1944 — July 6, Ringling Broth./Barnum & Baily Circus tent fire/stampede, Hartford CT–168-169

—<200 Lohr. “Hartford Circus Fire: A 67-Year-old Mystery.” 11-29-2011. “Nearly 200.” --<170 Connecticuthistory.org. “The Hartford Circus Fire.” 7-6-2019. --<170 Lohr, David. “Hartford Circus Fire: A 67-Year-old Mystery.” 11-29-2011. “Some 170.” -- 169 Chertkoff & Kushigian. “Hartford Circus Fire, July 6, 1944,” Chap. 5, Don’t Panic. 1999, p. 54. --“About two-thirds of the dead were children.” --“Of the remainder, most were women.” -- 169 Nat. Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). -- 168 Circusfire1944.com. “The Hartford Circus Fire July 6, 1944.” -- 168 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 332. -- 168 Grant. “The Hartford Circus Fire 1944.” Connecticut Disasters. 2006, p. 123. -- 168 Hartford Fire Department, CT. “Major Fires.” -- 168 Massey and Davey. A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire… 2001. -- 168 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. -- 168 NFPA. U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates By State.” December 2008, p. 21. -- 168 Tucson Daily Citizen, AZ. “Seven Circus Men Held For Hartford Fire,” 1-13-1945, 3. -- 167 NPR. “Remembering the Horror and Heroes of a Circus Fire.” 7-6-2007. -- 167 Publishers Weekly 2000. -- 163 Kimball. “Hartford Circus Holocaust.” Quarterly of the NFPA, V38, N1, July 1944, p.9. -- 163 NFPA. “The Next Holocaust?” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 38, No. 1, July 1944. Narrative Information NPR: “Sixty-three years ago today, one of the deadliest fires in the nation's history struck the circus in Hartford, Conn. Nearly 9,000 people had crowded into the big top that day. “Shortly after the show began, the tent caught fire. It was waterproofed with a mixture of gasoline and wax, causing the tent to be completely consumed in less than 10 minutes. “The fire claimed 167 lives — more than one-third of them children. Maureen Krekian, who was 11 at the time, survived the disaster and recounts the day's harrowing events. “July 6, 1944, was a very hot day. Krekian was supposed to go to the circus with the lady next door and her daughter. Krekian knocked on the door, but they had already left. "I had never been to the circus before, and there was no way that I was going to go home and tell my grandmother that I was alone," she says. "That would never have been permitted." So she ran off to the circus by herself. "I remember somebody yelling and seeing a big ball of fire near the top of the tent. And this ball of fire just got bigger and bigger and bigger. "By that time, everybody was panicking. The exit was blocked with the cages that the animals were brought in an out with. And there was a man taking kids and flinging them up and over that cage to get them out. "I was sitting up in the bleachers and jumped down -- I was three-quarters of the way up. You jump down and it was all straw underneath. "There was a young man, a kid, and he had a pocketknife. And he slit the tent, took my arm and pulled me out." “Krekian's uncle came running to try to find her but couldn't get anywhere near the scene. "I came running out from the circus tent all the way home. I can still see my uncle. He was so mad. You know how you get when you have a child and you think they're lost, and you want to kill them and kiss them at the same time." “The circus didn't return to Hartford until the 1970s, Krekian says, but she never had a desire to go….” (NPR. “Remembering the Horror and Heroes of a Circus Fire.” 7-6-2007.) Hooper: “…charges of involuntary manslaughter were brought against a group of circus employees, who were found guilty.” (Hooper, Brad. Booklist, American Library Association) Kirkus Reviews: “The resulting bad publicity (and nearly $5 million in civil judgments) not only pushed Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey's into receivership, it eventually forced the Greatest Show on Earth to discard its sideshow and abandon the outdoor big top for the gloomy (but fireproof) confines of concrete sports arenas.” (Kirkus Reviews, Kirkus Associates, 2000) Lohr: “Real life mysteries can be enthralling, but unlike Hollywood, some are never resolved. It is those mysteries, however, that cause intrigue and bring out the arm chair detective in all of us. Such is the case of one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States that occurred in Connecticut during a performance of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. “Nearly 200 people, mostly women and children, lost their lives during the inferno and ensuing chaos. Hundreds of others were badly burned or seriously injured. Officials initially deemed the fire a tragic accident -- but was it? “Six years later, a young Ohio man admitted not only to starting the fire but also to his involvement in the murder of four people. “The circus fire, which has been a source of controversy for more than 60 years, occurred in Hartford on the afternoon of July 6, 1944. Records from the time period show that it was a miserably hot day, but the conditions were apparently not sufficient enough to deter crowds of people from attending the circus. Nearly 8,000 people gathered inside the 500-foot-long big top, situated in a field on Barbour St. All were anxious to see the matinee show, which included performances by lion tamers, clowns and trapeze artists. “The Great Wallendas, a group of daredevil stunt performers, were roughly 20 minutes into their performance when circus bandleader Merle Evans spotted flames crawling up the southwest sidewall toward the roof of the tent. Instinctively, Evans directed the band to play "Stars and Stripes Forever," a tune circus personnel had been taught to recognize as a universal distress signal. “Upon hearing the tune, ringmaster Fred Bradna attempted to address the crowd; however, his warnings fell upon deaf ears, and 100-ft. flames were rapidly feeding on the tent's outer layers. "I remember somebody yelling and seeing a big ball of fire near the top of the tent," survivor Maureen Krekian, 74, recounted in a 2007 interview with National Public Radio. Krekian was just 11 years old when the fire occurred. "By that time, everybody was panicking," Krekian continued. "The exit was blocked with the cages that the animals were brought in and out with. ... There was a young man, a kid, and he had a pocketknife. And he slit the tent, took my arm and pulled me out." “Krekian was one of the lucky ones. Others were burned alive, trampled in the chaos or asphyxiated by toxic smoke. The remaining circus-goers were killed when the 19-ton big top came crashing down, roughly 10 minutes after the fire began. “In the aftermath, the bodies of some 170 people were found inside the ruins of the tent. The exact number of causalities is not known, and a handful has never been identified. Of those who survived, nearly 700 were injured. “One of the victims authorities have yet to positively identify is a young blonde girl known only as "Little Miss 1565", named after the number assigned to her at the city morgue. Her identity has been the subject of controversy since the day of the fire. Some believe the young girl is 6-year-old Sarah Graham. Others believe she was Eleanor Emily Cook, a young girl from Massachusetts. A 2005 investigation by the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Lab is still open. “The tragedy was not lost on later generations. "My mother was 15 at the time and had a ticket to the circus that day. A native of Chicopee, Mass., she and a friend were visiting her aunt in Hartford," Anne-Marie Welsh, an Erie, Pa. native, told The Huffington Post. "The day was so brutally hot they decided not to attend at the last minute. You can imagine the horror my grandparents lived through trying to get in touch when they heard about the fire. It took about four hours before they were able to connect by phone. Tough story, one that always makes me grateful my mom was spared." “Officials deemed the fire a tragic accident, resulting from a carelessly discarded cigarette. The day afterwards, five of Ringling Bros. owners were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Four were later convicted, but they were eventually pardoned. In the interim, Ringling Bros. paid out nearly $5,000,000 in financial damages. “Roughly six years after the fire, in May 1950, Robert Dale Segee, a 21-year-old resident of Circleville, Ohio, was questioned by police after a friend of his was picked up for setting a small fire. Segee admitted to setting the Ringling Bros. circus fire in Hartford and confessed to committing more than two dozen arsons in Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio. Arson, however, was just one aspect of his alleged crimes. Segee also told police he had murdered four people, including a 9-year-old girl whom he said he beat to death with a stone. “According to the June 30, 1950, edition of The Milwaukee Journal, Segee told police that for years he had been "haunted by strange fiery dreams which sometimes drove him to crime." Segee provided authorities with details and sketches of his alleged crimes, but authorities were unable to conclude whether his confessions were valid. Doctors who examined him said he suffered from mental illness, and he later recanted his confessions. In the end, he was indicted in only two arson fires, for which a grand jury sentenced him to more than 40 years of prison. “In 1993, state fire marshal investigators reopened the investigation into the circus fire, and detectives re-interviewed Segee, then 63. "We confronted him with his statement [about the circus fire] and he said, 'Yeah, I did say that. But at the time I said it, I was nuts.' He denied it [setting the fire] emphatically," Sgt. James Butterworth told The Hartford Courant. Butterworth also said there was no evidence to either support or disprove Segee's 1950 confession. "I'm not convinced either way," Butterworth said. "There is no evidence that says this is an arson fire. There is no evidence to call the fire intentionally set." “Roughly four years later, in 1997, Segee died, taking whatever knowledge he may have had with him to the grave. Today, the cause of big top fire remains a mystery.” (Lohr, David. “Hartford Circus Fire: A 67-Year-old Mystery.” 11-29-2011.) Publishers Weekly: “As some 9,000 people watched the Wallendas begin their high-wire act on July 6, 1944, a fire started on the sidewall of the big top at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of 6,000 gallons of white gasoline and 18,000 pounds of paraffin; common practice for circuses at the time. In minutes, the entire tent was engulfed in flames. In the rush for the exits, people were trampled and burned--some beyond recognition. In the end, 167 were dead and 487 injured, of whom 140 required hospitalization. The city of Hartford, Connecticut, would never be the same. Stewart O'Nan brings his storytelling ability to the tragedy of The Circus Fire. ‘Several survivors said the one thing they will never forget about the circus fire as long as they live is the sound of the animals as they burned alive. But there were no animals’.” (Amazon.com Editorial Review) “On July 6, 1944, the big top of the Ringling Bros. circus caught fire during an afternoon performance in Hartford, Conn., and quickly burned to the ground. One hundred and sixty-seven people were killed -- most of them women and children -- and hundreds more wounded. One boy saved himself (and hundreds of others) by cutting a hole in the tent wall with his fishing knife. Another man literally threw children to safety before losing his footing and perishing in the blaze. Above them, the tent canvas, which had been waterproofed with gasoline and paraffin, "rained down like napalm" on the necks and shoulders of the fleeing crowd. By the end… the heat was so intense that people died not from smoke inhalation, as in most fires, but by being cooked alive.” (Publishers Weekly, Reed Information, Inc., 2000) Newspaper Jan 13, UP in Tucson Daily Citizen: “Hartford, Conn., Jan. 13. (U.P.)—Coroner Frank E. Healy yesterday held seven officials and employees of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus criminally , responsible for the fire which destroyed the big top July 6, killing 168 persons and injuring 682. “Issued after a six-month investigation, the official finding said the seven "are guilty of such wanton or reckless conduct, either of commission or of omission, where there is a duty to act, which makes them criminally responsible." Healy named the five circus officials who were arrested the day after the. fire and charged with manslaughter. They are Vice-President James A, Haley; General Manager George W. Smith; Boss Canvasman Leonard S. Aylesworth; Chief Electrician Edward R. Versteeg; Rolling Stock Supt. David W. Blanchfield. He also named William Caley and Samuel Clark, boss seatmen, who, he said, were supposed to have been on the lookout for fires but were absent from their posts. "The . evidence seems to show that the fire was caused by someone throwing a burning cigarette into the folds of the side wall canvass or on the ground," his report said. “The tent-had been treated with white gasoline and paraffin under the direction of Aylesworth to make it waterproof, and this created "an extra hazardous condition".” (Tucson Daily Citizen. “Seven Circus Men Held For Hartford Fire,” Jan 13, 1945, 3.) Sources Chertkoff, Jerome M. and Russell H. Kushigian. “Hartford Circus Fire, July 6, 1944,” Chapter 5 in: Don’t Panic: The Psychology of Emergency Egress. Praeger, 1999. Circusfire1944.com. “The Hartford Circus Fire July 6, 1944.” Accessed 11-30-2011 at: http://www.circusfire1944.com/ Connecticuthistory.org. “The Hartford Circus Fire.” 7-6-2019. Accessed 6-4-2020 at: https://connecticuthistory.org/the-hartford-circus-fire/ Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982. Grant, Ellsworth S. “A Three-Ring Horror: The Hartford Circus Fire 1944.” Chapter 16, Connecticut Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival. Guilford, CT: Insiders’ Guide, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press, 2006. Hartford Fire Department. Major Fires. Hartford, CT. Accessed 5-5-2005 at: http://www.hartford.gov/fire/MajorFires/major_fires.htm Kimball, Warren Y. “Hartford Circus Holocaust.” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 38, No. 1, July 1944, pp. 9-21. Lohr, David. “Hartford Circus Fire: A 67-Year-old Mystery.” 11-29-2011. Accessed 11-30-2011 at: http://www.aol.com:80/2011/11/29/hartford-circus-fire_n_1118389.html and https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hartford-circus-fire_n_1117392 Massey, Don and Rick Davey. A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire and the Mystery of Little Miss 1565. Willow Brook Press. 2001. National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1 National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.) National Fire Protection Association. “The Next Holocaust?” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 38, No. 1, July 1944. National Fire Protection Association (John Hall, Jr.). U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates by State. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 31 pages, December 2008. NPR (National Public Radio). “Remembering the Horror and Heroes of a Circus Fire.” 7-6-2007. Accessed 11-30-2011 at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11768511 Tucson Daily Citizen, AZ. “Seven Circus Men Held For Hartford Fire.” 1-13-1945, p. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=85130580