Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1905 — CIRCUS TENT BLOWN DOWN. [ARTICLE]

CIRCUS TENT BLOWN DOWN.

Ringjinx Bros.’ Big; Canvas Collapse* on 5,000 People. At Maryville, Mo,, three persons were mortally hurt and more than a score seriously injured when the tents of the Ringling Brothers’ circus wer* blown down Monday afternoon Five thousand persons were gathered in the main tent when the storm broke and the scene of panic and suffering that followed the collapse of the big tent cannot be described. Great poles and whole rows of seats came crashing t" the ground, bearing the bodies of spectators —men, women and children —beneath them. Cries of tho injured and the shriek* of fear of those who were not hurt were mingled with the roaring of lions, the trumpeting of elephants and the fearful cries of rage and terror of wild animals in cages or in chains. Twenty cages containing animals were overturned in the midst of the crowd, and the fear that the animals would escape gave new stress to the panic. The great, heavy, wet canvas buried all for some minutes and rendered th* work of rescuing the injured very diffldifficult. The stronger of those in the audience rushed for the exits when th* first crash came and, in their frenzy to escape, rushed between mothers and their children, separated families, knocked down frail women and added to the general confusion and peril of the situation. The most seriously injured were caught under the great center poles of the main tent. Scarcely one of those buried under th* wreckage escaped slight bruises and cuts. Otto Ringling said this was th* worst storm his circu* had encountered *inc* 1809. A hand car, carrying fourteen Italians, was in collision with a work train in the nerth yards of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg railroad, at Dubois, Pa., seriously injuring six of the foreigners, three of whom will die. Tlte collision was the result of a deise fug. An epidemic of typhoid fever prevails in th* town of Nanticoke, near Wilkesbnrr*, Pa. Over 100 cases have been reported to the board of health. The opening of public *chools has been deferred and public funerqls hav* □*•• prohibit**.