The Tragic Story of Topsy, an Executed Circus Elephant
A casualty in the battle between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison over the control of the current.
A baby elephant from Southeast Asia was smuggled into the United States. While it was there, the elephant, which had been turned into a circus animal, got into a few accidents, one of which killed a person watching.
The elephant was then put to death in a cruel way. This is the sad story of Topsy, which also involved Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, two of the world’s most famous inventors.
Topsy was an elephant who was born in Southeast Asia around 1875. She was brought to the U.S. illegally when she was a baby, and Forepaugh Circus used her as an act. Forepaugh’s circus said that Topsy was the first elephant born in America, which was not true.
Topsy was a performing elephant for many years, and after killing a circus audience member in 1902, he was known as a dangerous elephant. Her dangerous nature was a direct result of how she was trained and how badly she was treated over the years. Back then, the person in charge of the circus animals was…
