Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1918-06-27
59DEADAND
lis HURT IN
TRAlNWRECK
Hagenbach- Wallace Circus Out
fit Run Down by Equipment
Train With Disas-
trous Results.
WRECKAGE TAKES FIRE
Athletic Stars Among Those
Xilled-Scores Believed to
Have Burned-No Ami
mails Have Escaped.
WRECKAGE TAKES FIRE

Chicago June Zz.--AG 2 O'CLOCK thlS
afternoon the Michigan Central list.
subject to change, showed SO dead and
l15 injured in the Observation-Disclosures
circus train collision. There were II
known dead at Hammond, Ind: seven
known dead at Gary and 1t was said
that S5 dead had been taken from the
debris. but had not yet been removed
10 norgues There were 90 injured at
Gary and % at Hammond.
Fire broke out in the wreckage. and
many Of the bodies We're charred be-
yond recognition. Other bodies are be-
lieved TO lie in the debris.
Hospitals at Gary and Hammond are
filled with the injured. Doctors and
nurses are being brought here from
Chicago.
The wreck occurred at daylight. Ac-
cording TO railroad men the circus
train stopped at Ivanhoe because of a
hot box. Ilasrhen were sent back to
set flares.
Running SO Miles Ar Hour.
The equipment train Was said to be
running at a speed of so miles an hour.
Whether it crashed INTO the circus
train before the signals were set has
not been determined.
The engine of the equipment train
tore its way through four Pullman
ot0SliSo -Ito ~
hundred feet. Practically every car in
the circus train--there We're 24-was
derailed and splintered. Practically
everyone aboard the circus train is
believed to have been killed or injured;
The few who were unllurt worked
frantically in the w~reckage.
Many of the victims We're burned 70
death. shrieking pitifully for halp.
Wrecking cranes that arrived soon
after the crash could not be used Tor
---.- -,N l-an t,-n- - Iva OsGlSn To- L
Among the dead are the wife and
two small children of Joseph Coil, OF
Cincinnati, a circus clown.
Col, was badly injured, buc he tore
hysterically at the wreckase that
pinned down his wife and little ones.
Mrs. Coil apparently had been instantly
killed but the children Were burned to
death, while Coil tore helpless at the
dcDriS.
Mrs. Coil had brought the children
from Cincinnati TO spend q rev days
with her husband.
Star Acrobats Killed.
: Many of the star acrobats asld other
artists of the circus We're aboard the
train and it is believed certain that
practically all OF them were killed or
injured. The circus train was run
ming in two sections. a majority of the
executive staff is believed TO have beer
on the first section, which escaped the
wreck.
Practically all The cars
were attached to the first section. Re
ports that animals escaped were de-
MED.
l.. w. Landman, general passenger
agent of The Michigan Central, said hi:
only explanation of the wreck was tina
the engineer of the train of emptie:
must have been dead at the throttle.
I'm no other way can / account TO
the fact hat he ignored all the usua
danger signals placed by the circu:
train" said Mr.. Landman.
H ran past two block signals, two
red light signals and the usual fuse:
placed between the rails and throw
ing OF a brilliant red light visible 70;
a lorg distance in the darkness. Thii
engineer is missing. 1t is the wors
wreck in the history of the road, l be
1ieve.'
Among those reported missing ar
the Rooney family of bareback riders
the Never family of animal trainers
the Cottrell family, equestrians
Harry La Pearl, Ed Devore and Mar
Many Girls Killed.
Heavy loss in dead and injured !
said to have occurred among the pal
let of 100 girls.
Daylight was just beginning to sho1
when the crash came. Those throw
free from the wreck and not uncon
scious, stood near the wreck in thei
night clothes, helpless, while thei
comrades persisted in the flames. Sur
geons and nurses were dispatched fror
Chicago. Gary, Hammond, Whiting an
other nearby towns.
Seven hours after the wreck eigh
bodies had been taken to morgues an
% persons We're missing and believe
to have been incinerated in the wrecl
which caught fire and burned for hours
One hundred and twenty live injure
persons were taken TO hospitals 9
Gary. Twenty others were taken t
Hammond. Ind
AT Gary it was said that % of til
injured could not survive and at Ham
mond six were reported beyond hope {
Four died at Hammond an
four on the relief train carrying III
jured from Ivanhoe to Cary.
Manager Goldman, Of the shoy
which exhibited under nva at Mich
: billed for Indiana Harbor, Ind, toda
estimated that the death list woul
reach 81.
Trainmen Disappear.
Searclers We're told that the firema
and engineer had been seen since tt
wreck. 1t was reported that the fir
man, before he disappeared. said tn;
the engineer was asleep. 1t was al.
reported that the engineer had bee
seen running across the fields ava
from the wreck.
The engine int tender Of the mo-
ing Cfalll passed COIlptetelS over al
through the wreck. I'he engine left Il
rails. but did not overturn.
Most of the dead showed only supe
fetal injuries and evidently were kill
by s~uffocation or burning.
lrhe circus train was gas lighted al
the gas released by the broken pip
was instantly ignited from the burnil
jets and from the firebox of the loo
motive which plowed through the cal
"A rescue party from Hammond fCul
one woman clad only in night cloth
pinned beneath a rail with her he
between two ties. She was bragg
oft ard when the dirt and sands W
washed from her face she opened n
eyes n soon afterward was found
be unhurt except for a broken nose a
80: hrl,iSo.1 fora $500 5r