Topsy (elephant)

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Topsy, illustration from 1902

Topsy (* around 1867 , † January 4, 1903 ) was a female circus elephant . Topsy died from electrocution , the electric chair procedure .

Life

Topsy was part of Forepaugh Circus and spent her final years in Luna Park on Coney Island . Her origin is unknown, she is said to have come to the United States at the age of 8. In 1903 she was 36 years old (according to other reports 28), weighed 6 tons and was a good 3 m high and almost 6 m long. Topsy had previously toured the United States for a few years with Forepaugh Circus . In 1900 and 1901 she killed three men, including one of her guards who, it is said, tried to feed her with a lit cigarette. Most recently she was used as a working elephant in Luna Park. Only her last orderly, Frederick Ault, could handle her; However, he was considered unreliable and in December 1902, drunk, led the elephant from the park into the city. On December 6, 1902, the New York Times reported this incident with the elephant.

death

The execution Topsys in by the Edison Manufacturing Co. produced film electrocuting an elephant .

The amusement park owners, Frederick Thompson and Elmer Dundy, believed Topsy was a danger because of her history in combination with the unreliable carer and decided to kill the animal. They initially planned to execute Topsy by hanging, but the American Animal Welfare Association objected. They then agreed to carry out an electrocution with a company named "Edison Company" in the newspaper report of the New York Times , which is probably the New York-based The New York Edison Company . The company was New York's electric utility, but was no longer owned by Thomas Alva Edison in 1903 . The historical report in the New York Times mentions the delivery of electricity for Electrocution from a New York power station. The execution was carried out on January 4, 1903. For this purpose, Topsy was fed carrots with added 30 grams (460 grain) of potassium cyanide . She was then killed by applying a voltage of 6600 volts; she died within a minute. Topsy stood with the right forefoot and the left rear foot on specially made electrodes.

An estimated 1,500 people attended the event. The newspapers, including The New York Times , covered the event. The Edison Manufacturing Company filmed the action in a received film for their kinetoscope business .

The remains of the elephant were allegedly sold by the owners to a man by the name of Hubert H. Vogelsang before the killing, who stated, among other things, that he wanted to make umbrella stands from the feet. Spectators and reporters watched the elephant being cut up. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of Topsy's remains.

Aftermath

Similar to the circus elephant Jumbo , who collided with a locomotive in 1885, or Mary , who was hanged in 1916, Topsy is now on the World Wide Web. On July 20, 2003, a memorial to her was erected at the Coney Island Museum , which the New York Times used as an opportunity to commemorate the events of 1903. Topsy and her killing were the subject of the series Bob's Burgers , episode "Topsy" (season 3, episode 16).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The New York Times ; Commercial Advertiser Topsy the Electrocuted Elephant , accessed December 22, 2008
  2. ^ Online archive The New York Times : ELEPHANT TERRORIZES CONEY ISLAND POLICE. December 6, 1902 , accessed December 19, 2008
  3. ^ A brief history of con edison , accessed December 21, 2008
  4. ↑ a b c online archive The New York Times : CONEY ELEPHANT KILLED; Topsy Overcome with Cyanide of Potassium and Electricity. January 5, 1903 , accessed December 19, 2008
  5. ↑ The film business with Kinetograph and Kinetoscope was at the time a main source of revenue of the group Thomas Alva Edison Inc. The Edison Manufacturing Co. had a studio in Manhattan and filmed for the Kinetoscope business local events in New York and with theater professionals designed scenic views. See also The Edison Papers: Edison's Companies and kino.com : Thomas Edison, The Invention of the Movies , accessed December 21, 2008
  6. ^ Online archive The New York Times : Tom Vanderbilt: CITY LORE; They Didn't Forget , July 13, 2003 , accessed December 12, 2008
  7. ↑ Bob's Burgers Topsy , March 10, 2013. From: IMDb (accessed November 15, 2015)