One more week before the hand brace comes off - so here is a post from 2011 about the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Tragedy, which happened 95 years ago this week.
Showmen’s Rest is the nations’ most well known cemetery for circus artists and performers. It was created in 1916 when the Showmen’s League of America purchased a plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois for the burial of circus performers, circus hands and circus artists. Five white elephant statues circle the plot, trunks lowered as a sign of mourning. Burials were far between for the first two years, until that fateful morning in June when circus history was changed forever.
Showmen’s Rest is the nations’ most well known cemetery for circus artists and performers. It was created in 1916 when the Showmen’s League of America purchased a plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois for the burial of circus performers, circus hands and circus artists. Five white elephant statues circle the plot, trunks lowered as a sign of mourning. Burials were far between for the first two years, until that fateful morning in June when circus history was changed forever.
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| Wreck of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train |
It
was around 4 A.M. on June 22, 1918, near Ivanhoe, Indiana when the
26-car Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train stopped to cool an overheated
wheel-bearing box. Although warning lights had been set out to signal
that the train had stopped on the tracks, it was struck at full speed
from behind by an empty troop train. Three of the train cars, with
sleeping circus workers in them, were destroyed by fire. Eighty-six
performers, circus hands and roustabouts were killed as a result of the
crash and fire. Many others injured. Fifty-six of the victims were
buried at Woodlawn Cemetery at Showmen’s Rest. The Showmen’s League of
America donated the plots for the showmen’s burials.  |
| Grave Stone for Jennie Ward Todd |
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| Jennie Ward Todd |
Among
those buried were Jennie Ward Todd of the “Flying Wards.” And the
“Great Dieckx Brothers,” Arthur Dieckx and Max Nietzborn.
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| Row of Graves |
Forty
of the markers are engraved as “Unknown” - “Unknown Female, number 48”
or “Unknown Male, number 29”, and the date June 22, 1918.
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| 4 Horses Driver & Baldy |
Two
performers were buried under their show names, ‘Baldy’ and ‘Smiley,’ as
their real names were never known. A few stones are marked only with
the person’s job descriptions such as 4 Horse Driver, June 22, 1918. Contrary to popular myth, NO animals were hurt or killed in the train crash.
The
Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was the second largest circus in the U.S. at
the time. Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey held the number
one position. Many Hagenbeck-Wallace show posters included the line “Presenting The Most Novel Elephant Acts Ever Seen.”
Circus
performers from around the country arrived to help Hagenbeck-Wallace
Circus keep to their performing schedule for that season. All told, the
circus only missed one performance, the night of June 22, 1918 when they
were to appear in Hammond, Indiana.
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| Mt Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Oklahoma |
There
are a few other ‘Showmen’s Rest Cemeteries’ in the U.S. – one is in
Miami, Florida, at Southern Memorial Park. This is the largest of the
Showmen’s Rest Cemeteries, founded in 1952. Another is located at the
‘winter home of the circus’, Hugo, Oklahoma at Mt Olivet Cemetery. And
another is located in Tampa, Florida near downtown.
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| International Clown Week |
It
is true that performers and actors never want to “leave the boards” of
the stage, and at Showmen’s Rest, in Woodlawn Cemetery, that desire is
understood. Each year, International Clown Week http://performforthelove.com/showmensrest/ is
held in early August. A private memorial is held during the week for
the circus performers buried there. Then, on a Sunday afternoon, circus
artists from across the world perform for the public at Showmen’s Rest.
The events include circus acts, death-defying feats, family
entertainment and general “clowning around,” as hundreds of clowns take
part each year. The event is billed as “a loving and festive remembrance of circus artists past.”
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| Showmen's Rest, Woodlawn Cemetery |
As
a theatre performer I can tell you, this is one of the most fitting and
touching tributes any performer could ask for. The old adage, “The
show must go on…” is something every true performer believes. It is
wonderful to see that it still does……at Showmen’s Rest.
