One of the worst train wrecks in U.S. history happened with, of all things, a Circus Train. It was carrying over 400 performers when another train rear-ended it in the dead the night; and they burst into flames. The horrific tragedy happened to the famous Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus at Dutchman’s Curve near Hammond, Indiana on 22 June 1918. The circus train was stopped on the tracks for repairs. The circus train wreck killed 89 performers and roustabouts, and injured over 150 more. How could such a terrible disaster have occurred during the Golden Age of railroads?
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was the third-largest in the U.S., a Midwestern version of the Barnum & Baily Greatest Show. The H-W Circus had some of the most excellently trained animals, well-known trapeze artists, and spectacular equestrian routines. By 1918, the company employed around 250 performers – acrobats, trapeze artists, clowns, and wild animal tamers; not to mention all the roustabouts who kept it going. Circus owner Benjamin Wallace purchased the Carl Hagenbeck Circus in 1907. In just a decade, the combined circus grew into a million-dollar extravaganza, which even owned its own trains.
The circus required two, 28-car trains to transport all the tents, performers, animals, and midway across the U.S. The expansion of railroads in the latter half of the 1800’s fueled a Golden Age for circuses, as well as railroads. By 1900, nearly 100 circuses travelled between U.S. towns and cities. Back then, live circuses were an unmatched spectacle of daring, humor, and shear amazement. When the circus came to town, it was an unofficial holiday, schools and stores were closed and even factories shut down.
“The circus is coming to town!”
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus had just wrapped up 2 successful shows in Michigan City, Indiana. They were now enroute overnight to Hammond, only 45 miles away. The first train contained the performing animals, tents, midway and most of the circus workers. The second train carried the performers and the remaining roustabouts. It was standard to send the animals in the first train ahead of the performers. That way, the animals could be unloaded, penned, and fed. This practice saved all the circus animals, but doomed the performers.
The first train made it safely to Hammond that night without incident. But engineers on the second were forced to stop that train to fix a “hotbox” or overheated axle bearings – a serious problem if not addressed. They were able to pull the first cars off on a side track, but five of the rear ones, including 4 sleeper cars, remained on the main track. This should not have been a problem as the rail line was aware and turned on red warning lights along the tracks.
Around 4 o’clock in the morning on Saturday, June 22, an empty Michigan Central train, led by an experienced railroad engineer, Alonzo Sargent, was rapidly approaching on the tracks behind them. He and his train were headed to the west coast to pick up U.S. army soldiers for The Great War in Europe (World War I). Sargent knew he was following 2 circus trains that were going much slower than his empty train.
As the crew worked, and the performers slept, the empty train came barreling towards them.
The engineer blew past several red stop signals AND the frantically waving lanterns of the circus train’s engineers. All his experience and knowledge was for naught as Sargent’s train inexplicably slammed into the back of the stopped circus train at close to 45 mph. The collision was so loud that farmers asleep in the countryside were startled awake. They dressed and went to see what on earth had occurred.
When the Michigan Central train rammed into the red caboose of the circus train, it splintered the caboose like kindling. Then it continued on into the four wooden sleeper cars, filled with sleeping circus performers. The empty troop train’s massive engine and steel Pullman cars tore easily through the 4 wooden cars as well. Dozens were killed instantly.
Henry Miller, the assistant lighting manager, was a survivor thrown from the wreckage with minor injuries. “I was in the last coach, and was asleep when we were hit. I woke to the sound of splintering wood … Then there was another crash, and another, and another … The train buckled on itself.”
To make matters worse, the circus cars were lit inside with kerosene lamps hanging on the walls. They smashed and exploded, spewing flames across the shattered wood, rapidly igniting the 4 cars. Wherever the oil splattered, the fire followed. Some survivors not killed instantly managed to claw their way out of the debris. Others desperately cried out for help before the hungry fire engulfed them.
All four sleeping cars were completely engulfed in flames in a matter of minutes.
Survivors from the front of the train were knocked out of their berths when their cars jumped the tracks. They climbed outside into the dark night and saw the rear of the train ablaze. They ran back to the shouts and screams of their surviving coworkers. The uninjured survivors risked their own lives trying to rescue their companions trapped in the burning wreckage. One acrobat, trapped beneath the wooden walls, was pulled out by a clown just as the flames were licking his legs. But most weren’t so lucky.
Fire engines from both Hammond and Gary, Indiana rushed to the scene. But delivering enough water to fight the huge fires was next to impossible. The only supply came from the shallow marshes aside the tracks. Hammond also brought in a wrecking crane to dig people out. But it couldn’t be used because the fire’s heat was too intense. The survivors could only stand back helplessly and watch the four train cars burn.
By dawn’s pink light, the burning cars were consumed down to blackened metal wheels and smoking heaps of ashes. The engineer, Alonzo Sargent, and his fireman were uninjured and arrested by local police. Most of the dead were burned beyond recognition. The task of identifying the corpses was hopeless. Some survived the initial crash but succumbed to their injuries at the Hammond and Gary hospitals. Many of the dead were simple circus roustabouts, people who joined the travelling circus doing odd jobs.
The circus kept few records on their roustabouts, most of whom were immigrants.
When reports of the circus train wreck made the newspapers, scenes of unspeakable horror were retold to a shocked country. 89 people were killed and more than 150 injured. Railway investigators believed most victims died within the first minute after the collision. Among the dead were some famous circus performers – wild animal trainer Millie Jewel, “The Girl Without Fear”; Jennie Todd, an aerialist in the Flying Wards; bareback rider Louise Cottrell; Wild West rider Verna Connor; the strongmen Derickx brothers; and the wife and sons of head clown Joe Coyle.
Five days later, 53 were buried in a mass grave plot. As luck or fate would have it, the Showman’s League of America, a fraternal order, had purchased an area of Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, IL, for circus performers. When the coffins arrived, more than 1,500 mourners gathered to pay their final respects. Only 5 of the 53 victims were identified. Most were marked as “unknown,” or under markers like tent man, smiley clown, or 4 horse driver.
The Showman’s League memorialized the mass grave with a statue of a stone elephant, its head and trunk drooping in sorrow. Today, that portion of Woodlawn Cemetery is known as Showman’s Rest.
In the aftermath, families of the deceased struggled with who they should blame. The circus company? The railway? The engineer? All of them pointed fingers at the others. Engineer Alonzo Sargent and his fireman Gustave Klauss were criminally charged with manslaughter. Sargent reportedly had fallen asleep and therefore responsible for the crash. In the 1910s, there was no oversight of train conductors.
Sargent had been awake on the job for over 24 hours, driving trains across the Midwest. A few hours before the accident, he’d eaten a heavy supper and taken some medication. All that, plus driving a train in the dark of night, he dropped into a deep sleep. He had known circus trains were in front of him, but didn’t know one had stopped for repairs. Sargent slept through two warning signals as well as the waving lanterns from the frantic circus train engineers.
At the trial, the jury was dead-locked, and a mistrial declared.
The Indiana prosecutor decided NOT to re-try the case and all of the charges against the two men were dismissed. The Interstate Commerce Commission investigating the accident cited the use of wooden train cars as a contributing factor to the deaths. “We discourage the use of wooden cars on passenger trains and urge the substitution of steel ones. That is all we can do.”
What became of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus? Its owner and the surviving performers decided to continue the show, for no other reason than to honor their dead companions. Despite the physical and psychological toll of the accident, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus missed only two performances in its summer schedule. Thanks to other circuses providing spare equipment and crew, they were able to continue their mid-west tour. The remaining members, and those from circuses from around the country, all pitched in.