Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-09-05
AHoRRrnLsA ryArR.

DENVER, Aug. ga News Gree
ley special says: The burning of
circus car nine miles north Of Greeley
early this morning was attended with
horrors. The burned
car was next to the engine In train |
of seventeen cars, containing Orton's |
A merican circus, which left |
Fort Collins about midnight for
Golden, over the Greeley, Salt Lake Il
Pacific railroad. The train was near
ing Windsor, small station near
Greeley, and running about twenty
five miles an hour, when Engineer
Collepriest discovered the car to be
on fire, and reversed the engine
and threw open the whistle
valve. There were sixty men
in the car, arranged in three
tiers of berths ON either side. The
forward inside door was closed aud
men were in their hunks sleeping
against it. The rear side door was
also closed, and the men who aweke
discovered in the lower berths next TO
it, rubbish on fire, and filling the car
with smoke, cutting of escape in that
direction. The only means of egress
was through small window between
the car and the engine. John Pine, Of
Egerton, Wisconsin, and Elmer Mil
lett, of Iowa, crawled through
the opening and tried TO pass in
water from the engine tank.
Owing to the suffocating grass 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 I'M
able to get through the blockaded APP
erture were terrifying. The wild
glare of the flames and the light of the
burning car showed the victims out
side who writhed in agony on the
cactus beds and caused the wild
beasts in the adjoining car to become
frantic with terror, making the scene
appalling. The performers who Oc-
cupied the rear car gazed with white
faces at the awful spectacle.
In the midst of the confusion two
or three heroic souls appeared equal
to the occasion, and bravely cut their
way to their companions, to find them
already in the agonies of death. Al
bert Lake, IN charge of the animals,
and his friend Kent walked over the
catcus with bare feet pouring buckets
of oil on the blistered unfori unaies
and wrapped them in blankets. A
coast sailor named Mcdonald, for
merly Of Forepaugh's show, was ter
ribly burned, the flesh hanging in
shreds. The heart-rending cries Of
the men on the prairie smothered the
appeals of the dying within the car.
The roar of the flames and the howl
ing of the animals made scene terri
BILE beyond description. An odOr of
roasting flesh and the distant cry of
coyotes added to the general horror of
the scene. The voices of the diving
grew fainter and soon ceased.
In the meantime the engineer had
gone to Greeley for assistance, return.
ing with DIR. jesse Halves. president of
the state medical association.
Many of the rescued, on being pull
ed through the small window, had
their limbs broken and Joints dislO-
Gated, Hands and feet were burned off,
and the roasted trunks of the bodies
were found in one place and the legs
in another, and piles Of roasted and
shrivled carcasses were pulled out of
the ruins.
At day light fiat car carried the
charred bodies into Greeley for inter-
ment. The county commissioners
buried the remains in a huge coffiu
seven feet wide and ten feet long, in
Greeley cemetery. Rev. Mr.. Reed, Of
the Presbyterian church. conducted
the funeral services. The coroner en-
panelled a jury, which was unable to
learn the cause of the fire, or any i'm
nortant facts, as the managers, with
the remainder of the company. left inn
mediately for Golden to fill the after
noon engagement.
1t is impossible to get COM
plete list of the dead, as many were
engaged but day or two and the
names were unknown. The names of
the dead as far as learned are as fol-
lows:
Alex. McLerd, Marinette, Wiscon-
sin.
Thos. Mccarthy, independence,
Iowa.
John Kelley, Newark City.
The others were known as Silver,
Thorn, Andy French, Frank, George
and Smithie.
One unknown.
DENVER, Col Aug. 39.-The fol-
lowing is list of the sufferers in
the circus car fire now at st. Luke's
hospital, this city:
Fairbank, aged %; arms, legs and
face badly burned.
Albert Borden, 10, Logan Mass,
arms and face badly burned.
Thomas Golden. II, Detroit, Mich,
very badly burned on back and legs.
N. j. Simmermon, IS, st. Louis,
Mich; arms, legs, back and face fear
fully burned.
Frank Kings, Menomine, Mich; bad
ly burned about the hands and feet.
Michael McGlinn, %, Holden, Mich;
badly burned about face, arms, hands
and back; will probably die.
A number of the rescued agree that
in the car were two barrels of gaso-
line, which were exploded, either by
sparks from the engine or from the
torch with which the men were accus-
toned to light themselves to bed.