WITH 22 TENTS and at least 600 employees, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was among the nation’s top circuses in the early 20th Century. But around 4 a.m. on June 22, 1918, in ONE OF THE WORST RAIL DISASTERS in Chicago-area history, an empty troop train whose engineer had nodded off slammed into the circus train, which had stopped near Hammond. The splintered wooden cars quickly caught fire and before it was over, BETWEEN 61 AND 86 PEOPLE WERE KILLED. The Chicago-based Showmen’s League of America, an organization of outdoor entertainers, offered to bury the dead in a section of Woodlawn it had recently bought. FIVE STONE ELEPHANTS, their trunks lowered in mourning, now stand watch over the crash victims and other show people buried at Showmen’s Rest. As for the show, it did go on; other circuses lent their talent and Hagenbeck-Wallace missed only two performances.
– First president of the Showmen’s League: “BUFFALO BILL” CODY.
– One circus name that didn’t last: THE HIPPOZOONOMADON AND ATHELOLYPMIMANTHEM.
– Rank of Chicago among cities with the most sideshow freaks in residence, according to a 1908 Tribune report: 1
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“To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain and play with it.”
-CHARLIE CHAPLIN
Sources: Tribune archives, Showmen’s League of America, Circus Historical Society.
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nwatkins@tribune.com
