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Unlike school attacks in the early 21st century, there was no constant national and international media coverage of the Poe attack. The school was open the next day, with approximately half of the students attending with increases each day even though cleanup and repairs were underway. HISD named two
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Do not get the Police department yet, I’ll tell you when. Please do not get excite over this order I’m giving you. In this suitcase you see in my hand it fill to the top with high explosive. Please do not make me push this button that all I have to do. And also have two 2 more cases (illegible) high
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Minutes after leaving the school office, around 10:00 am, Orgeron and his son approached a teacher, Patricia
Johnston, on the school playground, who had been gathering her second graders for their return to the classroom. Orgeron, carrying a brown suitcase, gave her two pieces of paper to read.
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Please do not get excite over this order I’m giving you. In this suitcase you see in my hand is fill to the top with high explosive. I mean high high. Please believe me when I say I have 2 more (illegible) that are set to go off at two times. I do not believe I can kill and not kill what is around
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Orgeron asked that the children gather around him, and as he waved the suitcase around, Johnston became alarmed upon seeing a doorbell button on the bottom of the suitcase and instructed the students to return to the building. She also instructed two students to fetch the school principal, R. E.
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Very little of
Orgeron was found. Only small body parts were recovered from the surrounding bushes, buildings and homes. Orgeron's left hand was found in a hedge indicating he had died in the blast. It was used to identify him through fingerprints which were on file from prior convictions.
198:; he pronounced Jennie Kolter dead. There are plaques in the school to this effect. Credit must be given to Mr. Montgomery, the custodian, who walked over to the bomber and talked to him, allowing more teachers and children to get away. He died saving "his kids."
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Orgeron attempted to enroll his son in second grade at Edgar Allan Poe
Elementary School but was denied since he lacked birth and health certificates for his son. He left the school office claiming he would return the next day with the documents.
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The explosion claimed six lives, including both
Orgeron and his son; two students; custodian Montgomery and a teacher, Jennie Kolter. Of the eighteen injured, principal Doty suffered a broken leg, and two children each lost a leg.
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Police thought the bomber might have escaped and have other bombs, so the school was evacuated. After completing a bomb search, a roll-call by teachers showed that all students were present, except for those dead or injured.
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Although previously not a religious man, Orgeron said he had recently "found God", according to family members who had attended Dusty's 7th birthday party at Dusty's grandmother's house just the
Saturday before.
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explosive that are set to go off at a certain time at three different places so it will more harm to kill me, so do as I say and no one will get hurt. An I would like to talk about god while waiting for my wife.
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When the principal and the custodian arrived, Orgeron ignored Doty's instructions to leave the school grounds. Then
Orgeron detonated the suitcase which contained perhaps six sticks of
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She was unable to understand them since the notes were illegible. Orgeron muttered about "having power in a suitcase," the will of God and having to "get to the children".
156:. Orgeron briefly rented at a nearby boarding house using the pseudonym Bob Silver. The landlord later said the father and son were quiet and had not caused any trouble.
242:"black top" play area. Victims' mangled bodies were burnt; some, including Doty, had their clothes ripped from them by the blast. One girl was blown over 100 feet away.
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was called out to protect other elementary schools in the blast's aftermath because the authorities were not certain whether the bomber had been killed in the blast.
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His nearby station wagon contained explosives and an August 25 receipt for detonators and 150 sticks of dynamite from
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with his seven-year-old son, Dusty Paul. According to
Orgeron's ex-wife, Hazel, they divorced twice due to
136:, United States on September 15, 1959. Six people, including the perpetrator and his own son, were killed.
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579:. Monday September 28, 1959 - names Orgeron's 16-year-old stepdaughter, Betty Jean, as Dusty's mother.
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Paul Harold
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me, an I mean my son will go. Do as I say an no one will get hurt. Please. —P. H. Orgeron
329:"Dark Day in 1959: Poe Elementary School bombing killed teacher Jennie Kolter, 5 others"
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Doty, and the school custodian, James
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new elementary schools after victims of the attack: Kolter
Elementary School in
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355:"Deadly bomb attack took place at Houston's Poe Elementary 61 years ago today"
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584:"Houston's worst school incident, bomb explodes at Poe Elementary"
441:"Houston's worst school incident, bomb explodes at Poe Elementary"
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Police responded to find a 6-inch-deep (150 mm) hole in the
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William Kolter, the son of Jennie Kolter, was chief resident at
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Violence In Our Schools - Poe Elementary School, Houston, Texas
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537:"Survivor recalls 1959 Houston school blast that killed 6"
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and Montgomery Elementary School in Southwest Houston.
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lists the dead and injured victims' names and ages.(
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614:that includes excerpts related to the Poe bombing
731:Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1950s
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606:- Houston Chronicle article on the Poe bombing
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736:20th-century mass murder in the United States
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741:Attacks on buildings and structures in Texas
272:Police managed to decipher Orgeron's notes:
550:Major Houston Fires - School Explosion 1959
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264:perhaps explain his knowledge of dynamite.
58:Students and staff at Poe Elementary School
711:September 1959 events in the United States
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596:"Poe school coverage detailed a tragedy"
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567:TEXAS: That Man Has Dynamite
535:Turner, Allan (2009-09-14).
415:Turner, Allan (2009-09-14).
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140:Paul Orgeron and Dusty Paul
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472:. 2003. Archived from
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470:Texas Ranger Dispatch
387:"Suffer the Children"
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130:Poe Elementary School
701:Mass murder in Texas
228:Texas National Guard
696:Mass murder in 1959
642:29.72778; -95.40694
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353:KTRK (2018-02-16).
106:Paul Harold Orgeron
691:History of Houston
686:Filicides in Texas
681:Explosions in 1959
255:Grants, New Mexico
50:September 15, 1959
676:Crimes in Houston
610:A book review of
601:Houston Chronicle
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287:Second note
164:The bombing
103:Perpetrator
64:Attack type
655:Categories
628:95°24′25″W
625:29°43′40″N
451:2016-12-20
426:2020-05-04
398:2016-12-06
364:2022-02-09
339:2022-02-09
315:References
276:First note
202:Fatalities
392:Houstonia
309:Meyerland
302:Aftermath
178:dynamite
36:Location
588:KTRK-TV
571:Archive
560:Archive
240:asphalt
95:Injured
79:Weapons
445:ABC-13
182:Soviet
124:was a
111:Motive
87:Deaths
55:Target
576:TIME
333:KPRC
226:The
120:The
47:Date
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
