Circus life - and death - depicted in new exhibit and book signing
By Gayle Faulkner Kosalko Times Columnist nwitimes.com
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The art exhibit "Life's A Tightrope" will open to the public from 6:59 to 9 p.m. Friday at Studio 659, 1314-119th St., Whiting, Indiana. Admission is absolutely free, and the gallery will be serving fun circus refreshments and maybe even give visitors a chance to "step right up" and play a game. It's definitely the greatest show on 119th Street.
Continuing the circus theme, author and historian Richard Lytle will talk about another circus, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, as he lectures at a book signing for his book "The Great Circus Train Wreck of 1918: Tragedy on The Indiana Lake Shore."
This event will be held at 1 p.m. March 10 at Studio 659. Copies of the book will be available for $20. And the studio's exhibit will make the perfect, if not eerie, background for the book signing.
The 1918 train wreck has been called one of the worst in U.S. history. More than 80 people were killed and another 127 injured.
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train was coming to Hammond for a performance at 4 a.m. on that fateful day, June 22, 1918 when it is said that an empty troop train came barreling down the tracks, piloted by an engineer who had fallen asleep.
The troop train smashed into the back of the circus train, which was carrying about 400 performers and roustabouts. The troop train demolished three of the cars before it finally came to a stop.
The horror continued as the train cars caught fire and those who had made it through the original wreck were trapped and burned to death.Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/whiting/circus-life---and-death---depicted-in/article_69c7d4aa-741f-5a3d-a863-3e89720935cf.html#ixzz1nxd4aHAQ
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