Personal Accounts ~ page 7
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...pushed me out through a slit someone made in the tent.
I was 9 years old (turning 10 on July 28th) when I left with two neighborhood friends from Milford Street, in Northwest end of Hartford, (Joan 11 and Lucy who was 14) to go by bus to the circus. We took the Albany Avenue bus. My older brother Len was at work at JJ Newberry & Co. and my older sister Shirley had no interest in the circus and went to the Lenox theater on Albany Avenue. It was considered safe in those days for youngsters to take the bus and the two older girls were considered good chaperones for me. I was supposed to have gone to the circus the evening before with my cousin Bill Stein, but somehow that plan fell through.
It was to be my first circus experience and the older girls wanted to be sure I enjoyed everything in the show, so they chose seats for us near an entrance to the tent that had been closed off to allow the animals to enter the ring through a cage type tunnel, so I could see the animals enter and leave. I don't remember seeing much of the show, just a trapeze act. Before much time passed we realized the tent was on fire and everyone was trying to get out. In the rush to leave I fell down and a man picked me up. and pushed me out through a slit someone made in the tent. I was smudged and lost one of my hair ribbons and when I realized I was separated from my friends, I started to cry. I was mostly upset about my lost ribbon. I followed the crowd of people moving away from the tent. A fireman lifted me up onto the fire truck to see if I was injured. My friends who also escaped found me and we heard announcements that we should go home and that news of the fire was not being released right away so don't hurry. Joan saw that the buses were overloaded and she feared the bus would tip over, so we walked home. All along the streets we walked people were outside and would stop us to ask what the commotion was about.
My mom was at home (eating a Mounds candy bar and washing the kitchen floor as she recalled) and heard the news on the radio. She called my dad at his grocery store (the Parkway Deli) on Park Street and he rushed home to pick her up and drive to the fire site. They were bringing out blackened bodies and they thought I must have been burnt as well. The authorities were asking people to ferry the injured to hospitals, and my Dad later said that his old clunker car was making so much noise, they didn't even ask him to help.
It took us three girls a while to walk west on Albany Avenue until we got to the top of Milford Street. As soon as we started down the street, we noticed people were lined up in front of their houses along the sidewalks. A cry went out, "the kids are coming!" Someone said "Joan run home quick, your mother is hysterical!” My folks watching from further down the street saw Joan alone and were convinced I didn't make it. When they saw me walking down the street my folks hugged each other and cried. I have never been to another circus. I choose end seats at theaters, noting where the exits are.
- Ruth “Rickie” Neistat Whitman
It was to be my first circus experience and the older girls wanted to be sure I enjoyed everything in the show, so they chose seats for us near an entrance to the tent that had been closed off to allow the animals to enter the ring through a cage type tunnel, so I could see the animals enter and leave. I don't remember seeing much of the show, just a trapeze act. Before much time passed we realized the tent was on fire and everyone was trying to get out. In the rush to leave I fell down and a man picked me up. and pushed me out through a slit someone made in the tent. I was smudged and lost one of my hair ribbons and when I realized I was separated from my friends, I started to cry. I was mostly upset about my lost ribbon. I followed the crowd of people moving away from the tent. A fireman lifted me up onto the fire truck to see if I was injured. My friends who also escaped found me and we heard announcements that we should go home and that news of the fire was not being released right away so don't hurry. Joan saw that the buses were overloaded and she feared the bus would tip over, so we walked home. All along the streets we walked people were outside and would stop us to ask what the commotion was about.
My mom was at home (eating a Mounds candy bar and washing the kitchen floor as she recalled) and heard the news on the radio. She called my dad at his grocery store (the Parkway Deli) on Park Street and he rushed home to pick her up and drive to the fire site. They were bringing out blackened bodies and they thought I must have been burnt as well. The authorities were asking people to ferry the injured to hospitals, and my Dad later said that his old clunker car was making so much noise, they didn't even ask him to help.
It took us three girls a while to walk west on Albany Avenue until we got to the top of Milford Street. As soon as we started down the street, we noticed people were lined up in front of their houses along the sidewalks. A cry went out, "the kids are coming!" Someone said "Joan run home quick, your mother is hysterical!” My folks watching from further down the street saw Joan alone and were convinced I didn't make it. When they saw me walking down the street my folks hugged each other and cried. I have never been to another circus. I choose end seats at theaters, noting where the exits are.
- Ruth “Rickie” Neistat Whitman
...thought it was part of the act...
My mother (Lucy) sister (Jean) and I (Edward) attended the circus the day of the fire. We seated ourselves in the southwest corner. Shortly after being seated an usher informed my mother that we were in the wrong seats, and directed us to the East side of the tent. Opposite the origin of the fire. I remember after the lion and tiger act the Wallenda’s started their performance. I recall seeing the flames going up the side of the tent, and thought it was part of the act. Then people started to scream and holler fire! My mother grabbed my sister and I by the hand and ran to the exit which was to our left. The animal exit cage was to our right. My Uncle owned a grocery store on the corner of Main St. and Nelson St. We both ran, and walked to the store, because my mother thought the lions tigers, and elephants would get loose. We consider ourselves extremely lucky to be SURVIVORS!
- Edward Pawloski Jr.
- Edward Pawloski Jr.
...when he looked at a burning fire he saw his sister's face.
I was 4 years old and have only fragmentary recollections. The event affected me and my family, especially my father, Stanley Kurneta, who lost his sister Mary. Years later, when he was offered a job at the Hartford Light Company that would have put him near open flames, he told my mother that when he looked at a burning fire he saw his sister's face. She told him not to take the job, which he did not.
My feeling is that he was deeply emotionally scarred, but the event was never referred to in our family, at least not to my knowledge.
- Anthony Kurneta
My feeling is that he was deeply emotionally scarred, but the event was never referred to in our family, at least not to my knowledge.
- Anthony Kurneta
...blocked with animal chutes when the show started.
I was 13 and went to my first circus with my sister Doris Lichtenbaum. Originally we sat on the bleachers to our right as you enter from the main entrance, but moved before the show started to the other side to see better. Two entrances where we had originally sat were blocked with animal chutes when the show started. People sitting on that side were blocked from getting out when the fire started. Through the grace of God we had moved or might have perished. As it was, we were able to leave from where we finally sat.
- Harry L. Lichtenbaum
- Harry L. Lichtenbaum
...asking us for 10 cents to make a call to our parents.
My story begins the day before the fire. My grandmother, Hannah Berger, told my father, Samuel Berger, that she saw a fire in her dreams and he should not let the kids go to the circus. Of course, he never paid attention to that dream.
My Sister, Sheila Berger Mark, along with cousins William Cohen and Jerry Brener, walked in and Sheila asked me where I wanted to sit. I picked the left side of the tent. The fire broke out diagonally right across the tent. Had we turned right instead of left we would have been in the middle of the fire. When I saw the fire begin, I looked to my right and did not see my sister or the other cousins. I thought she had dropped down from the 5th row. I did drop down and did not see her inside the tent. I went to the side of the tent and pulled it up, walked out and did not see here there either so I walked back in and I saw her there with Jerry. I helped them out as I held the tent for other people. I looked back into the tent and saw the lion tamer pushing the lions back through the wire tunnel and heard the screams of people far across the tent to my left.
We were dazed at that time but summoned our courage to walk to the white house adjacent to the circus grounds. I remember so well the person in that house asking us for 10 cents to make a call to our parents. Disturbing to me at that age. I was 12.
I have never had a nightmare or mental disturbance from that tragedy. I am just very aware of exit signs wherever I am in a closed space.
- Alvin Berger
My Sister, Sheila Berger Mark, along with cousins William Cohen and Jerry Brener, walked in and Sheila asked me where I wanted to sit. I picked the left side of the tent. The fire broke out diagonally right across the tent. Had we turned right instead of left we would have been in the middle of the fire. When I saw the fire begin, I looked to my right and did not see my sister or the other cousins. I thought she had dropped down from the 5th row. I did drop down and did not see her inside the tent. I went to the side of the tent and pulled it up, walked out and did not see here there either so I walked back in and I saw her there with Jerry. I helped them out as I held the tent for other people. I looked back into the tent and saw the lion tamer pushing the lions back through the wire tunnel and heard the screams of people far across the tent to my left.
We were dazed at that time but summoned our courage to walk to the white house adjacent to the circus grounds. I remember so well the person in that house asking us for 10 cents to make a call to our parents. Disturbing to me at that age. I was 12.
I have never had a nightmare or mental disturbance from that tragedy. I am just very aware of exit signs wherever I am in a closed space.
- Alvin Berger
...we fell down the steps together...
My name is Sheila Berger Mark, my brother is Alvin Berger, and we went to the circus on July 6, 1944. I brought my brother Alvin, age 10, my cousin Billy Cohen, 10, and my little cousin Jerry Brener, age 4. I was 14 at the time. I remember going to my grandmother’s to pick up my little cousin Jerry. I was supposed to bring his younger sister Judy who was three at the time.
We walked to Barbour Street where the circus was being held. As we entered, I started to go toward the right, but Alvin said “Oh no, let's go sit over here,” and he turned to the left. We all went to the left and climbed up quite high on the bleachers. Who knew? But that decision saved our lives. We were watching the aerial act taking place. As I looked up to the upper right side of the tent, I saw flames. I looked to my right and to my left. Both my brother and cousin Billy were gone. I grabbed my four-year-old cousin Jerry around the waist stood up and proceeded to go down the down the steps. I must have tripped or was bumped from behind because we fell down the steps together. With Jerry under my arm still we crawled toward the back of the tent. Someone was holding up the edge of the tent, helping people exit. Guess who? Alvin! We started to look for Billy because I was afraid to call home and say that I didn't have Billy with us. When we realized we couldn't find him, we went to a house to use a telephone. We stood in line, waiting our turn, and had to pay either $.10 or a quarter to use the phone. My mother was overjoyed to hear from us.
My father, who was working at the post office, had heard the news of the fire. At this time we had not yet called the house. He went to the armory where the bodies of the fire victims had been brought. Of course we were not among them; we went home. Billy had already run home to his house which was closer. We can only say how thankful we were that we escaped with our lives and only a minor injury when I fell and hit my nose somehow along the way down the bleachers. I did have nightmares for quite a long time after the fire. I am so thankful that as a 14 year old I was able to have the presence of mind to grab my cousin Jerry around the waist and pull him along with me. It's a very humbling experience to escape with your lives while so many others died.
-- Sheila Berger Mark
We walked to Barbour Street where the circus was being held. As we entered, I started to go toward the right, but Alvin said “Oh no, let's go sit over here,” and he turned to the left. We all went to the left and climbed up quite high on the bleachers. Who knew? But that decision saved our lives. We were watching the aerial act taking place. As I looked up to the upper right side of the tent, I saw flames. I looked to my right and to my left. Both my brother and cousin Billy were gone. I grabbed my four-year-old cousin Jerry around the waist stood up and proceeded to go down the down the steps. I must have tripped or was bumped from behind because we fell down the steps together. With Jerry under my arm still we crawled toward the back of the tent. Someone was holding up the edge of the tent, helping people exit. Guess who? Alvin! We started to look for Billy because I was afraid to call home and say that I didn't have Billy with us. When we realized we couldn't find him, we went to a house to use a telephone. We stood in line, waiting our turn, and had to pay either $.10 or a quarter to use the phone. My mother was overjoyed to hear from us.
My father, who was working at the post office, had heard the news of the fire. At this time we had not yet called the house. He went to the armory where the bodies of the fire victims had been brought. Of course we were not among them; we went home. Billy had already run home to his house which was closer. We can only say how thankful we were that we escaped with our lives and only a minor injury when I fell and hit my nose somehow along the way down the bleachers. I did have nightmares for quite a long time after the fire. I am so thankful that as a 14 year old I was able to have the presence of mind to grab my cousin Jerry around the waist and pull him along with me. It's a very humbling experience to escape with your lives while so many others died.
-- Sheila Berger Mark
...sister's sash got clawed by some animal...
I was 5 years old, accompanied by my twin sister and brother (8 years old), our grandmother and our housemaid. My recollections include racing out from the main tent center by the animal cages, fire roaring, people screaming. My sister's sash got clawed by some animal (lion?). My mother was the head of the Red Cross volunteers so she left her workplace (Lane Furniture Company) and helped with identifying the victims, aiding the families. My brother jumped down from the back of the tent and ran to a nearby house, called my Dad and he came to get us. We were all safe physically. The trauma had indelible impact on certainly my life.
- Alice Schaffer (now Smith)
- Alice Schaffer (now Smith)
...a woman frantically trying to reenter the tent against the crowd...
Francis J. and Aileen (Schultz) Gallagher of Middletown had been planning to take their five-year-old son Timothy to the circus as they had done the year before. However, the day was so hot that Frank did not want to go. After all, Tim had already seen the circus in 1943, and Frank knew the tent would be stifling. However, Aileen argued that Tim would remember the circus more than he did the year before since he was now a year older. She won out, and the three set off, along with Aileen’s brother, Carl W. Schultz.
When they got to the circus, they sat toward the far side of the tent from the entrance, just a few rows up in the bleachers since Aileen never liked heights. The fire broke out almost behind them. They understood the danger right away. There was an exit much closer than the main entrance, but Frank wanted to head away from the fire rather than toward it. He picked up Tim, and Carl helped Aileen. Because of their low seats, they got an earlier start than many others.
At first they were able to exit quickly, but the closer they got to the main entrance, they became one with a panicked crowd that was jostling to escape and jamming up at the door. Aileen’s pocketbook was wrenched away. Not far from the exit, Carl felt something at his feet. Realizing it was a child, he somehow managed to reach down and pull her up, a little girl, two or three years of age. Ahead he could see a woman frantically trying to reenter the tent against the crowd, screaming, “My baby! My baby!” Carl shouted, “I’ve got her! I’ll meet you outside." The four did get out but not before the tent was burning over their heads. There was pandemonium outside too, so much so that it took what seemed like fifteen or twenty minutes to find the mother and return the bruised but otherwise apparently uninjured child to her. By the time they were able to head for home, the circus tent and many lives were gone.
Word of the fire and terrible casualties spread quickly, and Front Street neighbors in Middletown knew the family was at the circus. They didn’t want to alarm Aileen’s mother, Augusta Schultz, who was sitting in the yard babysitting for the family’s one-year-old daughter, but they worried among themselves and waited on their porches, hoping for the family’s safe return. When they saw the car coming up the hill, they ran to the street and crowded around the car in relief. The family was among the very fortunate, just one pocketbook lost.
-- Kathleen Gallagher
When they got to the circus, they sat toward the far side of the tent from the entrance, just a few rows up in the bleachers since Aileen never liked heights. The fire broke out almost behind them. They understood the danger right away. There was an exit much closer than the main entrance, but Frank wanted to head away from the fire rather than toward it. He picked up Tim, and Carl helped Aileen. Because of their low seats, they got an earlier start than many others.
At first they were able to exit quickly, but the closer they got to the main entrance, they became one with a panicked crowd that was jostling to escape and jamming up at the door. Aileen’s pocketbook was wrenched away. Not far from the exit, Carl felt something at his feet. Realizing it was a child, he somehow managed to reach down and pull her up, a little girl, two or three years of age. Ahead he could see a woman frantically trying to reenter the tent against the crowd, screaming, “My baby! My baby!” Carl shouted, “I’ve got her! I’ll meet you outside." The four did get out but not before the tent was burning over their heads. There was pandemonium outside too, so much so that it took what seemed like fifteen or twenty minutes to find the mother and return the bruised but otherwise apparently uninjured child to her. By the time they were able to head for home, the circus tent and many lives were gone.
Word of the fire and terrible casualties spread quickly, and Front Street neighbors in Middletown knew the family was at the circus. They didn’t want to alarm Aileen’s mother, Augusta Schultz, who was sitting in the yard babysitting for the family’s one-year-old daughter, but they worried among themselves and waited on their porches, hoping for the family’s safe return. When they saw the car coming up the hill, they ran to the street and crowded around the car in relief. The family was among the very fortunate, just one pocketbook lost.
-- Kathleen Gallagher
...a guard yelled at him, “get out!”
1946 photo of Diane MacRae,
courtesy of her son, Dan Smith.
Both Donald (age 13) and Diane MacRae (age 11 or 12) lived on 204 Sergeant Street in Hartford with their mother, Virginia MacRae. Donald and Diane were given money by their mother to attend the circus and just the two of them took a bus from Sergeant Street to the Circus on July 6, 1944. There was a huge crowd at the circus that day. When they were in the “big top” around 10 rows up, both Donald and Diane saw the fire across from where they were sitting, then people started yelling “fire!”. Donald told his sister “Com’on!” and they hurriedly went down the benches to get out of the tent. People were pushing and shoving and crowding the exits. After Donald and Diane had exited the tent, Donald told his sister Diane that he was going back in to help people, but when he tried to go back in a guard yelled at him, “get out!” and directed them to go to a location away from the tent. Since they had spent all of their money on games and food, they didn’t have bus money for the return trip home. Donald had spoken with a gentleman earlier and had arranged a ride home, but in the panic they could not find the gentlemen or his automobile. Grown-ups kept yelling for Donald and Diane to get away and go home. So as they exited the circus grounds, Diane could smell the burning flesh and hair and remembers that even now.
Donald MacRae (center), visits a patient with Mayor Mortensen.
As Donald and Diane had to walk home, they got lost, but later found their way home, very much later than expected. The news of the fire must have been broadcast out because their mother had heard about it and since the two children were not home, their mother, Virginia MacRae went to the armory where the deceased bodies were being put and looked through them for her two children. Not finding them she returned home…and there they were, safe and sound, and ready for a scolding, then a huge hug of love and relief.
Donald apparently had told his mother that he was going to the hospital to visit with the children of the circus fire. He was a very stubborn and caring young boy and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer, so he left by himself to go to the hospital.
--Dan Smith (son of Diane MacRae)
Jupiter, FL
Donald apparently had told his mother that he was going to the hospital to visit with the children of the circus fire. He was a very stubborn and caring young boy and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer, so he left by himself to go to the hospital.
--Dan Smith (son of Diane MacRae)
Jupiter, FL
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