The Great HArtford circus fire
The worst disaster in Hartford history occurred on July 6, 1944, during a performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus in the city's north end.With several thousand people gathered under the "big top," flames appeared on the tent and spread quickly, inadvertantly aided by the mixture of gasoline and paraffin that had been used to waterproof the canvas. The fire spread rapidly on the gasoline- and paraffin-soaked canvas. Panic proved as deadly as the flames. The crowd stampeded to escape the tent, and many were trampled. Others were blocked by obstacles like steel railings along the front of the bleachers and an animal chute blocking a main exit. Meanwhile, hundreds were saved by spectators, circus workers, and passersby who sliced open the tent or lifted children and the injured over the barriers. In the end, however, 168 people died. Because it was a circus performance, and because it occurred on a Thursday afternoon during World War II, when many adults worked long hours at war-production plants, children accounted for many of the casualties; only 100 of the dead were older than 15. The injured numbered 487.Several officials of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus served prison terms for negligence in the fire. But no one was ever charged with starting it. Stewart O'Nan devotes a chapter of his book "The Circus Fire" to Robert Dale Segee, whom Ohio authorities arrested in connection with a series of arson fires in 1950. It turned out that Segee had been with the circus at the time of the Hartford fire, as a member of a lighting crew. He initially confessed to setting that fire as well but eventually recanted, claiming Ohio authorities had simply talked him into believing he was guilty. Ohio's refusal to let Connecticut investigators interview Segee didn't help either. After serving four years on the Ohio charges, he was declared a paranoid schizophrenic and committed for a time to a state hospital for the insane. He died in Columbus, Ohio, in August 1997.