Hartford Circus Fire

[Jim Eshelman]

July 6, 1944, 2:23 PM, Hartford, Conn. (41N47'42", 72W40'28")

"...one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States" and called "the day the clowns cried." A Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus performance attended by 6,000-8,000 people (mostly women and children) had a fire in which 167 died and over 700 others were injured. One witness said the deaths all happened in about 10 minutes.

This was during an afternoon performance. I don't have an exact time, and will estimate 3 PM.
AMENDED: I found a video documentary that described the show as already underway at 2:23 PM, and seems to be saying this is when the fire first appeared.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Meln3N13OM

Year: Capsolar (Dormant.)
Moon-Venus sq. 1°49'
Moon-Saturn sq. 1°18' in mundo

Year: Cansolar (Dormant, with planets more than 3°, less than 4°, from angles.) Moon-Mercury op. 0°36'. Moon-Sun op. 1°28'.

Bridge {+3}
CapQ Moon sq. s/p Saturn 5/5-7/7
CanQ Moon op. s Pluto 6/23-7/11
t Pluto op. CanQ Moon 6/1-7/16
-- Mo-Pl variants 6/1-7/16
CanQ Moon sq. s/p Mars 5/24-7/16
Event window: Jun 1 to Jul 7

Quarter: Arisolar {+2}
Mercury on Dsc 2°32'
-- Mercury-Saturn sq. 2°02' PVP
Jupiter more widely foreground
Moon-Saturn op. 2°43' in mundo

Month: Caplunar {+2}
(Moon was 29° Sagittarius for the event, so this is a great example of cut-off.)
Pluto on Asc +0°56'
-- Sun-Pluto sq. 0°50' PVP
Mars on Asc -5°00'
-- Mars-Pluto conj. 3°29'
Moon very widely foreground

The new Caplunar at 5:12 PM that day was also dormant - so no lunar ingresses were "live" after that time. It had only a Moon-Mercury opposition.

Week: Liblunar (Dormant.)
Week: Canlunar (Dormant.)
Week: Arilunar (Dormant.)

Day: Capsolar Quotidian {+2}
p Moon sq. p Saturn 1°00' (sep.), s Saturn 0°58'
p MC conj. p Sun 0°30', s Sun 0°59'

Day: Cansolar Quotidian {+3}
p Moon op. s Pluto 0°49', sq. p Mars 0°07', s Mars 0°48'
-- s Mars-Pluto sq. 0°01'
t Pluto op. p Moon 0°21'
p MC op. t Neptune 0°25', s Neptune 1°34'; sq. t Saturn 0°55'
-- t Saturn-Neptune sq. 0°30'
p Asc conj. t Mercury 0°15', op. t Moon 1°47'
-- t Mercury-Neptune co-angularity 0°10'


SUMMARY
Year (Capsolar): (Dormant.) Moon-Venus Moon-Saturn.
Year (Cansolar): (Dormant.) Moon-Sun Moon-Mercury.
Bridge {+3}: Saturn (Cap). Mars Pluto (Can).
Quarter {+2}: Mercury (Jupiter). Moon-Saturn Mercury-Saturn.
Month (+2): Pluto (Moon Mars). Sun-Pluto Mars-Pluto.
Week (Liblunar): (Dormant.)
Week (Canlunar): (Dormant.)
Week (Arilunar): (Dormant.)
Day (CapQ, +2): Sun. Moon-Saturn.
Day (CanQ, +3: Moon Mercury Saturn Neptune. Moon-Mars Moon-Pluto x2 Moon-Mars Mercury-Neptune Saturn-Neptune.

[Jim Eshelman]

Garth Allen, in 1957, named this event, in passing, as one of the many in 1944 for which "the Sidereal ingresses... [called] for lethal turns accurately in every case." Though the paragraph where he wrote this seems to be talking about Mars transits, let's see what he could have seen given how he looked at the charts at that point in time.

The Capsolar and Cansolar were dormant, so he would have seen little contribution. The Arisolar would not have looked descriptive.

CAPLUNAR: Pluto rising (0°56') conjunct Mars (more widely angular). Good!

For the day, he wasn't paying attention to Moon aspects in particular, so nothing in the CapQ or Cap transits would have presented itself. He didn't yet believe that any ingress was progressible, so the CanQ wouldn't have impressed him. That leaves nothing for the days and, primarily, just the Caplunar to nail it.

I looked to see if he was playing loose with orbs but, no, neither transiting nor ingress Mars was even close to any angles of the Capsolar, Cansolar, or CapQ.

So he was really relying on that Caplunar for his statement.