The Hartford Circus Fire: The Day The Clowns Cried
Michelle Congleton
On the balmy and sunlit July afternoon of 1944, a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was a perfect treat to finish off a hard day’s work. The luxury of sitting down to the smell of freshly made cotton candy, the deep sound of venders yelling, “5¢ for a bottle of Coke,” and the sight of wiggling, impatient little children waiting for the show to begin was quite a scene. The ringmaster stepped into the middle yelling “la-deez an’ gen-tul-men,” creating a wave affect of hushed silence across the crowd (Plowden 8). This was going to be the best show yet; after all, this was the Greatest Show on Earth.
As twenty minutes passed by, the cats were ready to go back into their cage while the Great Wallendas were on their way to start (O’Nan 65). Slowly, flames began to creep up the side of the big top, the tent bursting into flames (See Appendix B.). Sparking colors of red, orange, and yellow burst everywhere as the circus band leader, Merle Evans, directed the band to play ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’, a song that signaled distress to all the personnel (Cohn & Bollier 8). As World War II raged on in Germany, Barbour Street Hartford was under a siege of its own as a fire raged up the side of the big top with no one to stop it (O’Nan 70).
It took ten minutes to burn down (History.com This Day in History). With more than 6,000 persons inside of the tent at the moment, 168 were killed and 654 were injured (Ct Red Cross). With a large portion of Connecticut’s men overseas, women and children filed into the circus. Only 100 that died that tragic day were over 15 (Welcome). Hartford’s reaction to July 6, 1944 is one that will never be forgotten. An excerpt from The Great Hartford Circus, taken from the Red Cross, explains how much commotion a circus fire can cause to those who expect it the least, saying:
“What had been a scene of gaiety and laughter a few minutes before now became a blazing death trap as tragedy struck swiftly. Many people were trapped in the arena as the flaming canvas fell upon them. Hundreds of others jumped from the bleacher seats and escaped under the tent’s sides. Children were dropped to the ground by their parents and then tossed over the canvas wall to safety…Within an hour all that remained of the Greatest Show on Earth were twisted metal poles which had fallen one by one as the supporting guy ropes burned away, the metal animal runways and exhibition cages, and charred bleacher seats” (Cohn & Bollier 9).
That day proved itself to be a disaster (Ct Red Cross). Words cannot explain the loss, concern and anxiousness felt by the survivors as they stood around, either in agonizing pain or in pure shock that less than five minutes ago they were having a great time. The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus had to convince the world they could put on a great show and gain back the trust that they had lost so quickly. They had a lot to prove if they ever wanted their success and fame to grow. However, the Ringling Brothers reaction to the Hartford Circus Fire was inappropriate in the fact that they never accepted responsibility and were completely pardoned for their crimes.
The sun set on the scorched remnants of a circus. Children’s laughter was nowhere to be heard. Empty Coke bottles rolled around in the light breeze, leaving an unsettling ring in the air. Ash floated all around like leaves in the autumn wind (See Appendix A). Emptiness filled the air, only to be broken by the cries of the animals (O’Nan 218). Questioning had begun, and truth was about to be revealed.
That night, when detective Hickey took George W. Smith in for questioning, inquiring answers of why nothing could be done, was told:
“Q. So the minute you saw this fire today you knew that---?
A. There was no chance of saving the top. The only thing you could save was what’s around it, and get people out
Q. You knew that?
A. Yes” (O’Nan 208).
Throughout previous years, all the circus would ever do was waterproof the tent by using a paraffin wax treatment and spreading it with about 6,000 gallons of gasoline, creating a dry environment if it were to ever rain, but a blazing death trap to whomever was inside if it caught on fire (O’Nan 201). Fireproofing was unavailable to the circus because the material used in fireproofing was a war priority (circusfire1944.com).
The morning of Friday, July 7, 1944 the news had spread. When “morning papers hit stands and stoops across the country, inquiries concerning relatives from servicemen as far as New Mexico poured into the Red Cross” (O’Nan 215). Scorched bodies poured into the armory, totaling 135, all but 15 identified (O’Nan 228). The Ringling Brothers were going to be scrutinized by everyone. The citizens of Hartford were not going down without a fight, and it was just the beginning.
That same day, S. Burr Leikind, prosecutor of the police court, filed involuntary manslaughter against six Ringling Brothers employees. J. A. Haley, vice president of the circus and George W. Smith, general manager were both held with $15,000 bonds. Leonard Aylesworth, canvas man, Edward Versteeg, chief electrician, and David Blanchfield, the wagon man, were all held with $10,000 bonds. John Brice, the circus chief of police, was also held with a bond, but the charges against him were soon dropped (Circus Fire, Hartford’s).
At 3:00 am on July 8th, Deputy Sheriff Ralph A. Hager gave a notice of the first lawsuits by attachment (Cohn & Bollier 21). This suit was brought by attorney Nathan Bergman for the death of Mrs. DiMartino, a mother of eight; which sought a maximum of $15,000, the most allowed in death cases at the time (Cohn & Bollier 21). As the circus attorneys contemplated their options, suit after suit poured in demanding money. The lawsuits seemed to serve as attempts at answering the question: Why had this happened? Time was growing scarce and William Mortensen, mayor of Hartford at the time, was growing agitated with the sanitary conditions at the circus grounds (Cohn & Bollier 23). With Hartford’s legal system spiraling into an impending doom, little time was left to rectify the situation.
As the days slowly rolled by, most of Hartford had filed lawsuits against the the Ringling Brothers, totaling $15 million in attachments. In response, “the superior court scheduled the suits to commence in its upcoming September 1944 term” (Cohn & Bollier 22). As all these civil suits presented long-term problems, the attachments posed a more immediate concern, which prevented the circus from leaving the town (Cohn & Bollier 22).
As legal issues began to heat up, attorneys Edward Rogin, Julius Schatz, and Arthur Weinstein applied with the court to place the circus in temporary receivership of Mr. Edward Rogin. Though the court agreed with this solution, the circus did not. The only alternative to a receivership was to file for bankruptcy, “meaning the current officers would lose control of the corporation and the victims would receive little or nothing. [With a receivership], the circus could operate as usual, feeding their profits to the receiver over time to pay the damages” (O’Nan 256). As the attorneys convinced Dan Judge, Aubrey Ringling Haley, and Mrs. Edith Ringling that this was the best solution, the first order of business was to get the circus out of town. This way, Rogin could get the cooperation to a moneymaking basis to pay back the Hartford survivors.
With Dr. Burgdorf, Board of Health, ordering the circus off the lot by midnight July 15th, and Investigator Hickey telling them wait until he was done with his investigation, the question of what to do with the circus was still up in the air (O’Nan 259). In response, Rogin, Schatz, and Weinstein met together to find a way to break this deadlock (O’Nan 260). The plan was that “the circus would surrender 380,000 in cash, assign two fire insurance policies worth $125,000 each to the receiver, and devote their Lloyd’s policy solely to paying claims” (O’Nan 260). As Weinstein and the Ringling Brothers lawyers ironed out the fine details, the circus packed up the wagons and lined them up Barbour Street. By 3:00 a.m. nothing was left but fallen poles and charred stands as the circus headed to Sarasota.
Not even two weeks was the circus in town. As shows went on all around the United States, it was as if the country’s reaction to the Hartford Circus Fire had entirely been forgotten. The sound of excited families and cheerful music full of laughter and applause engulfed the performers of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus, when they deserved it the least. In Hartford, no one had forgotten (O’Nan 298).
It was not until September 25, 1944 that John Ashmend, chairman of Hartford’s Chamber of Commerce fire prevention committee reformed a, “17 point program of corrective measures to prevent a repetition of the July 6th circus fire and to make circus performances as safe as possible” (Circus Fire Report). The traditional methods of treating a circus related accident proved to be weak, and resulted in disaster more than anything else (Circus Fire Report). These laws were made to revolutionize circus safety, all due to the lax reaction of the Ringling Brothers circus.
Meanwhile, four months later in 1945, “Edward Rogin had been busy keeping up his end: 451 survivors had signed the arbitration agreement, 105 representing death cases, putting it into effect” (O’Nan 292). As the hearing process took up months and months of time, at last the final death claims were to be finished: Maurice and Muriel Goff, the only African Americans to be confirmed to die in the fire (O’Nan 292). As the arbitration hearings raged on, it was time for the criminals to be put on trial.
By February 21, 1945, each of the six defendants faced ten counts of involuntary manslaughter, having the circus lawyers plead nolo contendere, similar to pleading guilty where the circus will take full responsibility of the fire as long as they did not have to receive jail time (O’Nan 293). This idea did not go over so well with the court and the judge ended up finding all six men guilty and fined the show with $10,000 for the hazard of the tent. He sentenced, “Blanchfield to six months in jail, Caley and Versteeg to one year, then gave Haley one to five years and Smith and Aylesworth two to seven in the state prison” (O’Nan 293). On behalf of the court, the men were granted a stay of execution until April 6th, so they were able to get their show on the road. William Caley, a seat man, on the other hand, declined the stay and chose to start his time right away, feeling guilty for his actions (The Billboard 3).
After Robert Ringling and John Ringling North faced each other in the stands, Judge William D. Radcliff decided to reduce the sentences of Haley, Smith, and Aylesworth, never putting the Ringlings in jail for their crimes. By the year of 1946, all five men were released from prison and went right back to work. Though it looked as if everyone had forgotten, Hartford had not. As years went on, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus skipped visiting Connecticut all together, showing that they had not forgotten the history left in Hartford, continuing their circus for 200 years without skipping a beat.
Elizabeth Tracy, 85 years old and a resident of Manchester, remembers the day and how if she had not just started her new job, she could have been one of the many that were caught up in the fire. She feels very strongly about the topic and says, “My point of view was that they were untouchable. They thought that whatever they did, they could do nothing wrong. They were not lax on just performing, just on the behind the scenes that were endangering to not only the performers but the spectators in the audience” (Tracy).
On a bright and sunny summer afternoon, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus pack up their “Greatest Show on Earth”, getting ready for the next stop on their tour. Their wagon left dust and dirt behind them in the light breeze as they drove off in the direction of the setting sun, sending the sky into the pastel colors of the rainbow. They brought with them the scene from a fairytale, rather than the destruction that was left behind. To this day, people look up to the Ringling Brothers as creators of the, “unbelievable excursion that brings together performs and characters from exotic countries all around the world” (Barnum 200). Eight hundred and twenty-two people were either injured or killed by the men that claim themselves to be, “the greatest showmen that ever lived” (Barnum 200). By never claiming responsibility and by being pardoned for their crimes, the Ringling Brothers’ reaction to the Hartford Circus Fire was inexcusable, leaving Hartford with a memory that will never be forgotten.
Appendix A.
Appendix B.
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
"Barnum 200 - Barnum's FUNundrum."Welcome to Ringling Bros. Circus!2011. Web. 22 Dec.
2011. <http://www.ringling.com/SectionLandingPage.aspx?id=45133>.
This is a great source since it is right from the Ringling Brothers website. It provides tons of information, but they mention nothing of the Hartford Circus Fire.
"Billboard."Google Books. Web. 19 Dec. 2011.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=dxgEAAAAMBAJ>.
I found this source reliable because it showcased the fire in the magazine of one of the main features. It's a great primary source and really helped me understand the time period of what I was writing about better.