The Forepaugh Circus
Adam Forepaugh made his fortune selling horses during the Civil War. He entered the circus business to make a profit and was an innovative competitor of Barnum and the Ringling Brothers.
In 1869 Forepaugh was the fist circus to use a double big top one for the show, one to display the menagerie for an extra admission charge. In 1881 Forepaugh sponsored a search for “The Most Beautiful Woman in America” to find talent and draw a paying crowd at the same time. Forepaugh was the first circus to incorporate a Wild West Show.
Adam Forepaugh eschewed tobacco and alcohol, applied modern business practices to the circus, and, to extract maxim profits from the crowd Forepaugh franchised crooked midway games, short change artists, pickpockets, and confidence games.
Elephants on Parade
Among the elephants on display at Luna Park was ten foot tall, six ton Asian elephant Topsy. In her prime she was a star; photographed riding a tricycle for Life magazine; under the big top she would wear a chiffon tu-tu standing on her rear legs and she had her own trainer Gus. As new animals came along Gus paid her less and less attention. Now, past her prime, Topsy was used mainly for labor.
Topsy Kills Two Men Tormenting Her
In 1900 two workers were drinking in the menagerie tent where they shoveled 1000 pounds of dung per elephant per day. One of the drunks, J. Fielding Blunt, walked up to Topsy. Expecting to be fed Topsy opened her mouth; as a joke Blunt placed a lit cigarette into Topsy’s open mouth.
Unable to scream, Topsy trumpeted in pain and anger at her tormenters, Topsy’s trumpeting brought Gus running into the tent. Unable to spit out the burning cigarette Topsy exploded in pain and rage.
One of the drinkers was leaning against the massive main tent pole. Topsy lifted him with her trunk and threw him against the pole smashing bones. Topsy grabbed Blunt with her trunk, held him down then crushed his head with her foot like a cigarette butt, mixing his brains with the dung on the floor.
Breaking the Color Barrier on Coney Island
Unable to find a white man to take the job of elephant trainer that included a “mad elephant” Forepaugh crossed the color barrier and gave the great animal trainer Moses Eph Thompson, a black man, his first job appearing in public as an elephant trainer. Under Thompson’s care Topsy was calm and well behaved.
In 1902 alcoholic elephant trainer Frederick (Whitey) Ault got out of the Coney Island Police Station after spending the night for public dunkeness. Ault got drunk, mounted topsy, used the sharp steel prod of his elephant hook to force Topsy to chase the officer who had arrested him, then drove Topsy down Surf Avenue, using his elephant hook to force Topsy to batter in the Coney Island Police Station door, forcing the officers to seek safety in the jail cells. Topsy was blamed for an associated death
Topsy at the Cross Currents of History, Public Safety and Profit
An elephant that attacked a police station was a threat to public safety and bad for business. Topsy was ordered destroyed. To compensate himself for the loss of a valuable asset Forepaugh proposed hanging Topsy in public so he could sell tickets to the event. This brought public protests led by the ASPCA and an alternate method of killing Topsy was sought.
Edison Gives Topsy the Westinghouse Treatment
The Edison Electric Illuminating Co. had obtained the street light and electrical supply franchise for many sections of New York City including Coney Island. Thomas Alva Edison had a vested economic interest in the long term use of his obsolete 36 Volt Direct Current electrical system which was being rapidly replaced by the Westinghouse 110 Volt Alternating Current system in use today. Coney Island was to become a dazzling display of turning back the night with 36 Volt Direct Current electricity supplied by Edison.
To protect his cash cow Edison had conducted a massive negative publicity campaign. To demonstrate the dangers of AC in the home Edison had performed and filmed public electrocutions of cats, dogs and horses. Edison also used his invention of moving pictures to show the animals being “Westinghoused.” Edison promoted the electric chair and had supplied the AC generator that ran the first electric chair for the first execution by electrocution in 1890.
The Electrocution of Topsy the Elephant
On January 4, 1903 at 1:30 PM Edison Employee D.P. Sharkey fitted Topsy with copper lined wooden sandals and an electrode studded harness provided by Edison. Park employees then led Topsy to a scaffold originally built to hang her. Topsy was roped into place with hawsers. A photograph was taken. Sharkey connected the 6600 volt AC generator provided by Edison to Topsy.
The event was filmed by the Edison Moving Picture Company. To avoid embarrassment in front of the 1500 paying witnesses Topsy was fed 460 grams of potassium cyanide hidden in carrots. At 2:45 PM, as the camera rolls, Topsy appears to be enjoying the attention. The current is activated. Her legs twitch; she goes stiff; smoke comes from her feet; in secondsTopsy falls to her right as she dies.
The “Commercial Advertiser” reported “The big beast died without a trumpet or a groan.” “The New York Times” stated “There had been no sound and hardly a conscious movement of the body.”
Edison distributed a 24 second film: “Electrocuting an Elephant.” Topsy’s tusks were sold for ivory, her skin was removed and tanned, her feet were made into umbrella stands and her tail was made into a fly swatter.
Sources:
I am not Jackson Pollock Elephant, John Haskell, Picador Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2004; Elephant Feelings, Topsy Needy
The New York Times, July 13, 2003, They Didn't Forget, Tom Vanderbilt
Ypsilanti Gleanings, Eph Thompson - Elephant Trainer, George Ridenour April 5, 2010.
The Circus in America, Circus: Adam Forepaugh Circus, 1867-1894
Wired Jan. 4, 2008 1903: Edison Fries an Elephant to Prove His Point Tony Long
History by Zim, Topsy the Elephant, January 4, 2012
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