Hartford Fire Books #4

The person who most likely set the Hartford fire was Robert Dale Segee, a 14-year-old runaway who had joined the show a week earlier in Portland, Maine and who had worked on Whitey Versteeg’s light crew. (During the week Segee was with the show, three other mysterious fires had occurred.) In 1950, after being arrested for setting a string of fires in Ohio, Segee also admitted to setting the circus fire. Although Ohio investigators were initially skeptical of Segee’s claim, further questioning revealed that he knew things about the fire that only the arsonist would have known, such as the point of origin. Later, while being examined by a psychologist, Segee not only admitted to setting the circus fire, but also to committing multiple acts of arson and four murders while still a juvenile living in Maine. A detective sent to Maine to corroborate Segee’s revelations concluded that they had credence. As a result, Ohio authorities accepted Segee’s confession of having set the Hartford fire as being the truth. Connecticut officials, on the other hand rejected Segee’s confession and appear to have had a hand in coercing him into later denying all that he had confessed to. (He was never formally charged for the circus fire or for any of the crimes that took place in Maine.) For those who are interested, A MATTER OF DEGREE does a good job of laying out the evidence that came to light during the Segee investigation, allowing you to draw your own conclusions.