The effects of a lack of sleep, several heavy meals, some kidney pills, and the gentle rolling of his locomotive are thought to have caused him to fall asleep at the controls.

At approximately 4 a.m., Sargent missed at least two automatic signals and warnings posted by a brakeman of the 26-car circus train, which had made an emergency stop to check a hot box on one of the flatcars.

The engine left the rails but did not overturn.”[5] Upon impact, the circus train's lamps ignited the wooden cars and the fire quickly spread.

[3] Two men were stationed at the Ivanhoe signal tower, about 100 feet (30 m) from the accident, and phoned multiple people in an attempt to raise help for the victims.

The first on the scene was the mayor of nearby Gary, Indiana, who brought the fire chief, and then phoned all the medical personnel he could.

The fire was so intense that many of the victims were assumed to be some of the African-American porters on the train, until further investigations revealed that they had been severely burned.

Leaving Kalamazoo, followed freight train to Michigan City yard and stopped at signal near Center Street.

Not realizing what had happened to me until within 75 to 90 feet, I awoke suddenly and saw the tail or marker lights showing red on a train directly ahead of me.

The report was also critical of the older wooden cars, whose oil lamps ignited the fire immediately after the collision.

Although Sargent and his fireman, Gustave Klauss, were criminally charged in Lake County, Indiana, following a trial the jury found itself deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared.

[8] The train wreck occurred on a Saturday, and its effects caused the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus's show in Hammond and another in Monroe, Wisconsin, on June 24 to be canceled.