June 22, 1918, one hundred years ago: the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train wreck

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip to The Wall Street Journal. for reminding me of this. I have long thought this the ghastliest train wreck ever to have occurred in the United States. There was an article in the print edition on Wednesday, June 13. I was about to throw out the paper when I saw it. I first read about the wreck in Stewart Holbrook's book, mentioned in the Wikipedia article. Stewart Holbrook died in 1964:

Stewart H. Holbrook, 71, Dies; Wrote of American Outdoors; Author of Books and Articles About Logging, Railroads, Folk Heroes and Mores

His account left an impression on me when I read it years ago. You can read it now at Google Books:

https://books.google.com/books?id=Ho5uCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA284&lpg=PA284&dq=stewart+holbrook+hagenbeck+wallace

A Century Later, a Train Wreck Brings a Fraternal Order Together

Dozens of circus performers and workers were killed in the 1918 crash and laid to rest at Chicago’s Woodlawn Cemetery

By John Jurgensen

June 12, 2018 9:54 a.m. ET

Forest Park, Ill.

During the early hours of June 22, 1918, a locomotive with a sleeping engineer at its controls plowed into the back of a circus train near Gary, Ind., smashing through cars filled with sleeping passengers and sparking a fire that spread through the wreckage.

Eighty-six men, women and children were killed, and more than...

TO READ THE FULL STORY

The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train disaster of 1918 in photos

Column: Friday marks century anniversary of Hammond circus train tragedy

Philip Potempa
Post-Tribune

June 20, 2018, 5:10 PM

....
June 22, 2018 date marks the 100th anniversary of the tragedy, which filled the front pages of newspapers throughout the area and beyond.

It was the engineer of a freight train, who had fallen asleep as his train arrived near Hammond, who was to blame for a direct collision at 30 mph with the idle Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train. The fiery aftermath was horrific — more than 200 circus performers on board were injured and 86 people were killed. After a string of performances, the circus, which had just completed shows in Michigan City, had dissembled, was packed and filled on board with the clowns, acrobats, sideshow entertainers and workers who were asleep.

Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus

The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was a circus that traveled across America in the early part of the 20th century. At its peak, it was the second-largest circus in America next to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It was based in Peru, Indiana.

History

....
Another tragedy struck the circus before 4:00 a.m. on June 22, 1918, in the Hammond Circus Train Wreck when the engineer of an empty troop train fell asleep, and collided into the rear of the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train near Hammond, Indiana. A fire broke out from the kerosene lamps, which were used for lighting in the sleeping cars of the circus train. The fire quickly spread through the wood-constructed cars. As a result of the collision and subsequent fire, 86 persons died and another 127 were injured. Many victims were burned beyond recognition. Most are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois in a section set aside as Showmen's Rest.

Hammond Circus Train Wreck

The Hammond Circus Train Wreck occurred on June 22, 1918 during the last months of World War I and was one of the worst train wrecks in US history. Eighty-six people were reported to have died and another 127 were injured when a locomotive engineer fell asleep and ran his train into the rear of another near Hammond, Indiana.

Circus train wreck

In the early morning hours of June 22, 1918, Alonzo Sargent was at the throttle of a Michigan Central Railroad troop train pulled by K80r pacific 8485 with 20 empty Pullman cars. He was aware that his train was closely following a slower circus train. Sargent, an experienced man at the throttle, had slept little if at all in the preceding 24 hours. The effects of a lack of sleep, several heavy meals, some kidney pills, and the gentle rolling of his locomotive are thought to have caused him to fall asleep at the controls.

At approximately 4 a.m., he missed at least two automatic signals and warnings posted by a brakeman of the 26-car circus train, which had made an emergency stop to check a hot box on one of the flatcars. The second train plowed into the caboose and four rear wooden sleeping cars of the circus train at a rail crossing known as Ivanhoe Interlocking (5 1?2 miles (8.9 km) east of Hammond, Indiana) at an estimated speed of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h).

The circus train held 400 performers and roustabouts of the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus. Most of the 86 who were killed in the train wreck perished in the first 35 seconds after the collision. Then, the wreckage caught on fire. Among the dead were Arthur Dierckx and Max Nietzborn of the Great Dierckx Brothers, a strongman act, and Jennie Ward Todd of The Flying Wards. There were also 127 injuries.
....

Further reading

Holbrook, Stewart H. (1947) The Story of American Railroads, published in New York City.

Chills without thrills: Hammond circus train wreck of 1918 recalled in new book

By Philip Potempa [e-mail], [phone] Dec 6, 2014



Scattered debris from the wreckage of the circus train wreck of 1918 is seen scattered throughout the vast area of the rescue and recovery acreage along the railroad tracks in Hammond.

Provided by Hammond Public Library



In the early morning of June 22, 1918, a train wreck in Hammond left hundreds injured or dead. The collision is the focus of "The Great Circus Train Wreck of 1918," written by Richard M. Lytle.

Provided by Richard M. Lytle

A PAGE FROM OUR PAST

PFOP: Circus train wreck takes life of local aerialist Jennie Ward

Bill Kemp Jun 17, 2018

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the horrific Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train wreck, one of the deadliest in U.S. history. On June 22, 1918, outside of Hammond, Ind., a Michigan Central Railroad locomotive pulling empty Pullman passenger cars barreled into the back end of an idling circus train, killing more than 80 performers, trainers, roustabouts and other “comrades of the big top.” ... The dead included Jennie Ward of the Flying Wards, one of the more successful aerialist troupes to emerge from the circus hotbed of Bloomington. Bessie Katrenke, a newcomer to the Wards, also perished in the collision. Survivors from the troupe included Jennie’s husband, Alec Todd, her brother, Eddie Ward, and Eddie’s wife, Mayme.

By the early 20th century, Bloomington had earned a national reputation as a training ground for aerialists, with well-known acts including the La Vans, Concellos, Fishers, LeMars and Valentinos/Valentines. Bloomington, in fact, was once dubbed the “Trapeze Capital of the World.” ... The Wards, unlike some of the aerialist troupes with local connections, were Bloomington born and raised. The Ward barn on Emerson Street (later the site of the Grand Hotel restaurant) was built in 1915 expressly to train aerialists and acrobats.

In the late spring and summer of 1918, the Wards were “flying” for Hagenbeck-Wallace, one of the larger and more popular circuses of its day. In the early morning hours of June 22, 1918, a Central Michigan engineer operating an unoccupied passenger train had fallen asleep in his cab, and in doing so failed to heed the warnings from at least one automatic signal and a circus train flagman.

The Central Michigan locomotive and its steel-frame Pullman passenger cars barreled into the circus train, crumpling or “telescoping” four older, flimsier wooden coaches. The circus train cars were lit with oil or gas lamps, which quickly turned the wreckage into a fiery charnel house. ... The final death toll is usually listed at 86 souls, though accounts vary. Some 200 others were injured.

[Hela]

1. You can visit the gravesite at Showmen's Rest

It's in Forest Park, Illinois.



It started as a mass burial site for victims of that train wreck, but many other circus performers are buried there now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showmen%27s_Rest

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Old circus wagon helps honor century-old train crash victims

AP

Old circus wagon helps honor century-old train crash victims

Jun 15, 2018



In this June 1918 photo, many of the deceased who were killed in the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train wreck near Hammond, Ind. are buried at Showman's Rest in Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Ill. The Hagenbeck-Wallace circus had just finished two shows in Michigan City, Ind., and was heading to Hammond when an empty train barreled into the circus train on June 22, 1918. (Chicago Tribune via AP)

Chicago Tribune

PERU, Ind. (AP) — An old circus wagon built and housed in northern Indiana has been featured in an Illinois ceremony for a century-old train crash that killed 86 performers.

The Kokomo Tribune reports the Sig Sautelle bandwagon was used in the Thursday memorial in Forest Park, Illinois. Attendees gathered at the cemetery where victims were buried to mark the 1918 crash that also injured more than 100 people with the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus.

The bandwagon is housed at the International Circus Hall of Fame outside Peru, Indiana, the city where it was built. Peru also had been the headquarters for the circus, once the United States' second largest.

Circus Historical Society member Bob Cline, who helped load the wagon Wednesday for its trip, says it was appropriate for it to be part of the ceremony.

———

Information from: Kokomo Tribune, http://www.ktonline.com

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Flashback: Circus graveyard: Showmen's Rest and the Hagenbeck-Wallace tragedy of 1918

http://www.trbimg.com/img-5b184fb3/turbine/ct-hagenbeck-wallace-a-0814-jpg-20160812/750/750x422

The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train wreck killed at least 86 and injured 127 on June 22, 1918, near Hammond. The circus had just finished two shows in Michigan City, and was heading to Hammond when an empty train barreled into the circus train. Many of the deceased are buried at Showmen's Rest in Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Ill. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

Ron Grossman • [link:[e-mail]|Contact Reporter]

August 12, 2016 4:25 PM

Sometimes the living have to guess where the departed wanted to be buried. Under a 1943 headline, "Final curtain finds Curly in the big time," the Tribune reported the death of sword-swallower Curly Brown in a skid-row hotel on South State Street.

When no one claimed his body, Brown seemed destined for a potter's field grave. ... But the Showmen's League of America voted to give Brown a small measure of recognition, even though he wasn't a member. His remains were brought to a cemetery in Forest Park where hundreds of circus performers are buried. That section of Woodlawn Cemetery was what the Tribune once called "a sort of Valhalla for distinguished members of the outdoor showman's profession." ... Of Brown's funeral, the Tribune noted: "Pallbearers will be clowns, performers, press agents and bill posters who remember Curly as one of the best sword swallowers of them all."

In that west suburban cemetery, five granite elephants keep watch over Showmen's Rest, the name given to the large plot maintained by the Showmen's League of America. The first to be interred there were victims of one of the worst disasters in circus history, the 1918 train wreck of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. The more recent graves are of those who once traveled with circuses and carnivals and wanted to lie alongside their fallen comrades. Among them was Alexander Sopenar, a showman whose remains were brought back to Showmen's Rest after he was killed in action during World War II.

The tragedy that marked the beginning of Showman's Rest took place the night of June 22, 1918. The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the nation's third-largest, was traveling on a pair of trains to an engagement in Hammond. The first train carried the show's animal acts and arrived without incident. But at 4 a.m., the second train — in which roustabouts, performers and their families were sleeping — was being moved to a spot near Gary so a mechanical problem could be addressed. The last cars were still on the mainline track when a passenger train plowed into them.

[cyclonefence]

3. I'm confused

A couple of the stories say it was a freight train, one at least says it was a passenger train that hit the circus train from behind. Most of the stories say the engineer of the second train was asleep. My grandfather was a steam locomotive engineer (killed in a boiler explosion in 1953) and he told me that there was a "dead man's switch" on the throttle which would cause the train to stop if the engineer let go of it. It's hard to see how a sleeping man could hold a switch down.

The question of freight v. passenger is important because freight trains were permitted to travel a lot faster than passenger trains.

Thanks for posting this--first time I heard of this terrible accident.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. It's easy to install a dead man's pedal in a diesel or an electric locomotive.

It's not so easy with steam. How do you get it to override the throttle or the reversing gear? On steam locomotives, the throttle and reversing gear were strictly mechanically actuated. On diesels or electrics, there's an electric or pneumatic circuit that can be interrupted.

On steam, the pedal would have to be connected to the air brake line. The best you could hope for is that the brakes would apply upon the actuation of the pedal. The throttle would still be in its position. If the train brakes applied, the drivers would grind through the rails. If the engine brake applied, the drivers would grind through the brake shoes. I can't see that the steam supplying the cylinders would be diverted.

Anyway, this was in 1918, and there might not have been a dead man's pedal, even if the technology existed.

I recall a cab ride I was on once. As the (freight) train was preparing to depart, the engineer reached into his grab bag, pulled out a short replacement section of air hose, and wedged it between the dead man's pedal and a nearby metal part. The pedal is located on the cab floor. Wedging the hose against the pedal kept the pedal on.

You'll catch the typo about freight train versus passenger train speed.

Thanks for writing.

[cyclonefence]

5. You're right

In 1918 there probably wasn't a dead man switch. And your mention of the foiling of the pedal's function reminds me of my grandfather's attitude toward what he believed to be unnecessary interference with the way he did his job. The dead man switch/pedal was a sore point in my family. My grandfather's accident was one of, if not the, last explosion of a steam engine in the country (you can read about it in Wikipedia under 2-6-6-6; Wilbur Anderson was my grandfather). The C&O, which did not want to accept responsibility for a faulty water gauge, pressed the theory that my grandfather might have had a heart attack, which caused the accident, but the presence of the dead man's switch put the kibosh on that. The Interstate Commerce Commission agreed that the fault lay with the C&O.
Fucking murderers.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Oh, I know that one. It was the 1642. The boiler explosion occurred right in front of CW Cabin,

on the western edge of Hinton, West Virginia.

http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/C&O/C&O%20ETTs/C&O%20Hinton%20&%20Huntington%20Divs%20ETT%20%23153%204-24-1966.pdf

The ICC account can be found here:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=77784

[cyclonefence]

7. Yeah--I have the original (carbon) of the ICC report

that was given to my grandmother. I was seven years old, and W. H. Anderson was the person I loved most in the world.

Edited to add: the last known words my grandfather spoke were in answer to a man as he was filling the boiler, who asked, "What did they do about that gauge?" "Not a goddamn thing."

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. It took only two weeks before there was a wreck even deadlier. That anniversary is coming up next.

Curious Nashville: Remembering America’s Deadliest Train Crash

By BLAKE FARMER • JUL 10, 2017

Even many Nashville natives don't know about the head-on train crash at Dutchman's Curve on July 9, 1918. It killed 101 people — mostly African Americans — and by most counts remains the deadliest train accident in American history.