1944 Hartford Circus Fire Raw Footage

[bobbyswamp]

Had never heard of this tragedy. God bless those lost...

[cleancab]

Famous clown Emmett Kelly was a real hero that day. He rushed in and led many to safety.

[bostont4terrier]

so sad

[Tomsouthrock]

VERY TRAGIC STORY

[w8ing4ever]

@misstwlightqueen1 Thanks!  I will have to read that.

[MizzouTigers82]

just read this book. such a tragic story.

[omessemo42]

There was no TV news in 1944, it was probably taken for "newsreels" in theatres.

[VattesLori]

Charles Nelson Reilly was at that Circus and managed to escape.

[w8ing4ever]

Yeah, and once the roof went up, well, the sidewalls wouldn't be far behind.

[w8ing4ever]

I think it was a combination of gasoline and paraffin.

[circusfire1944dotcom]

@w8ing4ever I think you're right - I've read that they used paraffin to waterproof the canvas roof, and thinned it with gasoline to make it spreadable. I don't think the sidewalls were treated this way, just the roof of the bigtop.

[misstwilightqueen1]

@w8ing4ever u should read the book the circus fire by stewart onan good but sad book

[odanak100]

I think the waterproofing had gasoline mixed into it also for some reason. They are pretty sure it was set by a laborer who had just been fired.

[StoryTroy]

Charles Nelson Reilly was a survivor of the incident, which he recounted vividly in SAVE IT FOR THE STAGE, his one-man show documented in the film THE LIFE OF REILLY.

[Microglia1]

My dad tried to rescue the remaining elephants but the tent collapsed.

[CutiePie4325]

@Microglia1 There were no elephants. You could at least do some research before you make up remarks that are disrespectful to those who were actually caught in the disaster.

[aqinthe]

@Microglia1 There were no Elephants only lions and Tigers in the Tent at the time of the fire. Nice try though with your made up story..

[DrZoidberg15]

well i guess someone in the circus most have been

*removes sunglasses*

Clowning around

YYYYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH­H!

[PrepSurvivor]

@DrZoidberg15

aaaaawwwww yeeeeaaaahh.

*thumbs up*

[amityphil]

My Grandmother sat in that tent not 24 hours before that fire. If she went to the next show, I would not be here. It's so unsetteling.

[FiendsInRedSatin1]

0:53 is proabably the most heart-wrenching part of this footage. It forever symbolizes a happy day at the circus turned into terror.

It was a horrible tragedy, but it needs to be remembered.

[bigkevcxza]

im 25 and i find that story interesting, because the Tent itself was a fire trap anyways, and there was a fire before they came to Hartford, and yet the Circus or the City of Hartford never inspected the Tent

[ksol1460tv]

@bigkevcxza - Oh, it was a terrific scandal. They tried to hold somebody accountable as the arsonist, tried to get out of responsibility themselves.

[bigkevcxza]

@ksol1460tv but the person they questioned admited to setting the fire, because there were police records of the guy starting smaller fires

[ksol1460tv]

@bigkevcxza - That's true! That was Mr. Segee. But later he said he had been made to confess and hadn't actually started that fire. He said he got railroaded. There are two books out, trying to dig through the history and find out what really happened and who the little girl was.

[bigkevcxza]

@ksol1460tv Little Miss 1565 was Emily cook, she died in the fire her mother Mildred cook was at Municipal Hospital and so was her brother, she was buried in Hartford but when they discovered who she was they moved her body to North Hampton Massachusettes where she is now buried next to her Mother and her brother

its in a matter of degree story of Little miss 1565 and the Hartford Circus fire

[raccoonleafism]

@bigkevcxza

This is debated by many others, such as O'Nan, Stewart in The Circus Fire: A True Story. One major flaw is the dental records of little miss 1565 and Emily cook do not match.

[bigkevcxza]

@ksol1460tv so technically the case of this fire is still cold as ice,i hope they do more investigations,and to this day the Circus has been having problems with the state of CT just this past summer the circus almost didnt perform because of the issue with the Bullhooks used on the Elephants

[ksol1460tv]

@bigkevcxza GOOD! They ought to outlaw those. There needs to be a lot closer supervision of treatment of all animals in the circus. They really shouldn't have elephants at all but people expect it. Eleanor's mother looked at the famous picture and said, that's not my daughter, so I'd go by that. She thought Eleanor was one of the other 2 little girls who couldn't be identified. The surviving son is working with investigators now, they might re-open the whole thing.

[bigkevcxza]

@ksol1460tv i agree 100% and yes they should reopen the case to give the families closure,as they should reopen the Cocoanut Grove fire case

[bigkevcxza]

@ksol1460tv the thing with that photo is that most of the bodies that they got out of the burned tent were unrecognizable anyways because a lot of them melted together,but they state of ct should have done more inspections on to what the weather proofing on the tent was they should not have weather proofed the tent if they didnt it would possibly be way different and the fire might not have spread so fast

[ksol1460tv]

@bigkevcxza - You're right - There was a lot of cutting corners during the war and paraffin was often used for weatherproofing and shouldn't have been.