1: Topsy the Elephant
Elephant Circus Performer Remembered for Being Electrocuted by Thomas Edison
Born: c.1875, Southeast Asia
Died: 4 January 1903, Coney Island, New York, United States of America
Topsy was one of several animals electrocuted using alternating current electricity. Topsy has long been seen as one of his many victims in what was dubbed “The Current War”—in which Thomas Edison pioneered direct current while his rivals, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, opted to back alternating current.
As the story goes, Thomas Edison began to record videos of various animals being killed by alternating current, in order to prove that AC was much more dangerous to use than direct current (DC).
However, some historians today take a different view—namely because “The Current War” had ended over a decade before Topsy was killed. At the time of Topsy’s death, many circuses across the United States, and around the world, employed wild elephants as performers. Many of those elephants would be killed or seriously maimed during their careers, because…well they are several thousand-pound wild animals that do not appreciate being forced to contort and perform for humans to the detriment of their own health. Crazy thought I know.
Topsy was captured somewhere in Southeast Asia in 1875, when she was only a few months old. After being illegally shipped to the United States, Topsy was purchased by the Forepaugh Circus—a direct competitor of Barnum and Bailey, both of whom were competing to see who could have the largest collection of elephants. Supposedly, Topsy was named after a slave girl in the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin who had the same name. Over the next few years, Topsy was sold and re-sold to various circuses around the country, growing a reputation for being more and more aggressive because of the serious abuse she suffered from handlers. Topsy was apparently famous for having a crooked tail, which had been caused by the abusive beatings she was given for misbehaving.
Topsy had been deemed to be too dangerous to continue working in the circus after she killed a man in May 1902. In Topsy’s defense, she killed the man after he burned her with the tip of a lit cigar. While Topsy’s owners initially thought about putting her down then and there, she was deemed too valuable to the circus for them to kill her. Instead, Topsy’s owners decided to make her more famous by labeling her a “man killer” in her shows. However, Topsy’s behavioral issues continued to get more and more severe.
Near the end of her life, Topsy ended up working at Coney Island’s new amusement park, Luna Park. Not only did Topsy perform in the shows, but her handlers also forced her to haul building materials and do other hard labor around the park, all while being subjected to physical abuse in order to make her work. At one point, one of Topsy’s handlers either become drunk and took her for a ride around the streets of Coney Island, or she somehow got loose on her own (sources differ). Either way, Topsy scared the heck out of the people of the island—and her reputation grew even more infamous as a result.
While her handlers had tried to get her under control through force by using pitchforks and other weapons, it was eventually decided that Topsy needed to be put down.
Originally Topsy’s handlers decided they wanted to hang her, as had been done to other elephants throughout history, but the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals protested the hanging idea. The method of execution ended up being Alternating Current electricity. The SPCA had previously advocated for electrocuting smaller animals, but never anything as big as an elephant before.
At the time, no other elephants had ever been killed via electrocution before. Because the handlers were uncertain that the electricity would be enough to kill poor Topsy, she ended up also being fed carrots laced with cyanide before a rope was put around her neck. Then her feet were placed in copper-soled sandals to help facilitate the flow of electricity. It took just ten seconds of continual electrical flow into Topsy’s body before she fell over and died.
In order for enough electricity to be provided for her death, Topsy’s handlers contacted the local power company, Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Brooklyn, to provide the 6,600 volts of electricity needed to kill Topsy. Even though the power company had Edison in the name, the organization had nothing to do with Thomas Edison personally and only used his last name because of an association with the Edison system of electrical power generation pioneered by the scientist. Many power companies across the United States used “Edison” in their name because of this, but again, Thomas Edison himself wasn’t actually involved in the creation of the various power companies using his name.
How many spectators came out to witness Topsy’s death is also a matter of speculation. Newspaper accounts differ, saying anywhere from just reporters and the videographers, to several dozen, to up to 1,500 people. What is known for certain is that Thomas Edison was not in the crowd witnessing Topsy’s death.
Even though many of us have been taught over the years that Thomas Edison had a direct involvement in Topsy’s death, this is not actually true. Today, no surviving correspondence from Thomas Edison ever mentions Topsy or her story, and there is no evidence he ever saw the film of her death or had anything to do with it either. There are also no surviving newspaper accounts or documents from the time of Topsy’s death implicating him in her execution either. What is known is that his company sent a crew to film Topsy’s death, but that does not necessarily mean the execution was ordered by Edison himself. There is also no evidence that Thomas Edison ever even saw the film “Executing an Elephant”* even though his name is listed in the credits. As explained by the Rutgers—New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences:
“Although he was the president of the Edison Manufacturing Co., which, among other things, oversaw the film company, day-to-day operations were in the hands of the vice president and general manager William E. Gilmore.”
Thomas Edison may not have been directly involved in Topsy's death, but it is clear other members of the electric company were--whether from the perspective of the crew filming her death or the power company workers who attached the electrodes to her. Who should be held most directly responsible, however, were her handlers and owners at Luna Park who decided to murder an innocent wild animal who was only responding to the cruelty shown to her.
Rest in Peace Topsy--this world was much too cruel for you.
*The film can be viewed on YouTube today, but I must warn you it is not for the faint of heart. I chose not to include it in this article because it is very graphic and heartbreaking, but should you choose to watch it, like I said, the video is now available on YouTube.
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Find a Grave Marked
Sources:
https://edison.rutgers.edu/life-of-edison/essaying-edison/essay/myth-buster-topsy-the-elephant
https://owlcation.com/humanities/the-life-and-death-of-topsy-the-elephant