Topsy the Elephant
Encyclopedia
Topsy was a circus elephant
killed by electrocution on January 4, 1903.
and spent the last years of her life at Coney Island's
Luna Park. Because she had killed three men in as many years (including a severely abusive trainer who attempted to feed her a lit cigarette
), Topsy was deemed a threat to people by her owners and killed by electrocution
on January 4, 1903, at the age of 28. Inventor Thomas Edison
captured the event on film. He would release it later that year under the title Electrocuting an Elephant.
A means of killing initially discussed was hanging
. However, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
protested and other ways were considered. Edison then suggested electrocution with alternating current
, which had been used for the execution of humans
since 1890.
Topsy was fed carrots laced with 460 grams of potassium cyanide
before the deadly current from a 6,600-volt
AC source was sent coursing through her body. She was dead in seconds. The event was witnessed by an estimated 1,500 people and Edison's film of the event was seen by audiences throughout the United States
.
When Luna Park burned down in 1944, the fire was referred to as "Topsy's Revenge".
On July 20, 2003, a memorial for Topsy was erected at the Coney Island Museum.
for their EP Songs from Konijn Kok tells the tale of Topsy.
Topsy's electrocution is included in Christopher Bram
's novel The Notorious Dr. August, Kevin Baker's novel Dreamland
, and Nick Arvin
's collection of stories, In the Electric Eden.
Topsy was cited by Sara Gruen
, author of the 2007 book Water for Elephants
, as part of her inspiration for the fictional circus elephant Rosie.
On the sophomore release Keep in Mind Frankenstein
by Seattle indie-rock band Grand Archives
, the album opener entitled "Topsy's Revenge" is inspired by the event.
Topsy is a character in Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon
's poem "Plan B" from his September, 2010 book Maggot. Topsy was also the subject of W.S. Merwin's poem, "The Chain to Her Leg," published in the December 13, 2010 issue of The New Yorker
.
This event is referenced in the Sarah Ruhl
play In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
.
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
killed by electrocution on January 4, 1903.
Life
Topsy belonged to the Forepaugh CircusAdam Forepaugh
Adam John Forepaugh was an American entrepreneur, businessman, and circus owner. He owned and operated a circus from 1865 through 1890 under various names including Forepaugh's Circus, The Great Forepaugh Show, The Adam Forepaugh Circus, and Forepaugh & The Wild West.-Biography:Forepaugh was born...
and spent the last years of her life at Coney Island's
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
Luna Park. Because she had killed three men in as many years (including a severely abusive trainer who attempted to feed her a lit cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
), Topsy was deemed a threat to people by her owners and killed by electrocution
Electric shock
Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
on January 4, 1903, at the age of 28. Inventor Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
captured the event on film. He would release it later that year under the title Electrocuting an Elephant.
A means of killing initially discussed was hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. However, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing cruelty towards animals...
protested and other ways were considered. Edison then suggested electrocution with alternating current
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
, which had been used for the execution of humans
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
since 1890.
Topsy was fed carrots laced with 460 grams of potassium cyanide
Potassium cyanide
Potassium cyanide is an inorganic compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline compound, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications include jewelry for chemical gilding and...
before the deadly current from a 6,600-volt
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
AC source was sent coursing through her body. She was dead in seconds. The event was witnessed by an estimated 1,500 people and Edison's film of the event was seen by audiences throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
When Luna Park burned down in 1944, the fire was referred to as "Topsy's Revenge".
On July 20, 2003, a memorial for Topsy was erected at the Coney Island Museum.
Usage in popular works of art
Portions of Edison's film Electrocuting an Elephant have appeared in many works of art such as:- The 1979 movie Mr. Mike's Mondo VideoMr. Mike's Mondo VideoMr. Mike's Mondo Video was a 1979 movie conceived by Saturday Night Live writer/featured player Michael O'Donoghue.-Plot:Mondo Video was a spoof of the controversial 1962 documentary Mondo Cane, showing people doing weird stunts. The logo for this film copies the original Mondo Cane logo...
- The 1994 music video Stained and Lit by Red Red MeatRed Red MeatRed Red Meat was a '90s Chicago-area blues-influenced alternative rock band. After their break-up, frontman Tim Rutili went on to form Califone, for which many of Red Red Meat's former members, including producer Brian Deck, often record and perform...
- TourniquetTourniquetAn emergency tourniquet is a tightly tied band applied around a body part sometimes used in an attempt to stop severe traumatic bleeding. Tourniquets are also used during venipuncture and other medical procedures. Severe bleeding means the loss of more than 1,000 ml of blood. This flow of blood...
's music video for Ark of Suffering - Nine Inch NailsNine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
' 1997 ClosureClosure (Nine Inch Nails VHS)Closure is a double VHS set by Nine Inch Nails released in 1997. Closure is the 12th official Nine Inch Nails release. It consists of one tape of live concert and behind-the-scenes footage from the Self-Destruct tour and one tape of music videos....
VHS set. - Mr. DeathMr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. is a 1999 documentary film by Errol Morris about execution technician Fred A. Leuchter.-Plot:...
, Errol Morris'Errol MorrisErrol Mark Morris is an American director. In 2003, The Guardian put him seventh in its list of the world's 40 best directors. Also in 2003, his film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-Early life and...
1999 documentary about Fred A. LeuchterFred A. LeuchterFrederick A. Leuchter, Jr. is an American Federal Court qualified expert in execution technology and author of forensic Holocaust denial material. He claims to have improved the design of instruments for capital punishment and had execution equipment contracts with several states...
. - The 2000 movie HamletHamlet (2000 film)Hamlet is a 2000 American film written and directed by Michael Almereyda, set in contemporary New York City, and based on the Shakespeare play of the same name...
. - The 2004 short film "Pope Leo Electrocutes an Elephant"
- The 2006 song The Kid Who Collected Crimes! by The ResidentsThe ResidentsThe Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....
. - The 2006 movie Land of the BlindLand of the Blind (film)Land of the Blind is a 2006 drama film starring Donald Sutherland, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hollander and Lara Flynn Boyle.Land of the Blind is a dark political satire, based on several incidents throughout history in which tyrannical rulers were overthrown by new leaders who proved to be just as bad, if...
. - The 2008 show Elephants we must never forget by American artist Sue CoeSue CoeSue Coe is an English artist and illustrator working primarily in drawing and printmaking, often in the form of illustrated books and comics. She grew up close to a slaughterhouse and developed a passion to stop cruelty to animals. Coe studied at the Royal College of Art in London, lived in New...
at Gallery St. Etienne. - The 2008 music video Persist by All India RadioAll India Radio (band)All India Radio are an Australian electronic band. The music is lo-fi, down tempo and instrumental. Part live band, part studio-based project, All India Radio have released nine albums:* The Inevitable * 002 * All India Radio...
- The 2009 video game Assassin's Creed IIAssassin's Creed IIAssassin's Creed II is a historical third-person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It is the second video game installment of the Assassin's Creed series, and is a sequel to the 2007 video...
- The 2009 song Topsy's Revenge by Grand ArchivesGrand ArchivesGrand Archives is an American indie rock band that formed in Seattle. They were originally called Archives and are led by principal songwriter Mat Brooke, formerly of Carissa's Wierd and Band of Horses.-The Grand Archives:...
.
Other media
A song called "Coney Island Funeral" recorded by the history band PinatalandPiñataland
Piñataland is a Brooklyn-based musical group created by David Wechsler and Doug Stone. Their songs are often about obscure historical events and people, including, among others:*The pygmy Ota Benga...
for their EP Songs from Konijn Kok tells the tale of Topsy.
Topsy's electrocution is included in Christopher Bram
Christopher Bram
Christopher Bram is an American author.Bram grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia , where he was a paperboy and an Eagle Scout. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1974...
's novel The Notorious Dr. August, Kevin Baker's novel Dreamland
Dreamland (Kevin Baker)
Dreamland is a 1999 novel by American author Kevin Baker, published by HarperCollins Publishers. It centers on the colorful underworld of turn-of-the-century New York City, with much of the action taking place in the Coney Island amusement park of Dreamland.It is written about the adventure park...
, and Nick Arvin
Nick Arvin
Nick Arvin is an American engineer and writer. Born in North Carolina, he was raised in Michigan, and graduated from the University of Michigan and Stanford University with degrees in mechanical engineering, and from the Iowa Writers' Workshop...
's collection of stories, In the Electric Eden.
Topsy was cited by Sara Gruen
Sara Gruen
Sara Gruen is a Canada-born dual citizen author. Her books deal greatly with animals and she is a supporter of numerous charitable organizations that support animals and wildlife.-Early life and education:...
, author of the 2007 book Water for Elephants
Water for Elephants
Water for Elephants is a historical novel by Sara Gruen. Gruen originally wrote the novel as part of National Novel Writing Month.- Plot :...
, as part of her inspiration for the fictional circus elephant Rosie.
On the sophomore release Keep in Mind Frankenstein
Keep in Mind Frankenstein
Keep in Mind Frankenstein is the second full length album by Seattle's Grand Archives.- Track listing :# "Topsy's Revenge" - 3:42# "Witchy Park/Tomorrow Will " - 6:27# "Silver Among The Gold" - 3:57# "Oslo Novelist" - 3:51...
by Seattle indie-rock band Grand Archives
Grand Archives
Grand Archives is an American indie rock band that formed in Seattle. They were originally called Archives and are led by principal songwriter Mat Brooke, formerly of Carissa's Wierd and Band of Horses.-The Grand Archives:...
, the album opener entitled "Topsy's Revenge" is inspired by the event.
Topsy is a character in Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published over thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 - 2004. At Princeton University he is both the Howard G. B. Clark ’21 Professor in the Humanities and...
's poem "Plan B" from his September, 2010 book Maggot. Topsy was also the subject of W.S. Merwin's poem, "The Chain to Her Leg," published in the December 13, 2010 issue of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
This event is referenced in the Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.-Biography:Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. Originally, she intended to be a poet. However, after she studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University , she was convinced to switch to playwrighting...
play In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
In the Next Room is a play by Sarah Ruhl. It concerns the early history of the vibrator, when doctors used it as a clinical device to bring women to orgasm as treatment for "hysteria." Other themes include Victorian ignorance of female sexual desire, motherhood and breastfeeding, and jealousy...
.
See also
- Chunee
- Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
- List of historical elephants
- Mary (elephant)
- Shooting an ElephantShooting an Elephant"Shooting an Elephant" is an essay by George Orwell, first published in the literary magazine New Writing in the autumn of 1936 and broadcast by the BBC Home Service on 12 October 1948....
- Tyke (elephant)Tyke (elephant)Tyke was a female circus elephant who on August 20, 1994, in Honolulu, Hawaii, killed her trainer, Allen Campbell, and gored her groomer Dallas Beckwith causing severe injuries during a Circus International performance before hundreds of horrified spectators at the Neal Blaisdell Center...
- War of CurrentsWar of CurrentsIn the "War of Currents" era in the late 1880s, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison became adversaries due to Edison's promotion of direct current for electric power distribution over alternating current advocated by several European companies and Westinghouse Electric based out of Pittsburgh,...
External links
- Fiction: Topsy the Elephant published by The LA Weekly
- The Coney Island Museum, Brooklyn, NY
- When Animals Resist their Exploitation by Jason Hribal
- New York honours electrocuted elephant by BBC News
- Topsy: the Electrocuted Elephant, a comic strip.
- An elephant dies at Coney Island Ephemeral New York