The West Plains Dance Hall Explosion and The Maid's Version

Daniel Woodrell was interviewed on NPR this morning about his new book The Maid's Version, a fictionalized story of the 1928 explosion in West Plains, Missouri Friday, April 13, 1928.
http://www.npr.org/2013/09/05/218591578/winters-bone-author-revisits-a-tragedy-in-his-ozarks-hometown

Daniel Woodrell

Lin Waterhouse’s nonfiction The West Plains Dance Hall Explosion (The History Press, 2011), is thoroughly researched. http://www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com/the-west-plains-dance-hall-explosion-and-the-maids-version/ 

Bob Mullins

Dimple Martin

Saturday, April 14, 1928

Kitty McFarland

Lin Waterhouse

Paul Evans

The West Plains Dance Hall Explosion

Looking at the photos and reading the story, I was moved to help them. In 2012, I visited Lin and she took me to West Plains. It was the same feeling I had when I walked the site of the Twin Towers in NYC and the concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. You could feel them, hear their cries. Yet, no plaque, no monument – nothing. They want everyone to know the truth, which may have been hit men or geological in nature. If it is the former, most likely the culprits are dead, but the facts need to be revealed. If it is the latter, next time could be catastrophic.

Lin has touched the tip of an iceberg and has data, interviews, and stats to prove her findings. I could not put the book down for two reasons: 1) it was real, and 2) it still has not been solved. Lin has done an unbelievable job of research and has written it so well, you actually go to bed at night seeing the explosion and hearing the voices of those who have crossed over but are not satisfied; who need closure. This book may bring someone forward who knows the ‘who’ and ‘why’. Just look at the pictures and imagine.

Bond Hall hosted dances every Friday night for many years. This night was like any other-- young and old alike gathered to dance and listen to the live band consisting of their own local talent. At 11:00 pm that evening, not one family within 50 miles of West Plains was left unaffected by the horror that unfolded in a scant 10 minutes. An explosion ripped through the second floor dance hall located above Wiser Motor Corp, sending 39 unsuspecting people to their deaths.

Waterhouse has done a remarkable job of deciphering the historical registers, newspapers, and courthouses as well as finding and getting first-hand information from survivors and their descendants. She grabs you from the first sentence; taking you back to the day of the tragedy, carrying you through intricate details leading up to the moments before, and then combing through the testimony, coroner’s reports, and investigative findings, she brings you to where it all stands today. As you read The West Plains Dance Hall Explosion you realize you are reliving a real cold case. Intriguing and fascinating!

She has much more pertinent information to add since she finished the MS: geological statistics, personal interviews, and diaries/journals from family members who found them in trunks. 

There have been pools that have mysteriously been sucked dry of water near ground zero, in White Plains there was a community septic cesspool that disappeared, and sunken foundations that all indicate an unstable terrain. If all this is substantiated, it could clear the Wiser name and bring closure to so many open-ended doubts.

It could easily prevent another tragedy as well. Explosions, sink holes, etc.

Then again, the two men in dark suits showing up at Wiser’s showroom at 10pm that night throws suspicion on gangster activity since no one came forward fitting those descriptions. Still, if Wiser was involved, I don’t think he would have stayed around to be blown up; he would have run with his family.

This would make for a great 48 Hours episode or a Discovery Chanel story; bringing national and international attention to an incident that killed over 39 people, took out a whole city block and caused eternal pain for all those who were touched by it.

Waterhouse is a freelance journalist/writer, living and working in Ozark County, Missouri. Since moving from California and Arizona to Missouri nine years ago, she has written articles for local and regional newspapers and magazines, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Ozark Mountaineer, Ozark Magazine, and The Ozark County Times. www.linwaterhouse.com

Read both books and you, too, will want to know the truth.