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"It was like a catastrophic disaster. People were dying in corridors. The staff was overwhelmed." -Doctor Curtiss Hickcox

Flames burst into the air as the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus tent caught on fire. Thousands of people were gathered in the stands and on the stage, injured and hurt as trapeze equipment came crashing down. Since many people were injured and needed immediate medical attention, they were rushed to Municipal Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. After ambulances arrived at the hospital, Dr. Curtiss B. Hickcox, the head of the anesthesia department at Municipal Hospital, administered medicine, including anesthesia, to many of the patients from the fire. Some patients were then transferred to Hartford Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital, both also in Hartford, Connecticut.

A Picture Gallery including victims from the fire, the fire itself, and anesthesia

A news article from the New York Times Newspaper about The Hartford Circus Fire in 1944

Edith M. Waterhouse

A woman named Edith M. Waterhouse also administered anesthesia to patients that day since she attended Yale University's School of Nurse Anesthesiology. She used her anesthesia education to help the victims of the fire feel a relief of pain, since they had been severely burned and injured. Unfortunately, 169 people died. Of the 600 who were injured, anesthesia helped ease their immense pain.

Some of the victims of The Hartford Circus Fire

Interesting Fact:

 

 

Little Miss 1565 was buried near the Circus Fire Memorial but no one knew her name. Sergeants Thomas Barber and Edward Lowe spent 47 years trying to figure out what her real name was. Then in 1991, she was identified as Eleanor Emily Cook. Eleanor's aunt and uncle had seen the body, but had not recognized her. 

Eleanor Emily Cook, also known as Little Miss 1565

Eleanor Emily Cook's body with many severe burns from The Hartford Circus Fire

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