The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-08-30
Burning Of Circus Car.

DENVER, August 29.-The News
Greeley special says the burning Of a
circus car nine miles north of Gree
lev was attended with indescribable
horror. The burned car was next to
the engine. The train consisted of
seventeen cars containing the Anglo
American Circus which left Fort
Collins about midnight for Golden
over the Greedy, Salt Lake & Pacific
roand. The train was nearing
Windsor, a small station near
Geeley, running about Is miles an
hour, Engineer Collepriest discov-
cred the car on fire. He reversed
the engine and threw open the WINS
tie valve. There were sixty men in
the car arranged in three tiers of
berths IN either side. The forward
side door was closed and men III the
hunks were sleeping against it.. The
rear side door was also closed and
the men who awoke found the low
or unoccupied berth next to it
containing rubbish on fire, filling
the car with smoke and cutting of
escape in that direction. The only
means of egress was through a small
window between the al and engine.
John Pine, of Edgerton, Wisconsin,
and Elmer Millet, of Iowa, crawled
through the opening and tried to pass
in water from the engine tank.
Owing to the suffocating gases it was
difficult to arouse the sleepers. Some
were kicked and bruised in q shock
ing manner and pitched out of the
window. The screams of those
unable to get through the blockaded
aperture were terrifying; the glare
Of the flames, from the light of the
burning victims outside, who were
vrithing in agony on cactus beds
caused the wild beasts in the adjoin-
ing car to become frantic with terror,
making the scene appalling. The
performers, who occupied the rear
cars gazed with white faces
upon the awful spectacle. In
the midst of the confusion
two heroic sonls who appeared equal
to the occasion ,bravely cut their way
to Their companions to find them al
ready in the agony of death. Al
bert Lake, in charge of the animals,
and his friend, Kent, walked Owe
the cactus in bare feet pouring buck
cts of oil on the blisters of the unfoI-
inmates and wrapped them in blan-
kets. An old Pacific Coast sailor
named Mcdonald, formerly of Fore
paugh's circus, is terribly burned,
his flesh hanging in shreds. The
heartrending cries of men on the
prairie, tue smothered appeals of the
dying in the car, the roar of the
flames and the bowling of animals
made q scene terrible beyond de-
scription. The odor of roasting flesh
and the distant cries Of coyotes added
to the general horror Of the scene.
The voices of the dying grew fainter
and soon ceased. Meantime the en-
CINE went to Greedy for assistance
and returned with DR.. Jesse Halves,
president of the state medical associ-
alton. Many of the rescued in being
pulled through the small window,
had Their limbs broken and joints
dislocated. Hands and feet burned
of the roasted trunks were
found in one place, and the legs
in another and piles of roasted
shriveled carcasses were pulled out
of the ruins. At daylight a fat-car
carried the charred bodies into
Greeley for interrment. The county
commissioners buried the remains in
a huge coffin seven feet wide and
ten feet long, in the Greeley GEM
etery. Rev. MI. Reed, of the Pres
byteriau church, conducted the
funeral services. The coroner i'm
pannelled a jury, who was unable to
learn the cause Of the fire or any im-
portanct facts, as the managers with
the remainder of the company left
Immediately for Golden t, fill an
afternoon engagement. It is impos-
sible to get q complete list of the
dead as many were engaged but a
day or two and their names are un-
known. The names of the dead as
tar as learned are as follows: Alex.
McLead, Marinet. Wis; Thos. Nc
Colber, Independe1 CO, Ia; John
Kelly, New York City; the others
are known as Sil%verthOrn, Andy,
Frenchy and Frank.
The following is q list Of the suffer-
ers of the circus-car fire now
At st. Luke's hospital in this
city: E. E. Fairbanks, aged q,