Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy)
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Luna Park in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy)


Identification


Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀ 28 years old

People killed:	3
Origin
Born:	* 1875 wild
Birth place:	in Asia unspecified location
Death
Dead:	†1903-01-04
Death reason:	euthanised: electrocution with 6,600 volts by Thomas Edison
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Luna Park, in United States

Date of arrival

1902-00-00	Luna Park from Forepaugh-Sells Show

Record history
History of updates	2013-07-01: book 2025-03-14: Born in Asia

Latest document update	2025-03-14 15:10:46
Google map

† Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy) is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1903-01-04 at Luna Park, in United States, . Official death reason described as electrocution with 6,600 volts by Thomas Edison.

Casualties

1 casualties

1902-05-27: visitor James Fielding Blount fatal attack by Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy). threw Blount to the ground with her Trunk and then crushed him with either her head, knees, or foot, or some combination thereof. † James Fielding Blount Died 1902-05-27, Brooklyn.

Origin

Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy) was born wild 1875 at Asia unspecified location.

Comments / pictures

Records about Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy) from William "Buckles" Woodcocks Blog at http://www.bucklesw.blogspot.com/
Early the following season in Brooklyn, "4-Paw Topsy" killed a man named Fielding Mount who was visiting the show. She was donated to nearby Coney Island Park but after a futile attempt to handle her, she was executed by electrocution, an event filmed by the Thomas Edison Movie Co.

William "Buckles" Woodcock

Topsy (born circa 1875, died January 4, 1903), was a domesticated elephant with the Forepaugh Circus at Coney Island's Luna Park. Due to her having killed three men in as many years, Topsy was deemed a threat to people by her owners and put down via electrocution on January 4, 1903. Inventor Thomas Edison captured the event on film. He would release it later that year under the title, Electrocuting an Elephant.

An initial means of execution discussed was hanging. However, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals protested and other ways were considered. Edison then suggested electrocution, in order to discredit the use of AC electricity that was cutting into the market for his DC electricity. Edison then convinced the ASPCA that this would be more humane.

Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy) in Luna Park

Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy) in Luna Park

To augment the execution, Topsy was fed carrots laced with 460 grams of potassium cyanide before 6,600 volts of electricity were sent coursing through her body. She was dead in well under a minute. 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.

Luna Park burned down in a spectacular fire in 1944.

On July 20, 2003, a memorial for Topsy was erected at the Coney Island Museum.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL).
It uses material from the Wikipedia article " Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy)
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Luna Park in United States".

Videofilm: Electrocuting an Elephant, Thomas Edison

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Topsy (4-Paw Topsy, Crooked-tail Topsy), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Luna Park in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 26 April 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=2434. (archived at the Wayback machine)