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08-21-2011, 11:49 AM
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Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train Wreck Near Hammond, Indiana, June 22, 1918
An empty Michigan Central troop train struck the rear of the stopped Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train near Hammond, Indiana, at about 4 a.m. on June 22, 1918. The circus train had stopped because of a hot box. Engineer Alonzo Sargent had fallen asleep and passed signals and warnings from a flagman before the collision. Wooden sleeping cars were crushed and burned. The often-cited death toll is 86, although some accounts give figures ranging from 56 to 61. About 127 people were injured. Sargent was charged with manslaughter, but the charges were dropped after a mistrial. Many victims were buried five days later at Showmen's Rest, the Showmen's League of America plot in Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois. Photographs show crowds around the wreckage, fire scenes, onlookers and a smoking locomotive amid debris. Also covered here: Photographic Time Line |