The New London School Disaster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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March 18, 1937 had been a normal day for the students and staff of the New London School, located in New London, Texas about 100 miles east of Dallas. The students were happy in the knowledge that they would be out of school the next day to participate in the school district's annual scholastic and athletic competition. The elementary school students had been released earlier than the junior high and high school students.Those that rode the bus to and from school loaded onto the bus driven by Lonnie Barber. After Loading, he headed the bus out the dirt driveway to the street and began his route. He had just down-shifted to climb a hill on the outskirts of town when he felt a sudden gust of wind hit the bus, then came the noise. He looked back, as did all the kids on the bus and to their horror saw nothing left of their four year old school building! A huge cloud of smoke and debris were the only things to be seen from this vantage point. Mr. Barber estimated that the time was approximately 3:20 pm. He knew that most of the students and staff were still in the building. He rushed to take his passengers home, then turned the bus back toward the school. Mr. Barber had four children of his own that were still at the school! Upon his arrival, he immediately left the bus to start digging for survivors. Many rescuers already had bloody hands and minor injuries from digging bare-handedly in the rubble. Before the night was through, Mr. Barber was to learn that his family had lost one son, eleven year old, fifth grader, Arden, his youngest son (shown in photo). His three other children escaped with injuries, some severe. THE CAUSE: Other reports state that at 3:05 pm, Mr. Lennie R. Butler, instructor of manual training, flipped the switch to turn on a sander, unaware that a natural gas leak existed in the basement and gas was present at his location. Upon flipping the switch, a spark created by the switch, ignited the gas, which quickly spread to the basement where the bulk of the gas had accumulated. A huge explosion followed. According to eye witnesses, the building seemed to jump upward from its foundation, its roof lifted and the walls blew outward. In a matter of seconds, the school was obliterated. Left standing were a couple of walls at the main entrance. The classrooms were gone. It was now a pile of rubble, containing many injured persons and bodies. Among the 311 dead, 296 were children. RESCUE EFFORT: In a matter of minutes the word spread via telephone calls and telegrams. Immediately, the men and women working in the East Texas Oil Fields responded with manpower and heavy equipment. Medical personnel, equipment and supplies came from Baylor University and the Scottish Rites Hospital for Crippled Children in Dallas and more. As America and the world heard of the tragedy, offers of assistance began to pour in. The night of March 18, 1937 fell on the searchers with a cold, drizzling rain, but the search continued without complaint. After seventeen hours, all debris and bodies had been removed by an estimated 2000 man team. There were cases in which a person, removing debris, found his own child among the rubble. When enough debris had been cleared and everybody had a chance to realize what had happened, the body count was made final. At that time, 296 people, mostly children had died in the explosion. There would be more to die as results of the injuries they received from the explosion. It is believed that 311 died. FOLLOWING THE DISASTER: As a result of this horrible tragedy, laws were enacted that would put an odor to natural gas, making it detectable. Mercaptan was added and that is the odor that we commonly associate with natural gas today. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I owe a debt of gratitude to the late Mr. Bill Grigg Jr. of Harrison, Arkansas for allowing me to use photos from his website. Following Mr. Grigg's death, others took up where he left off by creating the site at http://www.newlondonschool.org/ . If more information is sought concerning the New London School Explosion, this site is very complete and even has photos of the youthful victims in addition to many other photos. Mr. Grigg's father (shown in photos in left column) had just stepped out a back door when the explosion occurred. ran for safety and survived! The other students in Study Hall that day did not survive. Mr. Grigg Senior's brother, Horace was seriously injured by the explosion but survived. One of Mr. Grigg Senior's brothers, Edwin Harvey Grigg did not survive. He is buried in the Rock Church Cemetery. Many of the victims of the New London School explosion are interred in this cemetery. To see a video presentation of a newsreel covering the New London School Disaster, click the arrow below.
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