Big Menagerie Wrecked

From: The Macon Weekly Telegraph
Date: July 16, 1872

A Big Menagerie Wrecked

Twelve Cages of Wild Beast Let Loose near New Haven - Fall of a Bridge on a Railway Train - Shocking Disaster.

New Haven, July 3. John Robinson's circus met with an almost irretrievable disaster on the New York and New Haven Railroad early this morning. The cages containing the wild beasts, the tents, and all the paraphernalia had been shipped from Bridgeport on a freight train to the city. A passenger car for the accommodation of the performers, drivers, and attendants was attached to the rear of the train.

As the train was passing under a roadway bridge, two miles west of the city, the bridge fell. The falling timbers first struck the platform cars, on which were cages. Twelve of the latter were smashed, and six of the largest were swept off in an instant, strewing the track for several hundred feet with their broken fragments.

The caged brutes thus suddenly freed from their imprisonment broke loose in every direction. The monkeys were the first out, followed quickly by two young lions, and a wild cat. A valuable tiger, three striped Kangaroos and several of the animals were crushed and instantly killed. Most of the Eagles, of which there was a valuable collection, flew away, as also did several of the smaller birds.

The train was promptly stopped, and it was ascertained that four of the circus drivers had sustained severe injuries. Mr. G.N. Robinson, the Treasurer of the Company, had a narrow escape. He was asleep in the ticket wagon, which was smashed into splinters, scattering the money in every direction, but he escaped without a scratch. The loss to the Company is estimated at $50,000.

The rear car and its inmates escaped uninjured. The spectacle at the instant of the overturning of the cages was at once ludicrous and alarming. The monkeys chattering and screaming scampered up the sides of the broken bridge, and seemed to enjoy the fun!

The tigers, Bondin and Dick, after lapping up the blood of several of their less fortunate companions, sprang across the ditch and disappeared. The bear crippled, limped up off the track, scaring the engineer and fireman nearly out of their wits. The conductor, chased by a hyena, saved his life by climbing a telegraph pole at a critical moment.

The wolves dined off the smallest members of the happy family and then disappeared in the same direction as the tigers, and it is feared, after more prey. One of the large rattlesnakes was cut in two, but his companions, a dangerous boa constrictor and two smaller snakes, were last seen shooting off in the grass towards this city.

As it is known that several of the most dangerous and blood-thirsty members of the menagerie are loose, the utmost consternation reigns here. To-night a large party, armed with guns and revolvers, are scouring within a circuit of five miles of the scene of the accident looking for truants.