American railways went through what could be called sort of a golden age between the 1870s
and around the turn of the 20th century. Total American railway mileage increased from around
163,000 miles in 1890, to more than 193,000 miles by the turn of the century as railroads took in
more than a billion dollars in annual revenues, and employed more than three-quarters of a million
workers. And one of the results of the growth of American rail that you might not have thought of
was the growth of American circuses who could use those rails to transport their equipment,
and animals, and performers around the country to perform underneath the big
top. But that combination of circuses, and rails came tragically together in the early
morning hours of June 22nd 1918, outside the small town of Hammond Indiana. The Hagenbeck
Wallace Circus train accident of 1918 represents one of the most tragic forms of forgotten history,
because many of the victims of the accident could not be identified, literally lost to history. And
yet the victims of the deadliest circus train accident in history deserved to be remembered.
The modern idea of a circus is generally attributed to have been started by Englishman
Philip Astley around 1768. A former cavalry man, Ashley added a unique innovation to the pastime
of trick riding having the riders perform inside a 62 foot diameter circular stage,
or ring. This allowed a better view for the audience, and also allowed the riders to take
advantage of centripetal force. Originally, Ashley hosted outdoor performances, but eventually built
numerous indoor arenas in England, Ireland, and France, and included a number of different kinds
of Acts. Acrobats, jugglers, stage magicians, and clowns have performed for centuries, but Ashley
was the first one who put them into an integrated performance inside the ring. Scotsman and trick
rider, John Bill Ricketts brought the idea to the United States, giving the nation's first circus
performance in 1793. Ricketts circus was popular with at least one important American fan from the
time. George Washington, who gave Ricketts his white horse named Jack that he had ridden during
the Revolutionary War, in which Ricketts exhibited as a sideshow. Circus owner J. Purdy Brown then
revolutionized the traveling circus with the addition of a large canvas tent in 1825. This
allowed traveling circuses to give more regular performances under the famous Big Top. Traveling
circuses became one of the most popular forms of American entertainment in the 19th century,
and were in many ways, the beginning of American pop culture. Clown Dan Rice was in his time,
the most famous person in the nation. Counting among his acquaintances, Zachary Taylor,
Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee, and President Abraham Lincoln. Nearly forgotten today,
Rice has been described by one biographer as, The Most Famous Man You Never Heard Of.
But circuses really found their footing when they went from moving a few miles a day in wagons,
to transportation by train. The first circus in America to travel by train
was Den Stone Circus in 1854. But it was in 1872 that legendary showman PT Barnum
and his associates developed methods to easily load circus wagons onto trains,
and that revolutionized the industry, and created the model for the American railroad circus.
The combination of circuses and trains made sense. Trains were ubiquitous in the United States,
and excelled at hauling heavy cargo. Trains allowed circuses to be truly national shows.
Quickly Barnum realized that owning his own cars was more economical, and safer
than using the carrier's cars, and the circus own train became the norm. By the early 1890s,
seven major circuses traveled by rail, ranging in size from 20 cars to the 65 card train of the
Barnum & Bailey Circus in the United States. Among the many circuses traveling the country
by rail at the turn of the century was the Great Wallace shows circus. Livery stable
owner Benjamin Wallace opened the circus in 1884. It was a popular circus headquartered in Peru,
Indiana, and was famous for a 1903 United States Supreme Court decision regarding
its advertising posters, that determined that advertising was covered by copyright.
But the Wallace Circus suffered from several tragic accidents. On July 16th 1903,
the brakes on a caboose failed while the circus train was unloading for a parade in Shelbyville,
Illinois. Several cars from the train rolled down a hill,
and ran into some unloaded boxcars. Then the cars were accidentally struck
by an engine that had been racing to catch them. 25 members of the circus were injured,
with a worker named Leon Stone dying when broken ribs punctured his lung. In addition,
several of the circus horses were injured, two of which had to be put down. Less than a month later,
on August 7th, the Wallace Circus was coming in two trains to perform a show in Durand, Michigan.
As the second train approached the first train, the engineer said that he applied the air brakes,
but they failed to engage, and the two trains collided. The town sounded the fire whistle,
and the entire town was summoned to help pull people from the wreckage. 35 people were killed,
and 121 people were injured, many seriously. And an elephant, and two camels from the circus
menagerie were also killed. To that date, it was the worst accident for a circus train in history.
Travel by rail was not particularly dangerous per mile traveled, but trains, like any travel,
included risks. And accidents could be horrible because of the weight of the trains,
and the high speeds that could be involved. Given the sheer breadth of American rail travel,
and miles traveled daily, accidents were frequent, and deadly. And circuses traveled
enough miles that they would inevitably be involved in accidents. For example,
a 1901 accident where a train from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show collided with a freight
train killed over a hundred horses used in the show. Famed trick shooter Annie
Oakley was so severely injured in the accident that she retired from the show.
These two train wrecks involving the Wallace Circus in 1903 were not by any means the first
circus train wrecks in US history. The first known fatal circus train wreck in US history
occurred all the way back in 1877. The website Circuses and Sideshows lists 56 known railway
accidents in the United States involving circuses and carnivals in history. In 1907, the Wallace
Circus had merged with another circus to become the Hagenbeck Wallace Circus. It was one of the
most popular circuses in the country. Considered the Midwestern version of Barnum's largely East
Coast show. The circus was large, traveling with two trains of 35 cars each. On June 21st 1918,
the circus performed two shows in Michigan City, Indiana, and then traveled overnight to the town
of Hammond 45 miles away. The first train arrived early, carrying mostly workers ready to set up
the Big Top for the next show, and the circus animals. The second train included sleeper cars
carrying the cast, these were older cars made of wood. Early in the morning of the 22nd, the second
train experienced a hot box, a common where an axle bearing overheats. The train pulled off to a
side to fix the problem, as a hot box can cause a fire if not fixed. The train was long, so even on
the siding, the last five cars four of which were wooden sleeper cars full of circus performers,
and workers, were still on the main track. Red lights were placed on the back of the train,
and stop signals sent up the line to warn any incoming trains. Also on the main line was a train
carrying 20 empty pullman cars. It was a troop train that had delivered soldiers to Kalamazoo,
Michigan, and was now empty, headed back to Chicago. The engineer, a man named Alonzo Sargent,
was experienced, having worked for the Michigan Central Railroad for nearly 30 years. But that
night he was tired, having not slept for nearly 24 hours. He was taking kidney pills which could
cause drowsiness, and he had checked the engine window due to wind. Lulled by the rocking of the
train, and the warm engine, he dozed off. He missed several stop signals. Reportedly
a circus worker had stood even farther down the rail. He waved his lantern frantically,
and finally threw it at the locomotive which was going some 25 miles per hour. Newspaper
reports from the time vary as to the speed of the train when it collided with the circus train at
4:00 a.m. on June 22nd. But the troop train was pulling what was called at the time, heavy stock,
cars made of steel, and crashing into cars made of wood. The circus assistant lights manager,
asleep in the last car before the caboose, said that he woke to the sound of splintering wood.
The train buckled in on itself, and then the kerosene lamps which hung in the hallways of the
sleeper cars set the wreckage of blaze. Nearly everyone on the train was injured or killed.
Acrobat Eugene Enos found himself trapped beneath some wooden beams. His wife helped pull him free,
right as the flames almost reached him. He was one of the lucky ones. Joe Coyle Jr. just two and a
half years old, and billed as the youngest clown in the United States, and his brother Howard,
11 years old, members of a celebrated clowning family died along with their mother. Joe Coyle,
their father, survived. The Hammond and Gary fire departments came but there was
little water nearby. A crane pulled in to help move wreckage, but couldn't approach
because the fire was so hot. Survivors sobbed as they desperately searched for friends.
Despite the efforts of the people of Hammond to help, in all, 86 people died, and more than
a hundred were injured in the accident. It was the deadliest circus train accident in history.
Most of the fatalities occurred in the first few moments of the crash. Some of those victims were
the circus's top acts, literally some of the most famous people in the nation at the time.
But others were nearly anonymous. Bodies burned beyond recognition, working in an industry where
many workers were itinerant and might be known by nothing but a nickname. 53 of the deceased were
buried in a single plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Chicago, owned by the Showmen's League Fraternal
Order that had been created in 1913 to support men and women in show business. Of the 53,
only five could be identified. Grave markers for the unidentified say things like,
unidentified female, or nicknames like Smiley or Baldy. 48 souls who are forgotten history,
except for those markers. That part of the cemetery today is called Showmen's Rest.
Accountability for the families of the victims was hard to come by. The engineer
and fireman were criminally charged, but the jury deadlocked, and nobody was convicted. The
Interstate Commerce Commission report also criticized the use of wooden railway cars,
and kerosene lamps. Surprisingly the circus, despite the magnitude of the
tragedy, only missed two shows. Other circuses, in a spirit of camaraderie,
and following the adage that the show must go on, lent the circus equipment and acts,
and the circus continued. The Hagenbeck Wallace Circus continued to play until it finally closed
its doors in 1938, the victim of reduced ticket sales during the Great Depression. The circus’s
former headquarters in Peru, Indiana, now houses the International Circus Hall of Fame.
The golden age of american railroads and american railroad circuses has long since passed. American
railway mileage actually peaked around 1920, and while rails are still important today,
they struggle to compete with all the new transportation technologies that are
available. And eventually the same thing happened to America's circuses, which have seen dwindling
ticket sales in an era when there are so many entertainment options competing for people's
attention. The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, The Greatest Show on Earth,
performed its final performance May 21st of 2017, and closed its doors. The earliest
version of that Circus had gone all the way back to 1806. And yet the golden age of American rail,
and American railroad circuses, deserves to be remembered. As do the victims of
the 1918 Hammond circus train wreck, the deadliest circus train wreck in history.
I'm the History Guy, and I hope you enjoyed this edition of my series of short snippets
of forgotten history about ten minutes long. And if you did enjoy it, please go ahead and click
that thumbs up button which is there on your left. If you have any questions or comments,
feel free to write those in the comment section, I will be happy to personally respond. And
if you'd like more snippets of forgotten history, all you need to do is subscribe.