Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Cole Bros. Circus 1946/ Train wreck #2


Ace Donovan is seen cutting a hole in the roof while someone wets down the elephants. My father is kneeling at right, Bloomer English above and "Mysterious Whitey" Lindaman at left.
It just so happened that there was a bridge almost directly over the wreck site which immediately filled up with people who would count and cheer as each elephant was led out.
My mother and I arrived just in time to hear the final cheer. There were plenty of scratches and scrapes but no serious injuries among the elephants however Ted Myers who was riding on top of the car at the time received a broken leg

4 comments:

GaryHill said...

Buckles, is that car filled with mud? Did they loose any elephants due to the wreck? The James Christy Cole Circus opened in Mabank last night and the Plunkett family said to say Hello! Brian Franse??? has the elephants and tiger act, didn't get to talk to him, but did meet the Cannonlady, Jennifer Smith, Really nice little show! Best always, Gary

Buckles said...

What appears to be mud is the back of another elephant headed the other direction. They all survived with a minimum of lumps and bumps.
I forgot to mention that Arky Scott's horse "Circus" was also in the end of the car and made it out fine.

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen Brian Franzen in five or six years. Does he still still work Wayne's tigers?

Buckles said...

When John Herriott and I went to Peru recently Brian had both his elephants and tigers working at the Circus Museum and both acts were very good.