Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1918-06-27
CIRCUS TRAIN }.
IN WRECK; IS
PERSONS KILLED
Empty Troop Train Crashes Into
Hagenbeck Special.
VICTIMS BURNED TO DEATH
Many WelI-knoWn Performers Caught
in Holocaust When Engine PioWs
Through Sleepers at Ivan
hoe, Ind.

Gary Ind, June 24.-Eighty-five
persons were killed and many injured
as the result of wreck west of here
early Saturday, in which an empty
Michigan Central train crashed into
and ripped through the second section
of q Hagenbeck-W Wallace circus special
at Ivanhoe, Ind. Fire broke out al
most Immediately following the crash,
and more than half of the deaths were
the results of burns.
Horror ruled at the scene; women
pleading for their children lost In
one of the four coaches demolished
first by the crash, and brought to ashes
by the conflagration; men begging to
be shot, rather than be left to burn
to death; clowns, their jests turned to
tears, sobbed for friends of the cam
vas they could not find.
Troop Train Hits Circus.
There were something like 800 of
the circus folk on the wrecked train.
The first section of the circus train
had gone ahead to Hammond earlier
from Michigan City, where the circus
| played Friday night. In the first Sec
tion were most of the animals. A sec
| ond section carried about $50 perform
ers and help.
The troop train of "a coaches was
returning empty from the East. 1t
was said to be travelling at speed
| Of sixty miles an hour when it crashed
into the circus train.
Most of the dead were circus per-
| formers of the highest class.
In addition to the circus list of MISS
| ing, Fred S. Whipple of Michigan City,
| division trainmaster of the railroad, is
unaccounted for. He is believed to
| have been a passenger in the circus
train.
Twenty-Four identified Dead.
Twenty-four identified dead in the
Hagenbeck-W Wallace circus train wreck
| at Ivanhoe were recorded as follows:
James Connor, Bliss, Okla, superin-
| tendent of baggage; Verna Connor, his
| wife, wild West rider; Arthur Dericks,
Erietown, Md, strong man; Joseph
| Dericks, his brother, strong man; Max
| Freehand, adress unknown member
of. the Dericks' strong-man team; -
| Barnum, address unknown, eight-horse
| driver; Mrs. Jennie Ward Todd,
Bloomington, H., aerial artist; Eddie
| OevOe, Elks' club, New York city,
clown; Mon McDhu. Michigan equesA
| trienne; Victoria McDhu Barnett,
her husband, buckng horse rider; Will
| lie Jewell, Washington d. G., animal
| trainer; Louise COttrell, London, Eng
| land, famous bareback rider; Mrs. JO-
seph Coyle, Cincinnati, wife Of Joseph
| COy]e, chief clown and mail man; JO-
seph CoylQ his son; Charles Coyle,
another son; Zeb Cattanach, Chicago,
| superintendent Of lights; Mrs. Bessie
| Cattanach, his wife, aerionist; Mrs.
| George Brown, Denver, Colo; Leroy
| Jessup, Toledo, O., ticket selelr;
! Charles Rooney, Chicago, bareback
rider; Henry Miller, animal trainer;
| Earl Michaclberry, Schenectady, n. Y,
driver; Frank Martin, address un-
| known.
! Lantern Hurled at Car.
One story that has reached the ears
| of the coroner is that man from the
circus train ran back far beyond the
| point where the automatic and emer-
! cency signals, should have stopped
| Sergent and waved his lantern fran
| tically in front Of the engine, after
ward throwing it in desperation at the
window Of the cab.
! Neither the engineer nor the fire
man, however, has mentioned having
| seen the lantern or that he noticed 1t
shattering against the side of the en-
| CINE, even if it did not enter.
The property loss to the circus was
| tremendous, in addition to the effect
on the personnel Of it's organization.
Says Engineer Was Asleep.
Hammond, Ind, June 25.-Engineer
Alonzo Sargent was asleep at the
throttle when his locomotive tore into
the Wallace-Hagenbeck circus train
and caused the known loss Of 62 lives
on the Michigan Central railroad at
Ivanhoe, Ind.
This statement was made at the in
quest in Hammond by Charles J. Nc
Fadden the law firm of Winston,
| Strawn & Shaw, counsel for the rail-
road company, after the testimony of
several witnesses pointing to this as
the only explanation Of the wreck had
been given. The testimony showed
that the empty troop train drawn BY
sargent's locomotive was running
about twenty-five miles an hour ins
stead Of sixty as at first reported.