The Wrecked Circus

Criminal Negligence of the Manager Established

The Damage

Louisville, Sept. 26--The inquest on the bodies of the men killed at the wrecking of the Sells’s circus train developed the fact that on the train of twenty-one cars were but four brakemen. Coming down a grade of seventy-two feet to the mile, the train became unmanageable and ran with such speed that the track either spread or something broke and fell on the track, causing the cars to jump the rails. Sells had removed the brakes from the cars to facilitate loading the wagons. Besides the three killed, two or three of the fourteen wounded will die. The Courier Journal’s Lancaster, Ky. special says: About 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, as the first of the three special trains, conveying Sells Bros. show was coming around a curve 300 yards from Paint Lick, the fourth car from the engine, from some unknown cause, jumped the track and rolled down the embankment, followed by the balance of the train in its rear, consisting of fifteen cars. The cars were loaded principally with the baggage of the company, tableaux, wagons, electric light machines and a cage containing a tiger. Several attaches of the circus were scattered along on the train and the destruction to both life and property was fearful. Three men were instantly killed, and three probably fatally injured, and seven or eight wounded. Two of the killed were attaches of the circus, and the third, William Underwood, a boy from Mt. Vernon, Ky., who was stealing a ride on the train. The cage containing the tiger was burst open and the fierce animal turned out, creating much consternation, everyone being afraid to go near until day light, when door was opened and the tiger, which was crouching near by, crept back into his prison and was secured. The electric light and tableaux wagons were completely destroyed. The track was torn up over one hundred yards and cars piled into a confused mass upon each other. The engine, with the three front cars, escaped uninjured, and were immediately dispatched to Lancaster for surgeons and officers. A force of men were at once put to work, and by 5 o’clock this evening the track was cleared, but Sells declined to go on to London to fulfill his engagement tomorrow and will rest at Silver Creek tonight and go to Lebanon tomorrow to fill an engagement there Tuesday. The exact cause of the accident is unknown, there being several reports about it. An official investigation will be necessary.

The Atlanta Constitution (Fulton Co., GA), September 27, 1882

Contributed by Laura Brenner.