Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2004 Issue
Strange and Eccentric: American Books<br>From Garrett Scott, Bookseller
Explosion at the bath School claimed 44 lives in 1927.
Here's another speech. This one from Rev. D.T. (Daniel Thompson) is called The Increase in Crime: An Address Delivered Before the "World-Wide Prayer Union," at Camp Hebron, Mass., August 11, 1886. He argues that such things as crime, mental illness, suicide and alcoholism foretell the second coming of Christ. Of course this didn't happen, and perhaps He stayed away for precisely these reasons. Item 189. $45.
Thomas Vaill was kind enough to offer us A Free and Independent Translation of the First and Fourth Books of the Aeneid of Virgil...in "Modern American" in 1870. Vaill was concerned with "trash" that was being taught in school in place of the classics, so he wanted to update them in a language more understandable to modern youth. An example is: "Says Aeneas: "I am your most obedient, / But to stay here don't seem to be expedient."" Maybe, but I think if Virgil had written in English, he would have known how to conjugate his verbs. Item 196. $85.
Not every item in this catalogue is fun. In 1927, there was a horror at a small town school in Michigan far worse than even Columbine. The book is The Bath School Disaster by M.J. Elsworth. This is a contemporary account by a neighbor of Andrew Kehoe, a former member of the local school board who committed this horrible atrocity on the community's schoolchildren. Kehoe's farm was being subject to foreclosure, and he placed much of the blame on school taxes. After serving several years on the school board himself, Kehoe had made a run for Town Clerk, but was defeated. Some attributed this to his inability to get along well with others in his previous position. Whatever the forces were which drew him to seek revenge for his problems against the whole community, Kehoe decided to load the school's basement with dynamite. On May 19, 1927, he first blew up his own home, killing his wife. He then went to the school, set off the dynamite, and killed 44 others, mostly children. Finally, he set off dynamite in his car, killing himself and three others nearby, including the Superintendent of Schools, whom he also disliked. While one wing of the school collapsed in the blast, it was later discovered that 400 pounds of dynamite had not exploded. Kehoe's intentions had been much worse than even these horrific results. For a thorough collection of resources about this tragedy, which would be pushed from the front pages a few days later by Lindberg's historic flight, see this website: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~bauerle/disaster.htm. A few people who remember this tragedy survive today and a 75th anniversary memorial commemoration was held just two years ago. $150.
John Byers Wilson was a poet for the common man. In the preface to his 1911 Reminiscent Rhymes and Other Verse, he states that, "plain home-like words reveal some large truths - not the meaningless mysticisms of a Milton or Dante, the intangible dreams of a Poe, or the obscure fancies of a Browning." This is why, long after those other poets have been forgotten, John Byers Wilson remains a household name. Fortunately, Wilson had a day job. He was also a physician, so presumably he made a decent living. Item 209. $40.
