Little Miss 1565 and the Hartford Circus Fire
The circus used to be such a major part of American culture, going to the circus with your family seemed to be an experience that most Americans shared. That experience was one that was unfortunately shared by almost 7,000 people on July 6, 1944 in Hartford, Connecticut. Unfortunately, this would be one that they would never forget.
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus’ 1944 second section (outdoor shows under a big top) began on June 5, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 700 employees were traveling with the circus, not including performers.
The big top used for performances had to be waterproofed, and the circus had quite an interesting way to do this. This was by using 6,000 gallons of Texaco white gasoline and 60 barrels of yellow paraffin wax from Standard Oil. This waterproofing was done in May of 1944, before the season began. However, the tent was never fireproofed even though both of these substances are highly flammable. It is unclear if the circus knew this at the time.
The Hartford circus fire was not the Ringling Bros’ first experience with a tragic fire. Back in August of 1942 a fire started during a show in Cleveland, Ohio. It appears that all the spectators were able to evacuate the big top safely that day, but many animals lost their lives that day. Reports on this fire are scarce, however, the animal death toll ranges from 39–100.
Before even arriving in Connecticut, three other small scale fires had occurred during the 1944 season, this includes:
- A straw pile around 20 feet outside the stakeline was set on fire by a group of boys playing and was quickly put out in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- A fire was started in the grass around 60 feet from the tent in Portland, Maine.
- A fire began behind the elephants around 40 feet from the menagerie sidewall on a non-performance day in Providence, Rhode Island.
Before The Fire
Due to World War II the circus had a staff shortage and this resulted in them arriving late in Hartford. They even had to cancel one of their matinee shows, the one on July 5th, because of this. This is a sign of bad luck in carnival lore, so the circus workers and performers waited with baited breath to see if anything bad would happen. But the big top went up at the fairgrounds on Barbour street regardless.
The Fire
The audience was mostly filled with women and children because most of the men were involved in the war effort. On July 6, 1944 the estimated 6,000–8,000 people filled the tent on that hot summer day, with temperatures in the 90s and high humidity.
The show began without a hitch, the French lion tamer Alfred Court finished his act and the Flying Wallendas were on an elevated platform to begin their trapeze act at around 2:40 pm when they noticed a small ball of fire on the bottom of the tent and shouted “Fire!”.
The bandleader Merle Evans quickly instructed the band to play the song “Stars and Stripes Forever”, also known as the “Disaster March” by performers. This was an indication to staff that something is wrong, and they need to evacuate the big top without worrying the audience. However, the flames grew faster than the staff expected, and the audience soon became very aware of the situation.
Utter chaos erupted.
There are normally three exits from the big top, however, one of them (the animal chute) was blocked by the lions that had just performed. Every person fled to the nearest exit in a desperate stampede. This caused bottle necking at all of the exits, so people starting cutting exits into the canvas. People were also throwing kids over the lion cage to get them out. The burning canvas was raining down on those who were trying to escape.
The stampede of humanity actually led to many people dying not from the fire but from being trampled by the sheer force of around 7,000 people trying to escape, most of those trampled were children who got tripped up and absorbed by the chaos.
The fire department was contacted at around 2:43 pm and arrived in minutes. The emergency responders aided in the rescue effort, but at 2:50 pm the fire got to the support beams and the entire big top collapsed. This killed all of those who remained inside.
The entire fire burned for only 10 minutes and killed 167 people.
After the Fire
While rescue efforts were underway, the Bristol Press reported that “a line of men, women, and children from the sidewalks to the telephone, patiently awaiting the opportunity to convey the good news of their safety”.
Bodies dead and alive were being quickly carried towards the emergency aid that had arrived on scene. Connecticut’s Governor Raymond E. Baldwin aided in the relief and rescue efforts and remained at the scene long into the night.
Scores of soldiers from the nearby army rest camp who were sent to the circus for “relaxation”, forgot about their own injuries and aided in numerous rescues.
Almost 200 hundred people were transferred to Municipal Hospital and Hartford Hospital. The bodies of the deceased were taken to the Colt Armory as a makeshift morgue and identification site.
A Time Magazine article said that they brought in doctors, dentists, and jewelers to aid in the identification process. In a time before DNA most identifications were based on dental records, doctors recognizing procedures or injuries, jewelers recognizing pieces they made, or a visual identification by the victim’s family.
The Aftermath
It was determined that the fire began in the partition of the men’s toilets and spread via a guide rope to the highly flammable canvas of the big top. The theory, at the time, was that the fire began due to a tossed cigarette. With a patron remarking to Officer McAuliffe “That dirty son of a bitch just threw a cigarette”.
This, however, didn’t absolve the Ringling Bros. from any fault in this fire. Five employees were arrested at the circus ground on July 7:
- James A. Hayley, 45, Vice President of the circus
- George W. Smith, 51, General Manager of the circus
- Leonard Aylesworth, 52, Executive of the circus
- Edward Versteeg, 44, Chief Executive of the circus
- David W. Blanchfield, 57, Chief Wagon Man
Why were the men charged? Firstly, The management failed to have proper fire preparations in case of a fire. Also, the circus’ fire extinguishers were so buried in a storage cart (on the train) that the fire department could not get to them, and the circus’ fire trucks were too far away to be useful to them. They also didn’t notify the Hartford Fire Department of their intent to perform, so that the department could be close-by in case of emergency.
All of the men pled no contest and were sentenced to one year in prison, but only four served any time in prison. The circus was ordered to pay a total of $5 million dollars to the victims and their families.
This also led to stricter fire regulations for circuses and performances in general.
Later Investigations
Rick Davey, an arson investigator, became interested in this case and began to wonder if the theory that a tossed cigarette could have started the fire. He conducted burn tests and found that a lit cigarette alone could not have started the fire. Later on, Dr. Henry Lee (from the state forensics lab) confirmed this assertion. This led to the fire being reclassified from an accident to undetermined in 1991.
If it wasn’t an accident, who could have done it? Well, a man named Robert Dale Segee confessed to setting the fire in the 1950s. He was only thirteen at the time and had joined the circus in Portland, Maine and was on the lighting crew.
Segee did have a history of arson. He confessed to setting multiple fires in Ohio and is considered, by some, to be a serial killer as he also confessed to multiple murders. Segee, who was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, said that he set the fires because a “Red Man” told him to do it.
Segee was interviewed in 1993 and retracted his confession of responsibility for the fire and said that he had an alibi. Segee said that he was at a movie called The Four Feathers, but this movie had come out five years earlier and wasn’t playing in Hartford at the time.
When asked to speculate on how the fire started Segee stated that someone “…could use a magnifying glass and plants from nature and start a grass fire that way the grass fire could spread to the canvas and so on and so forth. They could’ve done it that way…” This is a suspiciously specific answer to how the fire could have started, most would’ve said “a lighter” or “a match” but not Segee.
Two other men joined the circus in Portland, Maine with Segee and both acted suspiciously in the hours and days after the fire.
Harry Lakin entered the Municipal Hospital at around 4 pm. A member of the Red Cross Motor Corps, Martha “Mattye” Menard, noticed him enter. She noted that he didn’t appear to be burnt or injured, but he was pretty shaken and upset. She also thought that he might be a bit drunk. He asked Menard if he could hold her hand, she thought it was a bit odd but decided to humor him. Lakin said that he was an electrician in the lighting department for the circus. He told Menard that “I’m not squealing”, “I never knew it would be like this”, and “I don’t know that I can take it”. Lakin had obviously seen something that he felt guilty about, and he also worked in the same department as Segee.
Roy Tuttle, the other Portland sign-on, disappeared in the aftermath of the fire. He was later found after he was admitted to Maine General Hospital for third-degree burns. The story that he told of how he ended up there was strange, to say the least. Tuttle said that when he heard that the tent was on fire he rushed towards the animal chute and passed out just before entering the tent. After the fire Tuttle said that he woke up in and decided to spend the night in an open lot. The next day he decided to walk home to Portland, Maine from Hartford, Connecticut (a journey across around 200 miles and, in modern times, is around a 67 hour walk). This feat took Tuttle a week where he would stop to get in water when the pain of his third degree burns became too much. Once he reached Maine, his wounds were infected. The police took Tuttle’s statement but didn’t press any further. This story is so unbelievable it just shocks me that no one questioned it at all.
Could these three men know something about this fire that they took to their graves? Possibly, but we may never know.
Little Miss 1565
This name refers to an unidentified girl who was initially found at the scene alive and was transferred to Municipal Hospital for supportive treatment, but she sadly passed away at 6 pm on July 6th. The number 1565 refers to the number that her body was assigned at the morgue.
She was a white female between the ages of 8–10. She was around 3'11"-4" tall and weighed between 55–65 pounds. She had shoulder length blonde or light brown hair, and her eye color was difficult to determine but is believed to be blue. She still had all of her baby teeth except for her lower central incisors.
Little Miss 1565 was found wearing brown shoes and a flowered dress. Her official cause of death was asphyxia due to smoke inhalation.
Little Miss 1565 was buried at Northwood Cemetery in Wilson, Connecticut on July 10, 1944. Two detectives in Hartford, Thomas Barber and Ed Lowe were dedicated to identifying this little girl. They took photos of her, got her dental charts, took her fingerprints, and helped to publicize her case.
They visited orphanages, welfare agencies, and even sent her picture to every elementary school in Connecticut. But nothing seemed to yield any results. They even put flowers on her grave every Christmas, Memorial Day, and anniversary of the fire. After their deaths Lowe’s widow continued the tradition until her death.
In 1981, Ed Lowe’s widow claimed that her husband had tracked down Little Miss 1565’s family, but the family asked for privacy. This has never been validated or proven.
In 1987 weird notes began appearing near Little Miss 1565’s grave. They read “Sarah Graham is her name 7/6/32 date of birth six years twin” another note mentioned that she had family buried nearby who also died in the fire. However, no one with the last name Graham is on the official victim’s list or are even referred to as missing in the aftermath of the fire. So, this seems like a very strange prank.
In 1991, Rick Davey concluded in his book A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire and Mystery of Little Miss 1565 that she was Eleanor Emily Cook. This was believed to the extent that her body was moved to be near the Cook family in Massachusetts. However, many people doubt this as Mildred, Eleanor’s mother, saw Little Miss 1565’s body in the armory after the fire and denied that it was her daughter. She denied that she was her daughter until her death in 1994.
In 2001, Stewart O’Nan wrote a book about the fire called The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy. In the book he noted that Little Miss 1565’s dental records did not match Eleanor Emily Cook’s which seems to show that they are not the same person. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System still lists Little Miss 1565 as an unidentified person, meaning that law enforcement are not sure that Eleanor is Little Miss 1565 after all.
She’s Not the Only One
There are a total of 6 complete unidentified individuals and one collection of body parts referred to as “unknown parts”.
- 1510 is a white male child who was around 11 years old
- 1503 is a white female child who was around 9 years old
- 2200 is a white adult male between the ages of 55–65
- 2109 is a white adult female between the ages of 20–30
- 4512 is a black adult female between the ages of 25–35
How Can a Child Go Unknown?
It can seem impossible to some that a child could go unidentified in this situation. This child had to come with her family or friends, how could an identity not be connected to this poor little girl or the other unidentified children.
However, the truth behind it is actually quite dark. Raymond Erickson Jr went to the circus that day with his uncle, cousins, aunts, and his grandmother. His uncle had found Raymond severely injured after the fire, and he was rushed to Hartford Hospital. Doctors convinced his uncle to place Raymond on a mattress in the fourth floor hallway of the hospital, and his uncle later received treatment for his own severe burns. Raymond was never seen again.
His mother, Sophie Erickson, came to the armory and looked at every body that was there and said that none of them were her son. A few days later his sneakers and socks were found in a cardboard box.
Since Raymond hadn’t been found the coroner, Walter Weissenborn, concluded that Raymond’s body must have been misidentified as being another child. As identification methods were mostly based on visual clues rather than something concrete like DNA, so misidentification is a real possibility.
The coroner had a macabre proposal for the Erickson family. There was an unidentified body, 1510, that was around the same measurements of her son, so the coroner asked the family if they wanted to bury 1510 as their son.
Sophie Erickson had seen 1510 at the armory and said that it was not her son, and the family (understandably) refused to bury anyone who was not their son. Raymond is still considered “missing” but is believed to have died after arriving at the hospital. After which his body was claimed by another family, likely the family of 1510.
So, why is this important?
Well, the most common theory about the identity of Little Miss 1565 is that she is actually a victim whose family (or the professionals) identified the wrong body. Meaning that any of the victims who were around her age could actually be her, and Eleanor Emily Cook’s body could be the body taking her place.
Conclusions and Recent Updates
In 2005, a memorial was unveiled to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the fire. It is located at the former grounds where the fire occurred, and includes every victim’s name and age. The boulders around it tell the story of the fire and the Dogwood trees mark the outline and shape of the tent. The location is just behind what is now the Fred D. Wish School that is located at 350 Barbour Street.
In October of 2019, two of the unidentified victims of the fire (2109 and 4512) were exhumed and some parts were retained for DNA testing. The hope was that victim 2109 could be identified as Dorothy Fifield by comparing 2109 to her living granddaughter, sadly, it was not a match.
In January of 2020 Chief State Medical Examiner, Dr. James Gill, to reach out to the DNA Doe Project (DDP) in the hopes that they could use genetic genealogy to identify the two victims. The DDP was not able to extract enough genetic material to complete the sequencing process and the samples they did have were quite fragile. So, with heavy hearts, the DDP has put the case on hold for now until there are scientific advancements in the extraction process. The samples have been returned to the medical examiner until new technology becomes available.
The sad thing is, we may never know the identity of Little Miss 1565 or any of the unidentified people who died that day. While these developments give us hope, it is still a sad truth that these people have been lost to the world for over 77 years.
To end this article, I will include a quote from the end of Stewart O’Nan’s book “To be lost and forgotten — to be abandoned — is a shared and terrible fear, just as our fondest hope, as we grow older, is that we might leave some part of us behind in the hearts of those we love and in that way we live on. Perhaps, in the end, we will not be lost. In that respect, she was received the only gift we can give her, a gift we all want, finally: to be remembered.”
Remembering the Victims
While the story has been told, the victims are a huge part of this story, so I included their names and pictures so that they aren’t forgotten.
Sources
- Unidentified Wiki: Little Miss 1565
- NamUs: Little Miss 1565
- Hartford Circus Fire Website
- YouTube: Little Miss 1565, Gabulosis
- Hartford Courant: “In the Chaos of the Hartford Circus Fire a 6 year old boy Disappeared; now, 75 years later, his family wants to find out what happened to him”
- Connecticut History: The Hartford Circus Fire
- Connecticut Magazine: “Accident or Arson? The Hartford Circus Fire, 75 years later”
- Atlas Obscura: Hartford Circus Fire Memorial
