The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-08
FAULTY AIR BRAKE
CAUSES e DEATHS
Two Sections of Circus Train
Crash Together and Iowa
Men Are Victims.


brake on the second section of Wal
lace Bros. circus train refused to work
in the Grand Trunk railway yards here
early today, causing a collision be-
tween the two sections. in which
twenty three people were killed and
over dozen injured The dead:
JAMES TOFFELMIERE. Orient, Ia.
JAMES MCCARTHY. trainmaster
Grand Trunk road.
A. w. LARGE, special officer Grand
Trunk.
JOHN PURCELL. boss canvas man.
LAFE LARSON. -horse-team
driver.
G. THOMAS, member of stake and
chain gang.
| HARRY ST. CLAIR, reserved seat
man.
JOHN LEARY. boss of ring stock
ANDREW HOYLAND canvas man.
FRANK THORP, trainmaster of cir
Gus train
ROBERT RICE, harnessmaker.
GEORGE SMITH, blacksmith.
CHARLES SANDS. driver.
JOE WILSON.
w. ]. MCCOY, canvas man. with side
show
EDWARD YORK.
SEVEN UNKNOWN MEN.
The injured include E. J. Connolly,
Emmetsburg, Iowa; w L. Cone, Du-
buque, Iowa, and John Collins, Des
Moines, Iowa.
The circus travels in two trains of
about thirty-five cars each. After last
nights exhibition at Charlotte, the two
trains left for Lapeer over the Grand
Trunk road, the second section leaving
| a half hour after the first. 1t was 3:45
O'clock when the first section pulled
! into the west end of the Grand Trunk
| yards here. A red light was hung on
the rear car to stop the sectio nsection.
Engineer Probst. of Battle Creek.
who was running the engine of the
| rear train, says he saw this light and
applied the air brake. 1t refused to
work. He reversed his engine. but the
| momentum of the train behind was too
great and the two trains met. Three
cars of the stationary first section were
telescoped, and the engine and five
cars of the moving train were demol-
ished. The rear car of the first sec
ton was a caboose, in which the train
men were sleeping, and the next two
| were filled with sleeping circus en-
| ployes. The greatest loss of life was
in the caboose. One of the wrecked
| cars of the second section was occu-
| pied by five elephants and several cam
| els. One of the elephants and two
| eamels were killed outright With the
4 exception of this car. none of the me-
| nagerie was wrecked.
| The escaping steam and screams and
cries of those pinned in the wreck
made horrifying spectacle. The fire
| whistle was sounded and the whole
| town was aroused. The rescuers could
| see unfortunates through the tangled
| wreckage and went to work without
| waiting for tools to eXtricate them. A
| Wrecking crew was on the scene in a
few minutes. bringing tools and equip
| ment. All the physicians and trained
| nurses in town We're sent for and those
| in nearby places were rushed to the
| scene on handcars.
| The Hotel Richelieu was converted
| into a temporary hospital. When the
| Wrecking train crews had finished
! pulling to pieces the tangled and
| broken cars, seventeen dead men were
! lying on the grass awaiting removal to
| the morgue. A majority of them were
killed while asleep. The circus per-
formers were on the rear of the NOV
| ing train and escaped injury. Wallace
| Bros. say that their loss will be
heavy
Engineer Probst remained at his
post, vainly trying to get the brake to
work, until his train was within less
than 100 feet of Train No. /. Then he.
too, jumped, when death was immi-
nent. He was of course shaken up,
but not badly. More than twenty of
the injured were pinned down in the
Wreckage so that they had to be chop
| ped and pried out.
Many of the injured were taken to
Detroit for treatment
The railroad officials unhesitatingly
| lay the responsibility to Engineer
! Probst. They declare that he could
have stopped the train in time to avoid
serious consequences. General Man
ager F. H. McGuigan said this after
noon:
"Probst knew that he was coming
! into a yard where trains usually stand
and take on coal and water. The rules
say plainly that engineers shall APP
proach such yards with the trains I'M
der control A brakeman sent back by
the first train warned him of the dam
ger three quarters of a mile before he
got to the standing section"
The official report on the accident
declares positively that the air brakes
have been tested since the accident and
| found to be in perfect condition and
there is evidence that they were not
| applied One of the officials said he
| believed that Engineer Probst had ex-
hausted his air in checking his train
! several times between Lansing and
! Durand and failed to again charge his
! tanks. The head brakeman and the
| fireman who were on the locomotive
| bear out Engineer Probst's statement
| that the brakes refused to work.