Monday, April 15, 2013

Train Wreck #4


Hand written on the back in red ink:
"The monument of the Great Wallace train wreck victims stands at Lovejoy Cemetery near Durand, Michigan.
It marks the resting place of 8 roustabouts who perished along with 14 known victims.
The section of the Great Wallace train rammed the first section killing 22 persons, 2 elephants and a camel and sent 60 to the Harper Hospital in Detroit.
Train was in route from Charlotte to LaPeer on Aug. 6, 1903."

My records indicate only one elephant lost, "Maude" billed as the world's only "Tricycle riding elephant!"
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 4/15/2013 05:55:00 AM

7 comments:

DanKoehl said...

Yes. If I have understood right, in 1895 their name was changed from Cook and Whitby Shows to Great Wallace Show, and they had 5 elephants. Diamond died in 1898, Prince was strangled in 98, Pilate died 1899 after unsuccesful castration, and Big Charlie was put down 1901? Which only leaves Maude left? Does it mean that Ben Wallace had noe elephants until he acquired the Carl Hagenbeck Circus?

16 April, 2013 02:49
Buckles said...

As my Dad used to say, "This is not the Law as handed from God unto Moses but......

1903 Great Wallace
P.D "Jumbo" Brown Ele. Supt.

1. Robbins Queen
2. Mama
3. Tess
4. Ding
5. Maude
6. Hazel

1904-05-06 Great Wallace
P.D. "Jumbo Brown Ele. Supt.
Wm. Winters Men. Supt.
1. Robbins Queen
2. Mama
3. Tess
4. Ding
5. Tony
6. Ben (male)

16 April, 2013 05:36
Ryan Easley said...

Buckles,
What became of Ben and Tony? They were not included in the new combined Hagenbeck-Wallace herd the following year.

16 April, 2013 10:53
DanKoehl said...

Thanks for your answers, and your patence, Buckles. Going through my files for Ben Wallaces different enterprises, I saw I had missed alot of elephants. Id like to add Ryans question regarding one more elephant; Romey, arriving 1893 at Cook and Whitby Shows. Is this the same Romey, what happened to her?

Bob Cline file her as:

ROMEY
1885 to 1892 - Frank A. Robbins Circus
1893 - Cook & Whitby Circus
No further records found

-In 1895 she is not mentioned with Great Wallace show.

16 April, 2013 13:47
Buckles said...

Ben and Tony were probably untrained and with the purchase of the 15 Carl Hagenbeck elephants were expendable.
In short, I don't know.

16 April, 2013 14:53
adeline said...

Hello,
I am researching the 1903 Wallace Train Wreck in Durand and I was trying to gather as much information as possible. I would like more information about Maude as well as the wreck. Any suggestions?

05 July, 2013 19:14
Dick Flint said...

The August 15, 1903, issues of the two trade papers covering the circus business at the time, the New York Clipper and the Billboard, contain essentially the same account of the wreck. Transcripts for these newspapers are available on the Circus Historical Society website but they are made from microfilms that are not always easy to read and so the transcripts are good only when compared to an original, especially for such things as the correct spelling of names where errors easily occur.
After these trade papers, the best source is likely local newspapers, including the towns from which and to they were traveling.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

05 July, 2013 23:16

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