New Delhi: The Hammond Circus Train Wreck was one of the most devastating train accidents in the history of the US. The accident took the lives of 86 people and injured 127 people when a train’s driver dozed off and slammed a circus train. There were 400 performers on the circus train.
How did the accident take place?
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus had a train of old wooden cars lit with oil lamps. It had two train segments, one with animals sent earlier and another with the performers and other members of the circus. The train was nearing Hammond and aimed to take a break there to fix a mechanical problem.
On the morning of June 22, 1918, Alonzo Sargent, an engineer was in control of a Michigan Central troop train’s throttle with 20 empty Pullman cars. The driver knew his train was close to a circus train moving at a slower speed. But unfortunately, he found little sleep in the previous 24 hours. Due to sleep deprivation, eating a stomach full of food and the train’s motion, he dozed off at the controls.
Sargent’s train rammed the rear of the circus train at a speed of 56 km per hour and a report stated that the train simply passed over the wreck. The lamps on the circus trains set the wooden cars ablaze and the flame spread rapidly. Two men present at about 100 feet away at the Ivanhoe signal tower began to make frantic phone calls and brought help.
Sargent was arrested and he refused to testify at any of the hearings after being advised by his counsel. The report of the joint Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and Indiana Public Service Commission stated that the accident took place because Sargent fell asleep. The report also criticized the older wooden cars, whose oil lamps ignited the fire immediately following the collision. Although Sargent was criminally charged, the jury in the trial found itself deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared. Prosecutors did not attempt to retry the case, and on June 9, 1920, all the charges were dismissed.
It is reportedly one of the most devastating train accidents in the history of the US. The accident killed 86 people and injured 127 people when the driver of a train dozed off. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
