Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-08-08
DID AIR BRAKE FAIL 2.
Circus Train Wreck Causes
 Twenty-three Deaths.
MANY BODIES. STILL UNIDENTIFIED.

SMoNA OVUAAAe 4SA11A ON1UEN11 HI tUDs Engineer Is Blamed For Not Seeing
 Danger, Signals and Stopping tha
 Train-RaiIroad Manager Says Brakes Were In Good Order. DURAND. Mich, Aug. S.-An air brake on the second section of Wallace Bros. circus train refused to work in the Grand Trunk railway yards, caus- ing collision between the two sec tions, in which twenty three persons were Killed and about thirty injured. Two of the injured died at the hos pital. Seven of the dead are unidenh- ded. &S
 The circus travels in two trains of about thirty five cars each. After the exhibition at Charlotte the two trains left for Lapeer over the Grand Trunk road, the second section leaving half hour after the first It was a quarter to o'clock when the first section pull ed into the west, end of the Grand Trunk yards here. A red light was hung on the rear car to stop the sec 0nd section.
 Engine Driver Propst of Battle Creek, who was running the engine of the rear train, says he saw this light and applied the air brake. To his horror it refused to work. He reversed his en- zine, but the momentum of the heavy train behind was. too great, and, with a crash which aroused all of the town near the yards the two trains met. Three cars of the stationary first sec tion were teiescoped and the engine and five cars were demolished. The rear of the first section was caboose, in which the trainmen were sleeping, and the next two were filled with sleep ing circus employees.
 The greatest loss of life was in the caboose. One of the wrecked cars of the second section was occupied by five elephants and several camels One of | the elephants and two .camels were killed outright, while the other anil mals and their trainer escaped. With the exception of this car none of the menagerte was wrecked, the other de- 1 mo1ished cars containing canvas and wagons. k1a k@ The dead, many of them so terribly 1 mansled that Identification seemed well nigh impossible, were carefully laid on the greensward short distance from the wreck By o'clock corps of twelve physicians was operating on the injured and dressing their wounds fin the temporary hospital More than twenty Of the injured were fastened and pinned down in the wreckage so that they had to be chopped and pried 1 out. '+a hi f'ss Their moans and cries were pitiful and spurred the wreckers on to re- doubled efforts It was late in the morning before all had been extricated and removed to the hospital.
 l / All of the animal cars were unload ed and the cages removed to neighbor- l ing fields where the animals could get air and quiet down after the excite ment
 l Tn discussing the, question of respon- 1 sibility for the horror the railroad off, cfa1s unhesitatfngly. lay 1t to Engineer l Probst of the second section Of the ! train whose home is in Battle Greek. ] Probst says that the air brake on his train refused to work, but the officials declare that be could have stopped the train in time to have, avoided serious | GOASCdACuEeS. SFS44EIul <HtAnaSC1 Hse FGAs McGuigan said: s~
 .1t.Probst knew that he was coming into yard where trains usually stand and take on coal and water The rules say plainly that engineers shall ap- pr0ach such yards with their trains under control. A brakeman sent back by the first train warned him of the danger three-Quarters of mile before 1 he got to the standing section. For nearly half a mile before he got tose,e first train the track is straight and clear, and he should have been able to see the red light on the back of the l train ahead in time to stop his train. Of. course he, like any one else, will try to avoid such dreadful responsible 1 ity.''
 The official report on the accident is- sued by Superintendent Brownlee de clares positively that the air brakes have been tested since the accident and found to be in perfect condition, and 1 there is evidence that they were not applied.
 One of the officials in discussing the accident and it's causes said he believed that Engineer Probst had exhausted
 his air in checking his train several times between Lansing and Durand
 and failed to again charge his tank. The head brakeman and fireman, who
 were on the engine, bear out Engineer
 Probst's statement that the brakes re- fused to work
 The Pullman car that brought the in
 jured from the scene of the wreck was
 pitiful sight when it pulled into De- 'troit. The interior looked like battle
 field after fierce encounter. Suffer ing men lay in every imaginable pos
 ture in the berths swathed in incrim-
 soned bandages that bore silent wit
 ness to their wounds. Moans and sti- fled cries told the story of their agonies.
 Folsom Fugitive Captured.
 AUBURN, Gal, Aug. S.-Albert Sea-