Monday, July 06, 2009

Ringling Barnum DATE SHEET (1944) One Sheet Flat Hartford Fire

From Chris Berry

It was 65 years ago today (July 6, 1944) that tragedy struck the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus when the big top caught fire with some 7000 customers in attendance. Within seven minutes the tent was destroyed and 168 people - mostly women and children - were either dead or dying. Hundreds more were injured. There were a lot of heroics that day - on the part of performers, the working men and towners. Nevertheless, the circus was found to be at fault and six executives and managers were sentenced to jail time. Later that summer the show reopened in Akron, Ohio - playing the remainder of the season in ballparks and stadiums. For the next ten years every penny of the show's profits went toward paying off some 600 claims from the fire.

Posted by Buckles at 7/06/2009 06:53:00 AM

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

A good friend of my dad, Roy Bates, who was with the menagerie dept. never said much about the fire except to tell about helping people out of the top and getting them away, when someone showered him with a bucket of wqter. Roy turned around and asked what the hell he thought he was doing and the guy said that he was only putting out the fire on Roy's shirt.
Bob Kitto

06 July, 2009 19:00

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