Mary known as "Murderous Mary", was a five-ton Asian elephant who performed in the Sparks World Famous Shows circus. Clinchfield could use two engines to crush Mary, or the derrick could be used for hanging her. One man unloaded his pistol into Mary, but the bullets couldn't penetrate her thick hide. The townspeople chanted, "Kill the elephant!" This is where Murderous Mary, a five-ton cow elephant with the Sparks Brothers Circus, was hung by the neck from Derrick Car 1400 on September 13, 1916. The show’s star attraction, a five-ton Asian elephant named Mary, suddenly stopped. Mary was a five-ton Asian elephant, also known as Murderous Mary, who performed in the Sparks World Famous Shows circus. 106 years later, we might finally find out for sure. After killing a trainer in Kingsport, Tennessee, she was hanged in 1916. The problem was how to kill a five ton elephant without risking the lives of those trying to kill her. Mary was a five ton Asian elephant who performed for the Sparks World Famous Show circus. Kingsport officials quickly “arrested” Mary and held her outside the county jail. Her death, which was filmed, was truly grotesque. Did Edison really electrocute Topsy the Elephant? Her death is sometimes interpreted as a cautionary tale of circus animal abuse during the early 20th century. She went into a rage, snatched Eldridge with her trunk, threw him against a drink … The story of why and how Mary died is, of course, obscured by time and countless retelling: an example of the best and worst of oral history. Her death is sometimes interpreted as a cautionary tale of circus animal abuse during the early 20th century. Late in the summer, Louis Reed, the regular elephant trainer, had to leave the show.

Let’s kill the elephant!” A local blacksmith, Hench Cox, shot Mary five times with a small-caliber rifle but did little harm to Mary who seemed to … The townspeople chanted, "Kill the elephant!" Witnesses say Mary calmed down immediately after killing Eldridge but regardless, panicked onlookers began shouting, “Kill the elephant! It received national coverage in the newspapers, and the Edison Manufacturing Co. sent a film crew to document it. Eldridge led the elephant parade riding on the top of Mary’s back; Mary was the star of the show, riding at the front. A review of the Leo Frank case could reopen old wounds—and exonerate an innocent man The town that hanged an elephant: A chilling photo and a macabre story of murder and revenge. Within minutes, local blacksmith Hench Cox tried to kill Mary, firing five rounds with little effect. Topsy in a June 16, 1902 St. Paul Globe illustrations for a story about the elephant killing spectator Jesse Blount. The newspapers had already nicknamed the elephant “Murderous Mary,” and claimed that she had killed before. Meanwhile, Charlie Sparks and his circus staff had an upsetting decision to make about Mary’s future. There have been several accounts of his death. Topsy (circa 1875 – January 4, 1903) was a female Asian elephant who was killed by electrocution at Coney Island, New York, in January 1903.Born in Southeast Asia around 1875, Topsy was secretly brought into the United States soon thereafter and added to the herd of performing elephants at the Forepaugh Circus, who fraudulently advertised her as the first elephant born in America. Most accounts indicate that she calmed down afterward and didn't charge the onlookers, who began chanting, "Kill the elephant!" Shooting was out as there was no gun in the region powerful enough to guarantee to kill the elephant quickly, thus somewhat humanely, and there was some concern that if they simply fired a bunch of guns owned by all the townspeople at her, that Mary might rampage, possibly killing more people. Meanwhile, the leaders of several nearby towns threatened not to allow the circus to visit if Mary was included. Mary was a 5 ton heavy female asian elephant hanged in Erwin, Tennessee, after killing the elephant groom Walter "Red" Eldridge, in Kingsport, in 12th of September 1916. The witnesses and nearby crowd of people had started chanting, “Kill the elephant!”, leaving Sparks alarmed. It is arguably the most famous animal execution ever—the killing of Topsy the elephant at Luna Park on Coney Island in January 1903. Kingsport or Erwin did not have enough electrical power for an electrocution.

One, recounted by W.H. The electrocution of Topsy on Coney Island in 1903 was provoked by a series of incidents that gained for her an unenviable reputation as a “bad” elephant. The circus owner, Charlie Sparks, reluctantly decided that the only way to quickly resolve the potentially ruinous situation was to kill the wounded elephant in public.

In 1903, an elephant [named Topsy*] had been electrocuted at Coney Island, with the help of Thomas Edison.

A menagerie of animals from Sparks Circus paraded through the small town of Kingsport, Tenn., just a few miles from the Virginia border. Charlie Sparks's travelling circus visited Kingsport, Tennessee, in 1916 Did Leo Frank kill Mary Phagan? After killing a trainer in Kingsport, Tennessee, she was hanged in 1916. The townspeople chanted, "Kill the elephant!"