Jan. 4, 1903: Edison Fries an Elephant to Prove His Point

[David Morris]

> BAD ELEPHANT KILLED.
> Topsy Meets Quick and Painless Death at Coney Island.
>
> Topsy, the ill-tempered Coney Island elephant, was put to death in Luna Park, Coney Island, yesterday afternoon. The execution was witnessed by 1,500 or more curious persons
>[...]
> Topsy was brought to this country twenty-eight years ago by the Forepaugh Circus, and has been exhibited throughout the United States. She was ten feet high and 19 feet 11 inches in length. Topsy developed a bad temper two years ago and killed two keepers in Texas. Last spring, when the Forepaugh show was in Brooklyn, J. F. Blount, a keeper,

***tried to feed a lighted cigarette to her.***

She picked him up with her trunk and dashed him to the ground, killing
him instantly.

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Forepaugh (could even Pynchon have imagined this name?) was a BAD
Circus, and Topsy was a MAD elephant (wouldn't YOU be?):

http://www.circusinamerica.org/public/corporate_bodies/public_show/4

While independently successful for twenty-seven years, audiences grew
wary of his shows, where grifting, short-changing and pickpockets ran
rife. Forepaugh's unscrupulous business practices created a market
niche for "Sunday School Shows" like Ringling Bros. and P.T. Barnum,
shows that would eventually outshine and outlast the Forepaugh Circus.