Greeley, Colorado
Circus Train Wreck
August 29, 1884
A DREADFUL DEATH
Ten Roustabouts Connected with the
Anglo-American Circus Perish in the Flames.
CRIMINAL CARELESSNESS OF THE MANAGERS.
On the morning of the 29th as the Anglo-American
circus train on the way from Fort Collins to
Greeley, reached a point about ten miles west of
Greeley, a sleeping car containing over sixty
men, mostly canvas and stock men, was discovered
in flames, the result of a gasoline explosion.
The car was much like a common caboose, with a
door at each end and one window. One door was
blocked by trunks and luggage, and the fire was
at the other end thus leaving only the small
window as a means of exit. It was the custom of
the managers to carry in this car so crowded
with human life, two barrels of gasoline which
were used in lighting the circus grounds. It is
supposed that this caught fire from a torch with
which the car was lighted.
The explosion awoke everybody in the train.
The engineer, hearing the explosion and seeing
the bunk car aflame, whistled for brakes and the
train was stopped as soon as possible. The
engine being next the bunk car, the first thing
the engineer did, after the train was stopped,
was to cut loose from the burning car and pull
off down the track. Then, seeing that unless the
bunk car was separated from the others in the
rear the whole train would burn, the engineer,
with the assistance of other train men, managed
to cut the cars loose and the burning car was
towed down the track and permitted to burn up,
as there were no hopes of saving it.
By this time everybody on the train was out
and willing to do what ever they could for the
unfortunate. There was no water in the vicinity,
and to carry water by the bucketful from the
engine tender would not have affected the
ravenous flames, which, fed by the two barrels
of gasoline, soon had the car consumed.
The engineer sped away to Greeley for medical
aid, and the other men at once lent their
assistance to the score of men who lay injured
along the railway track, and who had
miracuiously [sic] escaped from the car. Some
were found unconscious and were revived. Others
who suffered cuts, bruises and broken limbs were
given the best of care. All were placed upon the
cars. DR. HAWES,
of Greeley, arrived on the engine and gave
what assistance he could to the wounded.
Meantime Denver had been telegraphed to for
medical assistance, and
DRS. LEMAN and
FISK proceeded to the scene of the
accident, where they remained attending to the
injured until the train reached Denver.
The scene presented during all the morning
hours was sorrowful in the extreme. As soon as
the bunk car had burned out the circus
performers and attaches forced their way into
the car, and body after body, burned so as to be
unrecognizable, were taken from the car. Then it
was thought that the catastrophe was worse then
it really is. The car was thought to be the
crematory for fully two-thirds of the sixty men
known to be in it. If seemed impossible that a
majority of the unfortunate roustabouts could
have escaped. When the car had been thoroughly
searched and it was found that only the remains
of ten men had been taken out, surprise was
manifested that the fatality had been so small.
About daylight the remains of the dead and
the bodies of the wounded had all been placed
upon the train and the run into Greeley was
made. Here the dead were given over to the care
of the Coroner, and the train, with the wounded
on board, started for Denver, arriving there at
8:45 o'clock. The wounded men were taken to St.
Luke's Hospital and given every attention
possible.
The blame for the sorrowful accident can only
be rested in one place. The managers of the
circus were criminally negligent in carrying
such a high explosive as gasoline in the same
car in which, to save expense, they crowded from
sixty to eighty men nightly. Some of the men
objected to the gasoline being in the car,
knowing its danger, but as circus employes are
treated like so many cur dogs, their complaints
were never given a second thought. The men were
forced to sleep in this car if they got any rest
at all.
The loss to property is not large. The burned
car belonged to the circus company, and the loss
will hardly exceed $1,000. The loss to the
railway company was only nominal.
The names of the dead, so far as learned at
the inquest, are as follows:
ALEXANDER McLEAD,
of Marrinelle, Illinois;
SAMUEL NORRIS, of Piqua, Ohio;
THOMAS McCARTY, of Independence,
Iowa;
a young man named
SILVERTHORN, and others named
respectively ANDY,
GEORGE, FRANK, FRENCHY and SMITHY.
Alamosa Journal Colorado 1884-09-04
Submitted & transcribed by Stu
Beitler Thank you,
Stu!
GREELEY, COL., August 30..... The
names of the dead as far as learned are as
follows: Alex. McLeod,
Marinette, Wis.; Thomas
McCarthy, Independence, Iowa;
John Kelly, New York city; the others
known as Silver Thorn,
Andy, French, Frank, George, Smithie
and one unknown.
DENVER COL., August 30. -- The
following is a list of the sufferers of the
circus car fire now at St. Luke's Hospital, this
city: E. E.
Fairbanks, aged twenty-two, arms,
legs and face badly burned;
Albert Borden, aged eighteen, Logan,
Kas., arms and face badly burned;
Thomas Golden,
aged seventeen, Detroit, Mich., very badly
burned on back and legs;
M. J. Simmerman, aged eighteen,
St. Louis, arms, legs, back and face badly
burned; Frans King,
Menominee, Mich., badly burned about the
hands and feet; Michael
McGlinn, aged twenty-eight, of
Holton, Mich., face and hands badly burned.
He will probably die.
The Atchison Globe, Atchison, KS 30 Aug
1884
 Search
for more information on the Greeley Circus Train Wreck
and other disasters in the Historic
Newspapers Collection. The number of
newspapers on line has recently doubled - search
over 1000 different newspapers. Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
Search for ancestors in
Greeley, CO among billions of names at ancestry.com. Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
The Greeley city
and rural directory 1928
Use this
Free trial to search for your ancestors.
|
