Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-08-18
SHOW TRAIN WRECK
OVER SCORE OF PEOPLE KILLED
AND FIFTY HURT.
Circus Trains Collide at Durand, Mich,
and Men AMI Animals Perish-wal-
lace Brothers Show in Terrible Ae-
cident-Air Brakes Fail.


Twenty-Five persons were killed and
about fifty injured in a wreck on the
Grand Trunk road half mile from
Durand, Mich. Friday. One section of
Wallace Brothers circus train crashed
into the other. The dead were men con
nected with the show and employees of
the Grand Trunk Railroad, ON which the
terrible wreck occurred. Failure of the
air brakes on the rear train to work
caused the collision.
The scene in the Grand Trunk yards
after the collision was appalling. The
wreckage of the engine and four ears
was strewn about and piled high. while
the shrleks OF the injured victims and
the believing of the frightened animals
could be heard above the hiss of escap-
ing steam and the excited shouts of the
rescuers. 1t was some hours before all
the injured were rescued from the wreck
ed cars. Some of them were in terri
bic agony. Some of the bodies were
crushed and mangled so that Identified
ton was difficult.
1t is customary to send number of
special men with circuses and that ac-
counts for the presence of the road otii-
GERS who were killed.
Air Brakes Cause Crash.
One elephant, two camels and a 81 900
bloodhound were killed in their cages
and many Of the other animals were in
jured.
The cause of the collision was the air
brake on the second train getting out of
order and failing TO work when the en-
gineer saw the red light of the first train
which had come to u standstill
The Wallace circus travels on two
trains In each train there are about
thirty-five cars. The circus Thursday
exhibited at Charlotte. Friday it was
to have given an exhibition at Lapeer
The route the circus WAS travelling was
the Grand Trunk main line
The two trains left Charlotte about
midnight, or perhaps a little later Ac-
cording to the rules of the railroad the
second train kept half an hour behind
the first train. When the first train
reached the Durand yards, half mile
from the depot, it stopped AS the rules
require a red lantern was promptly hung
ON the rear end of the last car
When the second train came along, in
half an hour, the first train was still on
the main track in the yard The red
danger signal on the last car was burn
ing clearly. The engineer on the sec
ond section admits that he saw the red
light in time TO have stopped his train
before it reached the first train if the air
brakes had worked all right But the
air brakes refused to respond
The engineer could do nothing to check
train and it crashed without any
check into the first train. and seven cars
rear cars Of the first train and forward
cars of the second train. in which many
people were sleeping totally
wrecked
The scene after the first crash was ter
rible. Nearly every one in the train was
asleep and the cries Of the wounded and
dying as they awoke from their sleep
were horrifying In the ears just ahead
were the animals and their keepers. Some
Of the cars were partially demolished set
ting loose the animals.
People killed in the passenger coach
consisted mainly of the show drivers and
few performers. They were all men.