The Cursed Circus: 26 Horses Died, Later 8 Elephants Drowned & Then a Train Derailment Killed 86?
Tigers, lions and elephants died in a flood. Then came the deadliest rail accident in U.S. history when a train engineer fell asleep at the wheel. Roadside Memories author Justin Beahm shares the story of the ill-fated circus …
In 1882, Peru, Indiana-based horse trader and animal trainer Benjamin Wallace attended the bankruptcy sale of the W.C. Coup Circus in Wisconsin, returning with seven train cars full of tents, poles, costumes and equipment. Similar auctions in Texas and Chicago yielded a variety of animals and wagons he set about restoring. Two years later, after assembling a roster of the best performers he could find, Wallace and Co.’s Great World Menagerie presented its first performance in its hometown and started touring soon thereafter. The show would eventually blossom into the nation’s third largest circus but is now best remembered for suffering a string of unimaginable tragedies.
By 1885, the Menagerie was a one-ring show traversing Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky by horse-drawn wagon. In 1886 Wallace transitioned to rail travel, coasting into towns with an increasing number of freight and wagon cars carrying his expanding roster of animals, a cookhouse, sleeping quarters for performers, and his array of tents. While the growing network of railroad routes allowed Wallace to expand into a national presence, the show’s base remained in Indiana, where it found home on a 220-acre farm for winter quarters.
In July of 1892, the first blow hit the Wallace show when a train derailment killed 26 of his performance horses. Eleven years and hundreds of shows later in August 1903, horror once again visited the troupe when a train carrying half of the show’s cars failed to stop as it entered a railyard behind the first half, an accident that took the lives of 26 performers, several dozen rail workers and some animals. It was the worst circus train crash on record until 15 years later when the darkest of days befell the plagued variety show one last time.
In 1907, Wallace rebranded his show the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus after purchasing the Chicago-based Carl Hagenbeck Circus. Promoted as a “high-class” family experience, the circus was greeted in town after town by cheering crowds and packed houses. Continuing their unfortunate trend, six years later a flood took out eight elephants, 21 lions and tigers, and eight horses, which led to Wallace selling his show. But the worst was yet to come.
On June 22, 1918, New York Central Railroad #8485, an empty troop transport train, was making a nocturnal trek to Chicago to pick up more enlistees when its engineer fell asleep, leaving the train unattended and speeding along the tracks at 25 miles per hour. Just ahead, hobbled by a problem car at a switchover point near Hammond, Indiana, was one of the long Hagenbeck-Wallace trains, stationary on the same track.
The circus train cars disintegrated as the 150-ton New York Central cut through them like a knife, initiating a fire, killing 86 people and setting a regretful benchmark as one of the deadliest rail accidents in history. The incident ended a nightmarish streak of thrilling highs and harrowing lows for one of the nation’s most celebrated shows.
About the Author:
Justin Beahm writes a regular column for ReMIND magazine titled “Roadside Memories,” where he shares fascinating and bizarre stories of the past that cover circus attractions, amusement parks, enchanted forests, houses of horror, strange motels and so much more. This story appeared in the September 2024 issue of ReMIND. He recently expanded on these stories in the new book Roadside Memories: Beloved and Bizarre Attractions from North America’s Past, Volume 1. To get a signed copy, go to Justin’s website now or order through Amazon.
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