Hartford  County in the News
Fires

Circus Big Top Fire Takes 135 Lives

HARTFORD. Conn., July 6 (UP)
--In the nation's greatest circus disaster, at least 135 persons--including more than eighty children--perished Thursday when fire swept through the big top of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's Biggest show on Earth and sent 10,000 panic-stricken spectators stampeding for safety.

The death toll mounted as rescuers poking through the smoldering remains of the twenty-ton canvas--the largest circus tent in the world--extricated the burned and crushed bodies of those who failed to get out before the flaming cloth billowed down on top of them.  Officials sad the number of dead might reach 150.

Scores of injured- some in critical condition--were being treated at Hartford's three hospitals.  Hundreds of others who received only minor injuries were treated and sent home.  A late check of the three hospitals showed 214 persons receiving treatment.

The fire which broke out shortly after the matinee performance began and the last act completed, flashed along the big canvas top with such terrible speed that several in the audience applauded thinking it was part of the show.  Some estimates of injured run to 500.

The death toll was mounting hourly as ambulances, delivery trucks and private cars shuttled between the circus grounds and the Hartford armory, where the dead were laid out in rows and where hundreds of grief-stricken persons sought to identify missing members of their families.  Some estimates of the number injured ranged from 200 to 500.

The hospital facilities of this Connecticut industrial center were overtaxed as the injured streamed in from the scene of the disaster in such numbers that they could not be immediately counted.

Cause of the fire was not determined.  It may have started from a carelessly discarded cigarette, fire officials said.

State Police Commissioner Edward J. Hickey, taking over investigation of the tragedy, said he had subpoened twenty officials and circus workers to appear 10 a.m. Tuesday before Coroner Frank E. Healey, who will conduct an inquest.

Hartford Mayor William H. Mortensen appointed a committee of nine-including officials of all protective services--to investigate the cause of the fire.

Sixty Bodies Found Jammed Against Runway.

Testimony of circus workers was taken at a hearing in a granite works office near the circus grounds, he said, preliminary to dovetailing all of the state and city inquiries to fix responsibility for the disaster.

The Mayor disclosed that about sixty bodies had been found jammed against one of the steel runways, used to lead the animals to and from the circus rings, and that these runways closed off an entire end of the oval, obstructing exits.

Furthermore, the Mayor said, "the most startling thing to develop was that the tent made of new material, had been sprayed with paraffin which had been melted in gasoline," as a waterproofing solution.

The huge tent--the largest in the world--burst into flames as the audience applauded a lion act and, as one eyewitness said, it went up like a sheet of tissue paper.

Instantly  pandemonium broke loose.  The crowd seethed madly from seats and battled toward the exits, trampling scores of women and children in the stampede for safety.

Circus Animals Rushed to Safety.

The hysterical screams of mothers seeking their children were punctuated by the roars of the lions as attendants urged the animals into their cages.  None of the circus animals was injured.

Other circus animals were rushed to safety from an adjoining menagerie tent before the flames, spreading with incredible speed, could reach it.

Many of the dead and injured were crushed in the stands as the terrified audience sought madly to escape the flaming canvas billowing down upon it.

Eyewitnesses reported that the fire broke out in a wall of the tent beneath the grandstand and swept upward to the top of the huge structure before the crowd, their attention centered on performances in the three big rings, was aware of the blaze.

Cry of Fire Starts Mad Rush.

"The flames billowed up so fast there was no time to think," said Mrs. George Bissell of East Hampton, Conn. who was sitting in the general admission seats.

"At the cry of 'fire!' there was a mad rush from the stands and scores were trampled as the panic-stricken crowd clawed its way frantically toward the exits.  As poles and guy ropes gave way, the flaming canvas began falling toward them."

At the Hartford armory, where bodies of the victims, some burned beyond recognition, were taken, there were tragic scenes as parents who had become separated from their children sought to identify them among the dead.

The same scenes prevailed at the circus grounds where hysterical mothers frantically viewed each body as rescuers dragged it from beneath the smoldering canvas.

Accommodations were provided at the armory to take care of 200 dead, according to State War Administrator Henry B. Mosley.

As the extent of the tragedy became known, every civilian defense unit in the area was mobilized, ambulances, doctors and nurses were summoned from surrounding towns and the state guard began the grim business of setting up Army cots in the armory to receive the dead.

Near-by Army camps sent fleets of trucks to the scene and offered any other aid they could supply.

Makeshift first-aid stations were set up on the hospital grounds, to treat those with minor hurts, while the more seriously injured were rushed to Hartford and St. Francis hospitals, streaming into the two institutions faster than they could be counted.

The toll of dead and injured was expected to be especially high among children, who constituted a large portion of the matinee audience.  Many were separated from their parents and were trampled in the sawdust in the mad rush for safety.

Mrs. Bissell, who suffered minor burns, said that the fire flashed with unbelievable speed to the top of the tent, while the crowd was still applauding the lion act which had just concluded.

"Everybody started for the exits," she said.  "It seemed as if they all made for the exits at one time, and screams were awful.

"I don't know how I got out.  Maybe it was just lucky I was sitting near the front of the tent where the fire started."

Others told tragic stories of how children screamed for their parents, many of who ignored the flames as they milled through the mad crush of bodies to find their children.

Many children attended the performance unescorted and terrified mothers arriving on the scene attempted to break through the fire lines as the burned victims were brought out.

Many Can't Be Identified.

Gov. Raymond E. Baldwin asked the public to be calm and to inquire at the armory for missing members of their families.  As the dead were brought there, they were placed on the Army cots lined row upon row in the drill hall.  Efforts were begun immediately to identify the victims, but many were burned so badly that identification may never be possible.

An investigation was begun to determine the cause of the blaze.

Spectators said the fire started under the general admission seats, near the main entrance, at the south end of the tent, slithered up the canvas sidewalls and snaked across the top with such rapidity that aerial artists were unable to slide down the ropes to safety.  Some were reported injured and possibly killed.

Dallas Morning News, July 7, 1944: Dallas TX