THE BALLOON MAN

Canton’s Henry Bahre Recalls 1944 Circus Fire
“People Were Going Crazy.”


This Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey poster hangs in the entry way to Henry Bahre's real estate office in Canton.
Credit Sylvia Cancela
from: canton-ct.patch.com
By Sylvia Cancela
June 30, 2012
There were 300 men, women and children from the Farmington Valley at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Big Top Circus on the afternoon of July 6, 1944.
Nine of the 300 — witnesses to one of the worst circus fires in the history of the industry — would perish that day. Five more would survive with terrible burns on their bodies. Many more would get out alive.
Jean and Henry Bahre were two of those survivors.

Henry Bahre at 82.
Credit Sylvia Cancela
About Town asked Henry Bahre, now 82 years old and owner of Henry J. Bahre Real Estate in Canton, for his recollections.
AT: Do you still have memories of that day?
HB: My memories are still pretty vivid; actually perfect. I went to the Circus that day with a relative, Mr. George Tezinge. His wife was my mother's sister. He had come up from New York to visit and asked if my sister Jean and I would like to go to the Circus.
AT: The Herald reported that you were at the Circus with several other young people from Canton
HB: No, the rest of the people who were there from Canton weren't sitting with our party. It was just Mr. Tezinge, me and my sister Jean who sat together.

 

Animal cages trapped many trying to escape.
Credit The Herald, July, 1944.
AT: When did you realize there was a fire in the tent?
HB: All of a sudden, we saw that the east side of the tent was on fire. We were sitting on the west side of the tent, on the 10th row in the bleachers.
I can still see it today. The fire was going up the tent and widening out as it went up. Then, it hit the paraffin and went flying up the side of the tent.
read more at:
http://canton-ct.patch.com/articles/canton-s-henry-bahre-recalls-1944-circus-fire#c