it was believed, accumulated gas exploded.

 

“J R. Peters, superintending removal of bodies from the blackened wreckage, said at midnight 399 bodies had been removed. Rescue workers held only the faintest hope that any of those still in the ruins were still alive.

 

“Naomi Bunting, 18, was brought out alive a few minutes after 8 p.m., after having lain crushed under a mass of bricks and steel for almost five hours. She died as attendants placed her in an ambulance….

 

“Fifteen hundred workers scrambled over the debris, hastily passing up the bodies of those obviously dead in their hope to find those in whom there might still be some life….

 

“The building was of brick with a tile roof. The explosion mushroomed the roof, blew the brick walls outward, and then the roof settled upon those inside the building who had not been blown out by the force of the blast. So powerful was the explosion that employes of a Humble Oil company plant two and a half miles away said it made the ground shake.

 

“Bernice Morris, 17, who was in the mechanical drawing room on the ground floor with three other students and a teacher, said she was blown out of the building. ‘One of the boys who was in the room broke through the debris around a window and all of them came out safely,’ she said. All were badly bruised when they were thrown to the floor.

 

“Contrary to earlier reports, there was no fine following the explosion. There was a sheet of flame as the building went up, but its construction was such that the blaze was short-lived. Few of the bodies bore evidence of burning, but many were so badly crushed that recognition was difficult.

 

“Oil companies in the area shut down operations as soon as they learned of the tragedy and rushed men and machinery into the rescue work….” (Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “School Blast Dead Set at 450.” 3-19-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 18, Valley Morning Star: New London School at Henderson is Scent of Thursday Tragedy. Total Enrolment 1,500, One-Third Slain; Cause of Blast Unknown; Doctors and Nurses Rushed to School to Aid Wounded; Town in Uproar.

 

“Henderson, Tex., March 18 (AP)–W. C. Shaw, superintendent of the New London school eight miles north-west of here, telephoned here this afternoon that he believed between 300 and 400 school children died in an explosion….

 

“The New London school is a large consolidated school in the heart of the rich East Texas oil field, It has an estimated enrollment of 1,500….

 

“New London is between Longview and Henderson in the heart of the vast East Texas oil field. The building which was wrecked by the explosion housed one of the largest consolidated school in the state….” (Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, TX. “Blast Fatal to 400 Kids.” 3-18-1937, p.1.)

 

March 18: “….Altho Henderson had a population of 2,900 in 1930, its estimated population in 1935 was 10,000 people, due to the influx of people created by the oil boom. It is south of Longview, famous East Texas oil field.” (Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “200 to 500 Texas Children Die in School Explosion, 3-18-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 19: “By Delos Smith, United Press Staff Correspondent.

 

“New London, March 19.–A military board of inquiry was established today to determine the cause of an explosion that wrecked the world’s largest rural school and killed approximately 411 school children and 14 of their teachers — a total of 425. The board said it would inquire into reports that the explosion was caused by a deliberately set dynamite charge and not an accidental explosion of accumulated natural gas, the generally accepted theory.

 

“Approximately 1000 tough workers of the surrounding East Texas oil field neared the bottom of the ruins of the New London rural school’s main building at mid-morning and it became apparent that few more if any bodies would be found.

 

“Rain set in at dawn which revealed an appalling scene. Bodies recently taken from the wreckage cluttered the field morgue awaiting distribution among a dozen nearby towns. The blaring of loud speakers, rumble of trucks, screaming of ambulance sirens and tramp of National Guardsmen was pierced occasionally by a scream, as some parent identified a child.

 

“Of the 1100 students enrolled in the school less than half escaped death or injury, and the dead far outnumbered the injured. More bodies were believed buried under the great heaps of steel, wood and concrete and several hundred workers tugged at the debris piling it onto trucks for hauling away….

 

“E. C. Harper of Fort Worth, in a telephone dispatch from the stricken area said that 488 bodies had been recovered. Harper, one of a group of Fort Worth embalmers who rushed last night to the scene of the disaster, telephoned his report….” (El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “School Blast Deaths Set at 519…” 3-19-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 20: “New London, Tex., March 20 — (UP) — Four hundred and twenty-five broken bodies — one-third of the school children of this oil field community and 14 of their teachers — were prepared for their graves today….

 

“Ten of the children’s bodies lay still unidentified, seven of them beyond all hope of recognition. They probably will be buried together and mourned by the collective families….

 

“All investigators seemed agreed that it [explosion] was the result of accumulated gas, probably in the basement. It was gas from one of the seven producing wells on the school campus, which provided heat for the building. Whether it accumulated in the basement, in the space between the floor and ground or in the space between the walls, remained to be determined by experts…” (Oelwein Daily Register, IA. “New London, Tex., Mourns Over 425 Funerals.” 3-20-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 20: “By Henry McLemore, United Press Staff Correspondent. New London, Tex., March 20.–(UP)….The officials in charge of sifting the debris of the once beautiful $300,000 school reluctantly admitted to reporters that there might never be an actual check on the dead. For some of the pupils were literally blown to bits when the gas harnessed in the basement ignited and, striking up and out, shattered the building. With the blast went the school records, and 14 of the teachers. No one knows exactly who was in what class, how many children were in the building at the time of the detonation. I saw steel filing cabinets and their contents hundreds of yards from the site of the blast. I saw bits of clothing, books, and desks, scattered over far away tennis courts and play fields. Blackboards, with lessons chalked upon them, sailed blocks from the building. Gray steel lockers, with clothing hanging from their sprained doors, littered the campus.

 

“No one knows the actual number of dead. No one ever will.” (Oelwein Daily Register, IA. “No One Will Ever Know the Exact Fate of Some Texas School Children.” 3-20-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 21: “Superintendent Testifies He Told Janitors to Make Connection.

 

“New London, March 22.–(AP) Superintendent W. C. Shaw, a frail old man torn with grief since the London school blast that killed 455 of his pupils and teachers, broke down during testimony before a military court of inquiry today and was taken from the witness stand to an adjoining ante room.

 

“Shaw had just testified that although the school had no definite authorization to ‘tap’ a Parade Gasoline company pipe line for gas to supply the school heating system, he was ‘of the opinion’ the company’s superintendent did not ‘particularly object.’ He was laid on a cot….

 

“D. L. Clark, the Parade company’s field foreman, testified yesterday that the school had ‘tapped’ the company gas line for heating fuel without his knowledge or consent, and added he believed he would have been advised if anyone else had given permission.

 

“Shaw, who was slightly injured himself and lost his son in the disaster, said he had talked with Earl Clover, the Parade superintendent. ‘Mr. Clover did not give us specific permission,’ Shaw said, ‘and warned that we were liable to be cut loose at any time, but I concluded that he did not particularly object.’

 

“Shaw said he had discussed frequently with Clover the matter of the school purchasing gas when so much oil field gas was going to waste. He emphasized, however, that Clover always refused specific permission for a connection.

 

“Shaw said he was ‘partly responsible” for giving the order to run pipe from the school to the Parade’s line and said that he directed the janitors to make the connection….” (Associated Press. “Faulty Gas Regulator Cited in Blast Inquiry.” Big Spring Daily Herald, TX, 3-21-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 22: “New London, Mar. 22. — (AP)….Military investigators briefly questioned a 15-year-old school boy whose testimony electrified the courtroom. John Dial said the explosion occurred, it seemed to him, just as his teacher, R. R. Butler, threw a light switch in the manual training room. The ninth grade pupil continued:

 

I was making a cabinet. Mr. Butler reached up and pulled the light switch. Then the noise came and a flash of fire blinded me. I didn’t actually see the switch but you know they generally make little sparks fly when they are pulled.

 

(Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light, TX. “School Head Probe Witness.” 3-23-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 25: “Austin, March 25.–Dr. E. P. Schoch, professor at the University of Texas who assisted in investigating the disastrous explosion at New London, suggested to Governor James V. Allred today appointment of a commission to formulate rules governing use of gas….The report by Dr. Schoch was one of several expected to be made public soon, including that by the military court of inquiry which conducted an investigation while martial law was in force and another by the state fire insurance department. Dr. Schoch was a witness at the military inquiry. Dr. Schoch said the public was not fully aware of the dangers involved in gas and urged explicit rules for the installation of distributions systems….” (Port Arthur News, TX. “Board to Draw Rules For Use of Gas is Urged. Expert Suggests Malodorants…” 3-25-1937, p. 1.)

 

March 26: “Kilgore, March 26. — Eastern [Easter?] memorial services for 455 students and teachers killed in the New London school explosion, outlined today by the Rev. Cecil Lang, Kilgore pastor, will include Gov. James V. Allred and four ministers as speakers….” (United Press. “Alfred to Attend Memorial Services.” El Paso Herald-Post, 3-26-1937, p. 16.)

 

March 28: “The New London school explosion disaster, like every other major catastrophe, is being followed up with a flood of precautions against repetition.

 

“Officials investigating the New London tragedy have reached the conclusion that there is a lack of evidence for criminal prosecution, but several witnesses indicated that the exercise of greater care would have prevented the accumulation of escaped natural gas which caused the explosion responsible for 455 deaths and the injury of 53 other persons expected to survive.

 

“Texas authorities are planning to tighten building inspection regulations. One suggestion is that malodorous substance be injected into gas, so that leaks will be readily noticeable. Rigid daily inspections have been ordered in the Oklahoma City school system, which has 13 buildings located in oil fields. The Oklahoma City assistant fire-chief reports that gas collects in well-ventilated buildings, and that such accumulations have even been responsible for several deaths and injuries on open highways….” (Billings Gazette, MT. “Precautions Stepped Up.” 3-28-1937, p. 4.)

 

March 29: “New London, Tex.– (U.P.)–The bell rang again Monday [March 29] at the New London Consolidated school. School buses resumed their routes, gathering children from the crossroads, the cottages and shanties of the oil field. Monday there was no crowding; there were vacant seats….Some of the youngsters limped. Several wore bandages.

 

“Those who came early were apathetic toward schoolyard games. Generally they loitered in small knots. Their conversation was hushed, strangely sober for school children.

 

“They milled about a gaping vacancy in the campus where the high school building stood 11 days ago.

 

“Attendance was voluntary. There was no truant officer to plague them and those who would prefer to stay away had the permission of Superintendent W. C. Shaw. But the roll call was the first and all important business of the day. It will establish definitely the loss in the explosion that killed more than 400 pupils and 14 teachers a week ago last Thursday, destroyed whole classes, decimated the band, the football team, the childhood companionships.

 

“Assembly was at 9 a.m. in the gymnasium, one of the several buildings that has survived the destructive blast of natural has that accumulated in the high school basement…[12]

 

“Shaw expected an attendance of about 600. Of the original 1,200 enrollment, an estimated 427 were dead and about 40 were still bed-ridden with injuries, by the United Press count. The toll was increased Sunday night when 11-year-old Maxie Madry died in a Tyler hospital of injuries….” (United Press. “New London’s School Opens.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 3-29-1937, p. 3.)

 

March 30: “New London, Texas, March 30. (AP)–School officials here today said that a scholastic census will be necessary to determine accurately the total number of dead in the March 18 explosion. Troy Duran, principal of the high school, said the census will be made in abut two weeks. Classes will be resumed tomorrow morning, he announced, following two days of reorganization and enrollment. Superintendent W. C. Shaw said today the total number of students and teachers killed would be ‘about 300.’ ‘Our surveys, roll calls and other efforts to determine the correct number of dead lead us to believe the final result will be about 300,’ he said in a signed statement. ‘The published lists containing 455 names had many discrepancies, which, I am sure, could not have been avoided in a disaster such as ours….

 

“Duran explained that while earlier estimates placed the number of dead at 455, he believed this would be reduced because of duplications. Miss Ann McMechen of the Red Cross earlier had said that organization’s survey showed 455 dead. The subsequent death of an injured student brought this total to 456. Duran explained that while there was an accurate list available it was almost impossible to check at the time because dead and injured were taken to 10 or 15 different places, parents quickly came and got their children to give them burial or treatment and in other ways a resume was made difficult. He pointed out that in instances the same child may have [been] listed twice because of initials used in one place, full names in another and shortened first names in another….” (Associated Press. “Roll Call and Recheck of Students Show Death Toll Tragedy Will Be About 300.” Wichita Daily Times, Wichita Falls TX, 3-30-1937, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Faulty Gas Regulator Cited in Blast Inquiry.” Big Spring Daily Herald, TX, 3-21-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/big-spring-daily-herald-mar-21-1937-p-1/

 

Associated Press. “Roll Call and Recheck of Students Show Death Toll Tragedy Will Be About 300.” Wichita Daily Times, Wichita Falls TX, 3-30-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/wichita-daily-times-mar-30-1937-p-1/

 

Benson, Ragnar. The Greatest Explosions in History: The Fire, Flash and Fury of Natural and Man-Made Disasters. Carol Publishing Group, A Citadel Press Book, 1990.

 

Billings Gazette, MT. “Precautions Stepped Up.” 3-28-1937, p. 4. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/billings-gazette-mar-28-1937-p-4/

 

Collins, Ace. Tragedies of American History – Thirteen Stories of Human Error and Natural Disaster. New York: Plume Books, 2003.

 

Corsicana Semi-Weekly Light, TX. “School Head Probe Witness.” 3-23-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/corsicana-semi-weekly-light-mar-23-1937-p-1/

 

El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “School Blast Deaths Set at 519; Board Seeks Explosion Cause.” 3-19-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-25-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-herald-post-mar-19-1937-p-2/

 

Greely Daily Tribune, CO. “200 to 500 Texas Children Die in School Explosion, 3-18-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-25-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/greeley-daily-tribune-mar-18-1937-p-1/

 

History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, March 18, 1937. “Natural Gas Explosion Kills Schoolchildren in Texas.”  Accessed 12-07-2008 at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=03/18&categoryId=disaster

 

Holen, Arlene. “The History of Accident Rates in the United States.”  Chapter 9 in Simon, Julian Lincoln.  The State of Humanity.  Blackwell Publishing, 1995.  Digitized by Google. Accessed 11-23-2017 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=DrgN0AvFGL0C&dq=1917+Eddystone+PA+Munitions+Plant+Explosion&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0

 

May, Irvin M. Jr. “New London School Explosion.” Handbook of Texas Online, 6-15-2010. Accessed 11-25-2017 at: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/yqn01

 

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at:  http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

 

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.

 

New London Museum. The New London Texas School Explosion. “New London School Explosion Historical Marker.” 2017, Accessed 11-25-2017 at: http://nlsd.net/Marker.htm

 

Oelwein Daily Register, IA. “New London, Tex., Mourns Over 425 Funerals.” 3-20-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oelwein-daily-register-mar-20-1937-p-1/

 

Oelwein Daily Register, IA. “No One Will Ever Know the Exact Fate of Some Texas School Children.” 3-20-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oelwein-daily-register-mar-20-1937-p-1/

 

Paris Evening News, Paris, TX. “ETex School Death Toll Now Put at 670.” 3-18-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-25-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/paris-news-mar-18-1937-p-15/

 

Port Arthur News, TX. “Board to Draw Rules For Use of Gas is Urged. Expert Suggests Malodorants and Other Safeguards Against School Blasts.” 3-25-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/port-arthur-news-mar-25-1937-p-17/

 

Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “School Blast Dead Set at 450.” 3-19-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-25-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/salt-lake-tribune-mar-19-1937-p-1/

 

Sizer, Mona D. Texas Disasters: Wind, Flood, and Fire. Lanham: A Republic of Texas Press Book, 2005.

 

Texas State Historical Commission. New London School Explosion (Historical Marker). Accessed 11-25-2017 at: http://nlsd.net/Marker.htm

 

United Press. “Alfred to Attend Memorial Services.” El Paso Herald-Post, 3-26-1937, p. 16. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-herald-post-mar-26-1937-p-33/

 

United Press. “New London’s School Opens.” Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, IA, 3-29-1937, p. 3. Accessed 11-26-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/dubuque-telegraph-herald-mar-29-1937-p-3/

 

Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, TX. “Blast Fatal to 400 Kids.” 3-18-1937, p. 1. Accessed 11-25-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/valley-morning-star-mar-18-1937-p-11/

 

Wikipedia. “New London School explosion.” 10-12-2017 edit. Accessed 11-25-2017 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion

 

Additional Reading

 

Rozelle, Ron. My Boys and Girls Are in There: The 1937 New London School Explosion. 2012 e-book. Google digital preview accessed 11-25-2017 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=3Q3LWkuX-1wC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[1] Headline notes death toll of 450, citing Ranger Captain Hardy Purvis, who reported that “450 students were crushed to death…” Sub-headline notes “Other Estimates Hit 700…”

[2] We show such newspaper figures to make the point that sometimes one sees such numbers in books and websites, and an early newspaper guestimate turns out to be the source. One should always look for multiple sources.

[3] The first paragraph, though, notes 425 deaths.

[4] El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “School Blast Deaths Set at 519; Board Seeks Explosion Cause.” 3-19-1937, p. 1.

[5] “New London, March 20 (AP) — A military court of inquiry into the school disaster which took the lives of 455 children and teachers today heard A. J. Belew testify he had warned school officials ‘it was dangerous’ not to install a new gas regulator leading into the main building.”

[6] “New London, Tex., March 20 — (UP) — Four hundred and twenty-five broken bodies — one-third of the school children of this oil field community and 14 of their teachers — were prepared for their graves today…” While this reads as if there were 425 student dead and 14 teachers. Another UP article on same page notes the explosion “killed 411 children and 14 teachers.”

[7] Within the text of the article, though, it is noted that W. C. Shaw, the school’s superintendent believed that “between 300 and 400 school children died…”

[8] Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “School Blast Dead Set at 450.” 3-19-1937, p. 1.

[9] Low-end of range from Texas State Historical Commission Historical Marker. High-end from Sizer’s note that the director of the New London Museum believed the correct number of fatalities is 319. (The museum website has the names of 317 fatalities — students, teachers, staff and visitors.

[10] “The director of the museum [New London Museum] believes that the correct number [of fatalities] is 319, based on county records.”

[11] Sizer writes that “Since all the records were destroyed by the blast, no one knows exactly how many people were in the school. While estimates ran as high as 600, 277 names were inscribed on the granite cenotaph [on the grounds of the rebuilt school].”

[12] Sizer notes the gym was built on the ground, thus without a crawl-space or basement where gas could accumulate.