HOUR GLASS
News Herald reported tragic New London school explosion BY MEREDITH SHAMBURGER mshamburger@kilgorenewsherald.com
T
he headlines in the News Herald were perhaps some of the most tragic immediately following the 1937 explosion at the New London School. A natural gas explosion killed hundreds and injured even more. It is considered one of the worst disasters in Texas history. A Thursday, March 18, 1937 issue of the paper includes a banner headline across the front page: “Explosion Kills 500 Children, Wrecks Building, Burying Mutilated Bodies.” “Horror gripped a mammoth crowd which rushed to the scene of the accident,” Alex Murphree wrote. “Mothers screamed when their children were discovered, their bodies torn and their limbs scattered amid the debris of the two-story building. Other mothers stood without hope while oil field wench trucks rushed to the scene, sought to tear the wreckage apart. More bodies were discovered each minute…" Jewel S. Jones, a Kilgore insurance man, was reported as having seen the explosion while passing. “He said that the building seemed to fall apart from the 20 Etcetera | Spring 2022
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explosion, which was apparently caused by leaking gas boilers, although the cause could not be definitely determined.” A late bulletin provided details of the scene later in the night. “Martial law was declared in New London Thursday night to expedite the search for the dead in the frightful New London School explosion Thursday afternoon. A company of the Texas National Guard was patrolling the highways and not permitting anyone to go near the school except doctors, nurses, newspaper men and relief workers. “Radio warnings were issued asking persons who had no business at the school to keep away. “Most of the injured from the Overton hospital and from the Baptist Church in Overton which was transformed into an emergency hospital, were being transferred to Tyler and Kilgore. “Gov. James V. Allred got in touch with the sheriff’s department in Longview and asked that the National Guard be called out but the commandant of the National Guard had already taken that action. “Hopes were still held that injured children, not yet dead,
