Circus Tragedy 1944
Photo legend history, a fire breaks out under the Hartford, Connecticut big top of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus. The disaster killed 167 people and left 682 injured. The cause of the fire was unknown, but it spread at incredible speed, racing up the canvas of the circus tent. Scarcely before the 8,000 spectators inside the big top could react, patches of burning canvas began falling on them from above, and a stampede for the exits began. Many were trapped under fallen canvas, but most were able to rip through it and escape. However, after the tent’s ropes burned and its poles gave way, the whole burning big top came crashing down, consuming those who remained inside. Within 10 minutes it was over, and because of a picture that appeared in newspapers of clown Emmett Kelly holding a water bucket, the event became colloquially known as "the day the clowns cried." An investigation later revealed that the tent had undergone a treatment with flammable paraffin thinne...