On Monday November 22, 1915, the Con T. Kennedy Circus Carnival having completed a successful engagement during ‘Harvest Festival’ week at the Atlanta Exposition in Columbus departed the area on a traveling circus train with 28 cars. A Central of Georgia passenger train headed to Macon was also departing Columbus, and instructions were sent to the engineer to wait at Muscogee Junction.
Failure to comply with this order resulted in both trains colliding head-on at 30 miles an hour near a bend at Bull Creek, six and a half miles east of Columbus. The engines of both trains were demolished but did not derail. Other cars telescoped resulting in a catastrophic fire. Although passengers on the Central of Georgia were unharmed, a total of 24 people died on the train carrying the circus crew.
Fred S. Kempf and his wife Blanche who operated a sideshow miniature mechanical city called Kempf’s Model City were trapped inside their sleeping compartment. They managed to pass their young daughter through a window to friends who were working to extricate them. Tragically the unfortunate parents burned to death, and four year old Hazel was left an orphan. “I saw those poor fellows pinned in their sleeping wagons and they could not get out,” reported many at the site.
In addition to the loss of human life, two carloads of animals were burned alive.
A funeral cortege travelled from the First Baptist Church to Riverdale Cemetery where the dead were interred. A memorial headstone in the form of a circus tent was erected by the circus community to commemorate the event.
Erected by the / Con T. Kennedy Shows / In memory of their comrades / Who lost their lives / In a railroad wreck near Columbus GA / Nov 22 1915.
We’ll not forget thee, we who stay / To work a little longer here, / Thy name, thy faith, thy love shall be / On memory’s tablet, bright and clear, / And when o’er-wearied by the toil of life, / Our heavy limbs shall be, / We’ll come, and one by one lie down / Upon dear Mother-earth with thee.
The crests and coat of arms that are found in cemeteries were originally flags or emblems for families in the higher social classes of Europe. They were a symbol of status and lineage. Many other crests or shields have a connection to the military or fraternities such as Woodmen of the World already blogged.
CASTLE or TURRET Facta Non Verba means ‘Actions Speak Louder Than Words’.
The motto of the MONCRIEFFE family is Sur esperance which means ‘In Hope’. Spes Durat Avorum means ‘Let The Hopes Of Our Forefathers Endure’.
The motto of the family MUNROE is Dread God. The crest contains an eagle perching within a buckled belt.
The crest of the MACNAB family is comprised of a thistle wrapped in a belt with the clan motto, Timor Omnis Abesto which means ‘Let Fear Be Far From All’.
Aux More Majorum is a Latin phrase used by Legionnaires, it is translated as ‘In The Manner Of Our Elders’.
The Waldensian movement is a Protestant church in Italy. The symbol is a lighted candle flanked by 3 stars and a crown in the centre. The motto Lux lucet in tenebris translates as ‘The Light That Shines In The Darkness’.
This historic Church of Scotland is located on the High Street in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. It is believed that a chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas has existed there since the early 12th Century.
In 1406, Sir James Douglas built and founded a Collegiate Church in the same location. The church and graveyard were located in the centre of town on the north side of the High Street ensuring that no individual living within the parish of Dalkeith was required to walk further than three miles to worship.
The ruined apse and chancel (areas containing the altar and the choir) contained two recumbent stone effigies marking the burial locations of Sir James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton, and his wife Joanna, daughter of King James I.
Considered monuments of idolatry by the Reformation, the apse was abandoned and sealed from the rest of the church by a wall in 1592. Some parts of the building were allowed to fall into decay following the Reformation and eventually the roof collapsed. The old section of the church remains without a roof.
In 1650 Oliver Cromwell and his troops crossed the border into Scotland with the intention of capturing the city of Edinburgh and set up headquarters in the parish church. Soldiers broke open the poor box, set fire to furniture and used the space to stable their horses. The sacristy (a room where vestments and other things of worship are kept) was used as a prison.
In the early 18th century, the sacristy which had continued to be used as a jail became a burial vault for the Buccleuch family (Scottish peerage and local landowners).
The church was greatly altered in 1854, and the walls of the original church were embedded within the present building. A fire which destroyed the steeple in 1885 caused two 300 years old bells to crash to the ground.
The church was restored once more in the 1930s, and in 1979 the church was renamed St. Nicholas Buccleuch.
In 2005, the 21st Earl of Morton unveiled the newly-repaired Morton Monument. The 16th century figures had been carefully restored and looked magnificent. Morton said at the ceremony: “I think this has been a great achievement for all the people concerned in putting this together. It is a great achievement for the people of Dalkeith.”
The Alms Collection House, adjacent to the main gate, is thought to be the only building of its kind: built specifically for the purpose of collecting alms.
In the mid-1830s Roman Catholics emigrating from Ireland settled in the area of Acton, Ontario, Canada where the spiritual needs of the people were looked after by the Jesuit Fathers from Guelph.
From 1852 to 1857 infrequent Masses were held in the home of Matthew and Honora McCann until one day the floor gave way, resulting in some parishioners falling into the cellar. To prevent a recurrence, McCann and his neighbour John Mulholland decided to donate two acres of land to build a proper church (St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church) and cemetery. McCann and Mulholland are both buried here.
This small cemetery located in the countryside on Dublin Line contains many stones that are broken or illegible.
A map at the entrance to the cemetery identifies plots and the names of the deceased buried there.
Sleep on my dear in calm repose Though parted now awhile In yonder realm we’ll join to praise And greet your happy smile. 1872
There are many memorials around the world commemorating those killed by Hitler and his Nazi party during the Holocaust (Holocaustis a word of Greek origin meaning sacrifice by fire.) Most of these memorials recognize mass graves or those killed en masse.
The following gravestones identify individual families who were killed at the whim of a madman during an era in human history which is shameful and abhorrent.
Mielec, Poland
Memorial to the Stroch family.
Early on the morning of March 9, 1942, the transportation of Mielec’s Jews commenced. That morning, all the remaining Jews were marched at gun point out to the aircraft hangers at Cyranka. The elderly, sick and certain prominent people in the community, including the rabbi, were shot. For the next three days, while Mielec’s Jews were deported by train, those remaining at Cyranka were marched around the compound. Any that appeared weak, sick or injured were shot. Those killed during the transportation were buried in a mass grave near the aircraft factory. (from Mielec Through The Holocaust by Howard Recht).
Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris, France For My Dikerman family Exterminated in Auschwitz-Birkenau Moise aged 53, maria aged 52, Abel aged 30 and Regine aged 29
Note: Prisoners being held at Auschwitz were used to build the Birkenau camp crematoriums. In 1942, Auschwitz-Birkenau was a killing center.
Remembering the Kallos family In Auschwitz 28 May 1944 He was martyred for being a Jew Kallos Dezsone Parent Szalpeter Roza 1884 Kallos Jolan 1909 Her husband Lebovits Bela Kallos Jeno 1911 Kallos Helen 1913 They have memories to be remembered
Note: In November 1944 the gas chambers were being dismantled.
Germany and Europe
In 1993 German artist Gunter Demnig had a simple and effective idea to honour those who were persecuted and murdered during the Holocaust. After locating the former residence of a Nazi victim, and with permission of local authorities, he installed a small commemorative cobblestone topped with a brass plaque in front of the residence. The title of each plaque Hier wohnte (Here lived) records the individual’s name, date of birth and death, and fate. The premise is ‘One victim, one stone’. The project which began in Germany can now be found throughout Europe.
A few fateful words which are found on the brass plaques.
Verhaftet : arrested
Enthauptet : beheaded
Tot : dead
Ermordet : murdered
Uberlebt : survived.
Here Lived Fredy Hirsch Circa 1919 Deported 6.9.1943 Auschwitz Flight into death (this phrase is used in cases of suicide) 8.3.1944
Note: Auschwitz was located in South Western Poland
Here lived Ida Arsenberg Maiden name Benjamin Circa 1870 Deported 1942 Murdered On the 18.9.1942 in Theresienstadt
Note: Theresienstadt was a Czechoslovakian camp/ghetto.
Anyone who did not fit Hitler’s model of the perfect Aryan race was routinely arrested, tortured, and eradicated. Those at risk were:
the mentally ill and physically challenged who were viewed as useless to society were euthanized in gas chambers.
homosexuals were segregated to prevent the spread of homosexuality, and were identified in the camps by pink cloth triangles. Nazis interested in finding a ‘cure’ for homosexuality conducted medical experiments on those prisoners.
Jehovah’s Witnesses whose beliefs did not allow the bearing of arms refused to swear allegiance to the Nazi state. Identified with a purple triangular patch they were considered enemies of the state.
Gypsies were considered racially inferior on a level with the Jews.
Jews were considered racially inferior and a threat to German community. The persecution began in 1938. They were identified within the camps by a yellow star on a white band worn on the right sleeve.
Children were routinely killed on arrival at the camps unless they were considered useful to the medical doctors. Twins were subjected to cruel medical experiments.
Location: St. Peter’s Mission, Roman Catholic Church, Trafalgar Township, 9th line, Milton, Ontario, Canada
In 1823 a log church was built on this site to serve the Catholic Irish Immigrants who worked on the original Welland Canal. Some of these families are buried in the cemetery.
There is beyond the sky / a Heaven of joy and love / Holy children when they die / Go to that world above.
The first interment was a 12 year old girl who died from pneumonia in the depth of winter in the year 1825. Her father, wanting her to be buried in consecrated ground, placed her body on a horse drawn sled and traveled south to Milton from Orangeville (approximately 50 miles).
In death’s cold lies sleeping here / A tender parent, a companion dear /In love she lived, in peace she died / Her life was asked but was denied.
