Historic 1918 circus train wreck remembered in Forest Park
Tears of the clowns
Tears of the clowns
foto by David Pierini, Staff photographer
From: forestparkreview.com
By Jean Lotus--Editor
August 6th, 2013
Men and women in colorful wigs and giant shoes gathered at a Forest Park cemetery, Aug. 4, to perform clowning and acrobatic acts. Clowns from around the region celebrated the 14th International Clown Week at the most famous final resting place for circus artists: Showman's Rest in Woodlawn Cemetery. Acrobats and jugglers performed in front of the section's five elephant statues, each with trunks lowered, depicting mourning
Death and clowns: For some, perhaps, life's two most frightening concepts.
The group comes to Forest Park every year to honor the victims of the June 22, 1918 Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train wreck near Ivanhoe, Ind.
That summer night, a circus train carrying 400 performers and roustabouts on the way to Hammond, made an emergency stop at 4 a.m. to cool down overheated machinery. Red lights were turned on to warn approaching trains. But the engineer of an empty troop train had fallen asleep. The troop train hit the circus train at full speed, the collision destroying three cars full of sleeping circus people. Others were trapped in the wreckage when a fire broke out. Eighty-six died, most of the bodies unrecognizable.
But the show must go on, and the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus missed just a single performance: in Hammond that day. Borrowing acts from Ringling Brothers and other circuses, they played the next night in Beloit, Wis.
Between 55 and 60 train crash victims are buried in Showman's Rest. Many performers were known only by their nicknames, so headstones read "Baldy," "Smiley" and "4 horse driver." The 750-plot section had been purchased only months earlier by the Showman's League of America.
At Saturday's ceremony, a somber history of the train disaster was read, the Clown Prayer was recited and performers laid flowers at the feet of one of the elephants.
But being "outdoor amusement people," no one could stay solemn for long.
Rubber noses and funny glasses were handed out to children. Clowns Cool Beanz and Jelly Beanz performed an act. The Vagabonds of Glenview's Runaway Circus performed acrobatic tricks, rode unicycles, juggled blue and red pins and balanced cups on strings. Founder Sarah Koshelev is an alumna of Illinois State University's Gamma Phi Circus School.
The memorial gathering is a labor of love, orchestrated primarily by Susan Hooper, or "Sweetie" the Clown. Hooper also attended Gamma Phi and is a member of the Triton Troupers at Triton College. She juggles, breathes fire, walks on stilts and performs on a mini-bike at birthday parties and special events. Although clowning is her avocation, not her career, she brings performers together as a "loving and festive remembrance of circus artists past." The event takes three months to organize.
Woodlawn Manager Ty Woods, who billed himself "the only clown in a suit," said he tries to bring people to the cemetery for reasons other than funerals. Woodlawn provided free hot dogs, beverages and chips for the event.
read more:
