World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Tuesday May 7, 1940
Day 250

May 7, 1940: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of the Evening Express, Liverpool, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the photo at top center: "Germans Lose Famous Joy Ship"
(The report claims that the passenger ship Robert Ley, was sunk in the Skagerrak. The report was completely false. Robert Ley survived until May 1945 when the ship was bombed and destroyed by an R.A.F. air raid on Hamburg, Germany.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of the Birmingham Gazette, Birmingham, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 1: "Soldier's Death After Inoculation"


May 7, 1940: Front page of the Evening Telegraph and Post, Dundee, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the headline and report in column 1: "Another Hospital Ship Attacked"
(The report was true, but they got the name of the ship wrong. The ship was Dronning Maud, not Queen Maud.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of Haarlem's Dagblad, Haarlem, Netherlands.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 7-8: "Mad Killer, Near Death, Laughs at Four Victims"
(The principal of South Pasadena Junior High School, Verlin H. Spencer, fearing the loss of his job, came to school and shot six people in a mass school shooting. Four died at the scene, a fifth died on May 9th and the sixth was paralyzed for life. He was sentenced to 5 consecutive life terms in San Quentin, but was released in 1970. He moved to Hawaii and used an assumed name and died Jan. 11, 1991.)
 
I have highlighted this only to point out that school shootings have been happening for decades, even before the United States was founded. According to Wikipedia the first mass killing at a school in North America happened on July 26, 1764 in the Provence of Pennsylvania. Eleven people (10 children and the teacher) were killed by Delaware Indians.

According to Wikipedia there was not another mass killing at a school in North America for 163 years. (A quick note about the Wikipedia page. I used this page only as a quick guide. I don't have the time to do the research that would be involved to accurately assess school killings for the last 200+ years. Their information is incomplete, as evidenced by the fact that the shooting in Pasadena is not on their list. Therefore, it cannot be considered as a reliable or complete source for these events, it can only be considered a guide.)

Wikipedia shows that there were no mass killings at schools from the founding of the country on July 4, 1776 through the whole of the 19th Century. It was not until May 18, 1927 when the first (according to Wikipedia) mass school killing took place. It's still the deadliest mass killing at a school in American history.

A deranged school board treasurer, after killing his mother, blew up the school in Bath Township, Michigan, killing 44 people, including 38 children. One other person died some months later from complications of their injuries. Wikipedia does not show another school massacre until Sept. of 1959. Since 1959 they report 21 mass school shootings. Most of them (12) happening in the 1990's, in which 49 people in total died. (Only 42 people had died between 1959 and 1990.)

Since the beginning of the 21st Century Wikipedia reports 23 school shootings which have killed 166 people. One must wonder what has changed in people that has made them so much more violent? In the first 21 years of the new century 166 people have been killed, that is 30 more people than were killed in the previous 100 years. There are those who would blame guns, specifically "assault rifles" but I would point out that until 1934 fully automatic machine-guns were legal and available in the U.S.A. I would also point out that Wikipedia reports no school shootings between 1900 and 1959. (Even though we know one occurred in 1940 which is not listed.)

The gun is not the problem, as demonstrated above, explosives were the deadliest weapon used at a school. The problem is what the problem always is, people. It is people who pick up the guns, point them at other people and pull the trigger. If they did not use a gun, they would just use a knife, hammer, car, truck or even a bomb. But they would find a way to kill, people always do. Until the problem with people is cured, the killing will continue. (Which in effect means, the killing will continue until there is only one person living on this planet.)
 
[As a side note, the worst school disaster in the U.S.A. occurred on Mar. 18, 1937 when the school in New London, Texas was blown up by a natural gas explosion. Between 294-319 people, mostly children, were killed.]


May 7, 1940: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of The Brainerd Daily Dispatch, Brainerd, Minnesota.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of The Kingsport Times, Kingsport, Tennessee.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of the Butte Montana Standard, Butte, Montana.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of the Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Reynaud-Chamberlain-Gespräch abgehört!
(Reynaud-Chamberlain-conversation bugged!)
2. Wieder ein U-Boot versenkt - Drei britische Flugzeug abgeschossen - Bombentreffer auf Kreuzer vor Narvik.
(Another submarine sunk - three British aircraft shot down - bomb hits on cruisers off Narvik.)


May 7, 1940: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Achtung! Termin 20. Mai.
(Attention! Date 20 May.)
2. Die Pläne der Aggressoren enthüllen sich - Sensationelles Ferngespräch zwischen Chamberlain und Reynaud - London drängt zur Eile.
(The aggressors plans are revealed - sensational long-distance call between Chamberlain and Reynaud - London urges a hurry.)



   
Page published May 7, 2021