Big Top Burning by Laura A. Woollett

Author:Laura A. Woollett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2015-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

Ringling Bros. circus managers in court. Left to right: George W. Smith, James Haley, Edward “Whitey” Versteeg, Leonard Aylesworth, and David Blanchfield.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, Inc. was ordered to pay $4 million to compensate people for their losses. Today that figure would be close to $42 million. It was a large enough sum to bankrupt the circus. Fortunately, the lawyers for the victims were clever. They arranged for the circus to continue to function because, they argued, if the circus were to close down, there would not be enough money to pay the damages owed to people. It was crucial that Ringling Bros. continue to put on their show. Incidentally, this plan worked out for the circus as well. It could be argued that if the lawyers had not come up with this plan, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the most popular circus in the United States, would not be around today.

William Caley began his prison sentence immediately, but the other convicted circus employees remained free long enough to help prepare for the upcoming 1945 spring season. A portion of the money earned each season would help pay the thousands of claims made by circus fire survivors and the families of the victims. Eventually, the Ringling Bros. circus paid every cent of that debt.

Regardless of who was to blame, many people wondered, could this kind of tragedy happen again? The mayor of Hartford decided to make some changes in how circuses and other outdoor events were handled by the city. Hartford became an example that other cities across the country would follow. In January 1945, officials passed a law that required careful inspections of events held in tents. The grounds, seats, aisles, exits, and first-aid facilities must be checked by police and fire departments. Smoking and overcrowding in the tents would not be allowed. All tents must be fireproof.

Officials also realized that every second counts when ambulances and fire trucks are on their way to an emergency. Before the circus fire, emergency vehicles did not always use their flashing lights to help them move quickly through traffic. Now, it was required for them to be on at all times.

Despite the new safety inspections, it was years before anyone in Hartford wanted to attend the circus again. As they grew older, survivors of the fire refused to take their children to circuses. Many had a lifelong fear of crowds. The Ringling Bros. circus performed in other cities in the years after the fire, but it did not return to Hartford again until 1975, more than 30 years later. By then, the circus was no longer performing inside a tent, but instead held its shows in indoor arenas.

Negligence on the part of both Ringling Bros. and the city of Hartford contributed to the tragedy. But was the fire, in fact, accidental? Was it possible that, when the seat hands left their stations to move the animal chutes, someone had intentionally put a match to

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