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1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

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  #1  
● 12-15-2010, 08:56 PM
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1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

SIXTY HEROES OF THE SAWDUST RING PERISH IN FLAMING WRECK AS TRAIN CUTS THRU CARS.
SOMEBODY'S BLUNDER COSTS IN KILLED AND INJURED 189 CASUALTIES OF WALLACE-
HAGENBACK CIRCUS.
PERFORMERS WEAKENED BY CRASH TO DIE IN FLAMES.
FAMILIES LONG KNOWN TO PUBLIC AS FAVORITES ARE DECIMATED OR SWEPT TO ETERNITY.
"I WISH I HAD DIED TOO"
JOE COYLE, REUNITED TO HIS FAMILY FOR ONE DAY IS BEREFT OF ENTIRE GROUP.
Gary, Ind., June 22. -- (AP) -- The known death list in the rear-end collision between an equipment
train and a Wallace-Hagenback circus train was increased tonight to sixty with the recovery of eight additional bodies and the death of one of the circus troupe at a Gary hospital.
The collision occurred at dawn today on the Michigan Central railroad, five miles west of Gary. Virtually all victims were members of the circus company.
Thirty-eight bodies have been placed in Gary undertaking establishments. Twenty-two have been taken to Hammond. Those who died of injuries in hospitals were known, but efforts of giving names to burned and mutilated bodies was reserved for tomorrow. The identified dead:
At Gary, MRS. ALEX TODD, Bloomington, Ill. At
Hammond, JOHN COLLINS, property man; ARTHUR DERRIX, strong man; MRS. JOE COYLE and two sons, HOWARD age 9 and JOE, JR., age 2 1/2.
The injured here include twenty-nine at Mercy hospital, twenty-six at the Gary general hospital, forty-five at the steel corporation hospital, and four at San Antonio hospital. The number of injured at Hammond total twenty-five, according to reports early tonight.
The empty troop train, traveling down a straight stretch of track, demolished three of the circus coaches and badly damaged a fourth.
How It Happened.
According to reports to local authorities, the circus train which carried four sleepers, five stock cars, fifteen flat cars and a caboose, pulled part way into a switch, and stalled there on account of a hot box. The flagman went back on the main track and set fuses as a warning of danger. The circus train was in this position when the equipment train ploughed into the sleepers, reducing them to a pile of steel and timbers. Fire, engendered by the gas-lighting system of the circus train, broke out almost immediately and when rescuers reached the scene the entire wreckage was in flames.
Clowns, bareback riders, trapeze performers and acrobats, many of them veteransin the circus world, perished instantly in the crash. Others were suffocated and burned.
Attempts of the Gary fire department to curb the flames and make possible quick access to imprisoned victims were unsuccessful because of lack of water supply. Survivors struggled about the wreck screaming for relatives or friends and only force prevented two or three men from rushing into the blazing wreckage.
Hours after the crash, bodies, charred black were still being recovered as the derricks of wrecking crews thinned out the pile of debris.
There were numerous pitiful scenes at the wreck and later in the hospitals. JOE COYLE, a clown, wept bitterly as he lay on a stretcher and told how his wife and two babies had joined him only rrecently after months of absence and how all three had been crushed to death at his very side.
"The kiddies had been so glad to see their daddy," he said. "I wish I could have died with them."
Rumor that several lions had escaped from the train to the woods south of the wreck caused residents of that thinly populated district to take precautions. Circus authorities explain that no wild animals were on the train. They also discredited reports that one circus woman, demented, had evaded the doctors and disappeared into the woods.
The revised list of the dead and injured follows:
EARL MICHAEL BERRY, Schnectady, N.Y.
MRS. VERONICA CONNERS.
MRS. JOSEPH COYLE and two sons, Cincinnati.
MISS LOUISE COTTRELL, London, England.
JOHN COLLINS, New Haven, Conn.
MR. and MRS. D. CATTANACK, Chicago.
ARTHUR DERRICK, Erickton, Md.
JOSEPH DERRICK.
MAX DERRICK.
MISS. JEWELL.
FRED LEDGETT.
MRS. HATTIE McCREE, Toledo.
HENRY MILLER.
MISS LOUISE POWELL.
ROSE ROSELAND.
JOHN ROONEY.
MRS. JENNIE TODD, Bloomington, Ill.
FRED WHIPPLE, Michigan City, Ind.
Among the injured are the following:
ARTHUR ADAIR, Chicago.
M. A. ANDERSON, Chicago.
A. M. BALL, Cincinnati.
JACK BALTY, Peru, Ind.
WM. BURNS, Lockport, N.Y.
MR. and MRS. G. W. BROWN, Denver, Colo.
R. B. BRINKLEY.
CHARLES BROWN.
F. B. BULLARD, Baraboo, Wis.
W. H. CURTISS, West Baden, Ind.
MRS. W. H. CURTISS.
JOE COYLE, Cincinnati.
BEN. CARPENTER, Everett, Wash.
FRANK CONNORS.
JAMES CRAWFORD.
BERNARD CARMEN, Philadelphia.
WILLIAM BAILEY, Providence, R.I.
JOHN DEMPSEY, New York.
GILLIAM DAVIS, Columbus, O.
JAMES DEGROTE.
GEORGE DONAHUE, Middleton, O.
FRANK DILLEY.
ED. DEVONE.
MRS. DONOVAN.
LILLIAN DAVIS.
JOSEPH DANOHUE, Indianapolis.
MR. and MRS. EUGENE ENOS, Bloomington, Ill.
CHARLES EMERSON.
CHARLES GROSECLOSS, Indianapolis.
G. H. GOODMAN.
CARL GREEN.
GEORGE GREEN.
JAMES GRASPER.
THEO. GARRECKS.
CHARLES HITCHCOCK.
JAMES HOWARD.
CARL HUTCHINSON.
EARNEST HITCHCOCK.
ALBERT E. INGRAHAM, Luddington, Md.
JAMES JOHNSON.
PAUL KRAMER, Peru, Ind.
GUS LINDSTROM, Bloomington, Ill.
ARDELL LESMAN, Reading, Pa.
HENRY LOMAR.
LENA LELO.
JAMES LEO.
RENO McCREE, Toledo, O.
BERTIE McINTOSH.
JOHN McFADDEN.
JOHN MOORE.
JAMES MATHEWS.
JOHN MILLER.
WILLIAM MICHAEL, Beaver Falls, Pa.
JAMES MULVANEY, Steubenville, O.
ALONZO MOORE, Defiance, O.
JOHN NELSON, Joliet, O.
DEWEY NUNNELLEY, Lexington, Ky.
CHARLES NORCROSS.
MAX NITZBORN.
CHARLES OLSON.
ROBERT O'CONNOR.
ARTHUR PARKS.
JOHN PFEIGENBERGER.
ALBERT PALMER.
CHESTER POLK.
MANUEL RICKEND.
ELMER RUNSTADTLER, Detroit, Mich.
G. F. RYAN.
G. F. REED.
HERMAN REX.
ED. RAPIER.
JACK ROBINSON.
A. F. ROBERTS, Memphis, Tenn.
W. M. STREETER.
COLUMBUS SMITH.
WILLIAM SMITH.
S. STEINHOUSER.
M. STRONG.
WM. SUMMERS, Bloomington, Ill.
ALEX. TODD, Bloomington, Ill.
W. S. TURNBULL.
WILLIAM THOMAS.
WM. THURMAN.
PARSON WADDELL, Columbus, O.
MR. and MRS. EDWARD WARD, Bloomington, Ill.
GUS. WERNER, West Baden, Ind.
C. F. WRIGHT.
LOUIS WEILAND.
E. WILLIAMS.
ALEX WILLIAMSON.
NICK WILLIAMS.
WALTER WILLIAMS.
WILLIAM WARD.
THOMAS YOUNG.
ENGINEER WONT.
Kalzmazoo, Mich., June 22. -- ALONZO K. SARGENT, engineer of the train that crashed into the Wallace-Hagenback circus train at Ivanhoe, Ind., this morning, resulting in the death of sixty-one persons, was arrested here tonight on an order from Gary, Ind., charged with manslaughter.
ENGINEER ON THE CARPET.
Kalamazoo, Mich., June 22. -- AL SARGENT, engineer of the train of twenty-one empty troop cars that crashed into the Wallace-Hagenback circus train near Gary, Ind., this morning, resulting in the death of sixty-one persons, spent several hours in conference with railroad officials at the Michigan Central roundhouse here late today and railroad men declined to make any statement upon his confidential report. SARGENT, it is said, did not discuss the wreck after making his report and left for his home in Jackson.
FIREMAN'S STATEMENT.
Michigan City, Ind., June 22. -- EMIL KLAUSS, locomotive fireman on the empty troop train, which crashed into the circus train near Gary was arrested at the request of the coroner. He will be held here until Monday morning when he will be taken to Gary to testify at the inquest. Klauss is 24 years old and resides here with his wife and two children. He came here shortly before noon after fleeing from the scene of the wreck with AL SARGENT, engineer of the troop train.
SARGENT left this afternoon for his home in Kalamazoo, Mich. While here he said that steam from an Indiana Harbor Belt Line engine on a siding obscured the semaphore, but he did not explain how he missed other danger signals. He said he told the fireman to jump, but that he stayed on the engine despite its destructive course thru the show train was was nsot injured.
KRAUSS said:
"We were running along at a good rate of speed between Hammond and Gary and I did not see the circus train on the siding until we were nearly on top of it. I saw a collision could not be avoided and I grew dizzy and sick at the thought of what was certain to happen. I did not notice the engineer and I do not know what he did. I crawled down from the locomotive cab and dragged myself onto the tender where I fell face downward on a pile of coal. That is the last thing I remember. I must have been unconscious when the collision came as I do not remember feeling it. The next thing I remember I was on a train for Michigan City.
Waterloo Times Tribune Indiana 1918-06-23
1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W - hammond ind circus train wreck 1918 4 tn
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  #2  
● 12-15-2010, 09:11 PM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

And to add a bit more:

ROONEY FAMILY, bareback riders.
MEYERS FAMILY, animal trainers.
COTTRELL FAMILY, bareback riders.
ART DARICK, strong man, died in hospital.
ROSIE ROSILAND, equestrienne.
DONOVAN FAMILY, elephant trainers.
ROBERT ELLIS AND WIFE, aerialists.
MRS. JENNIE CODD, Bloomington, Ill., performer, died on relief train.
JOSEPH COYLE, clown; MRS. JOSEPH COYLE AND TWO CHILDREN, said to have died on relief train.

Plus I tried to upload a bit larger copy of one photo.

Great post btw!
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1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W - circus08
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  #3  
● 12-15-2010, 09:13 PM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

Great post. What a horrible tragedy.
  #4  
● 12-15-2010, 09:14 PM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

Dead circus clowns are still not funny.
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● 12-15-2010, 09:16 PM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

see the grave stone that reads, UNKNOWN,sad!

couldnt even give him a name.
  #6  
● 12-15-2010, 09:32 PM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

And I thought a "hot box" was a good thing...
  #7  
● 12-15-2010, 09:33 PM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

Dead circus clowns are still not funny.
Yeah. But they are a little more funny.
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● 02-07-2011, 09:12 AM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

Hagenbeck is still a circus I believe!
  #9  
● 02-07-2011, 09:20 AM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

I hate clowns. I think a clown running around on fire would make me laugh though.
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● 02-07-2011, 02:51 PM
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Re: 1918 Circus Train Wreck. B&W

Awsome post and info thanks


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