The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1903-08-14
MANY KILLED IN
A train Wreck
Wallace Brothers Circus Meets Dis
aster in the Railroad Yards
at Durand, Mich.
Two Sections Come Together and
Twenty Three Men Lose Their
Lives and Several Others Are In
Jured, Some FataHy-Wild Scenes
Follow the Crash.

Durand, Mich, Aug. 8.-Twenty- three
men are dead, several others probably
will die of their injuries, dozen are
seriously hurt and the bodies of an ele-
plant and two camels lie mangled as
result of collision here Friday morn
ing between the trains carrying Wallace
Brothers circus The dead were men
connected 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 an appalling one.
The wreckage of the engine and four cars
was strewn about, while the shrieks of
the injured victims and the believing of
the frightened animals could be heard
above the hiss of escaping steam and the
excited shouts of the rescuers.
List of the Dead.
The dead circus men are: John Le-
Guy, Springfield, ILL.,; Andrew Rowland,
New York; Frank Thorp, Dundee,
Mich; Charles Sand, Peru, Ind; Joe
Wilson, Pittsburg; w. j. Mccoy, Co.
lumbus, O.; Edward York, Terre Haute,
Ind; James Toffelmire, Orient, Ia;
Harry st. Clair, Robert Rice, George
Smith, residences unknown; seven un-
known men; James Mccarthy, Battle
Creek, trainmaster Grand Trunk road;
A. W. Large, Battle Creek, special Off
GER Grand Trunk.
story of the Catastrophe.
The circus travels in two trains OF
about 35 cars each. After last nights
exhibition at Charlotte the two trains
left for Lapeer over the Grand Trunk
road, the second section leaving 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 second section.
Engineer Propst of Battle Creek, who
was running the engine of the rear
train, says he saw this light and ap-
piled the air brake. To his horror it
refused to work. He reversed his en-
CINE, but the momentum Of the train
behind was too great and with crash
that aroused all of the town near the
yards, the two trains met. Three cars
of the stationary first section were tel
escoped and the engine and five cars
of the moving train were demolished.
The rear car of the first section was a
caboose in which the trainmen were
sleeping, and the next two were filled
with sleeping circus employees. The
greatest loss OF life was in the caboose.
One of the wrecked cars of the sec
ond section was occupied by five ele-
plants and several camels. One of
the elephants and two camels were
killed outright.
HOrrifying Spectacle.
The escaping steam and screams and
cries of those pinned in the wreck
made horrifying spectacle in the
gray of the early morning, when the
trainmen in the yards aud the aroused
townspeople first reached the scene
The rescuers could see unfortunates
through the tangled wreckase and
went furiously to work without wait
ing for tools to extricate them. A
wrecking crew is kept III the yards
here, and it was on the scene in very
few minutes, bringing tools and equip
ment in plenty. All the physicians
and trained nurses in town were sent
for, and those in nearby places were
rushed to the scene on hand cars.
Taken Out Dead.
Four of the injured died at the hos
pital before $3.50 o'clock. When the
wrecking train crews had finished pull
ing to pieces the tangled and broken cars,
II dead men were lying on the grass
awaiting removal to the morgue. A ma
jority of them were killed while asleep.
The circus performers were on the rear
of the moving train and escaped injury
Wallace Brothers say that their loss will
be very heavy, but have given no esti-
mate of it as yet. This is the second
wreck the Wallace shows have expert
enced within month.