It was only because of a mistake by the animal trainer that the circus beast went berserk, and in the end, the town thought of hanging it in order to execute the beast. And the truth behind the giant beast's injury was also revealed, and the town was also named a shame.
Located in Kingsbert, Tennessee, it is an unknown town in the eastern part of the United States, where the scenery is beautiful, the climate is pleasant, and it is full of unique eastern style. With the development of the industrial revolution at the beginning of the last century, the town was gradually connected to the railway, and entered a new era.
On September 12, 1916, the townspeople gathered in the streets early in the morning to celebrate the opening of the town's first fair. What's even more exciting is that the famous Sparks Circus in the United States will also come to town on this day to put on a wonderful show for everyone.
The circus is home to a variety of large animals, but the most striking of them all is an elephant named Mary. Clever and docile, it possesses many incredible skills, not only can it walk upside down but is also very good at playing wind instruments, such talents and talents are extremely rare even in circuses of the same level.
In the afternoon, the instructors rode slowly through the block on an elephant herd, and it was Mary the elephant at the front of the team. Just when people were cheering and shocked by the behemoth in front of them, a scene appeared that made everyone count down. The humble elephant suddenly let out a terrible roar, and it violently curled up the animal trainer with its nose, and in an instant threw him more than 3 meters high, and trampled his head in half after waiting for it to land.
Looking at the convulsive human body in front of her, Mary was still not satisfied, and she repeatedly pierced the victim's body with her tusks to confirm whether the other person was really dead. Charlie, the owner of the circus, heard the agitation ahead and immediately rushed to the scene of the accident, and he saw the animal tamer lying in a pool of blood at a glance.
Accompanied by the frightened screams of countless people around him, people's voices came and went, and gradually unified into a terrified cry: kill the elephant. The shouts spread to the hundreds, and soon echoed throughout the neighborhood. Mary's frenzied reporting and horrific descriptions of the scene made almost everyone in Tennessee aware of these horrific victimizations.
Angry crowds filled the town square, taking over all the streets, all of Mary's atrocities. In order to appease the people's near madness, the local ** demanded that the circus must immediately execute the ** elephant, otherwise it would never want to perform any performances in other cities.
Charlie was anxious to receive the report, and after his investigation, the horrific tragedy was entirely caused by the inexperience of the dead animal trainer Eldridge. On the day of the performance, Mary saw several pieces of watermelon peels scattered during the procession, and when she instinctively tried to go up and pick them up, Elder beat her up several times. It was under the unbearable pain that Mary finally provoked her to resist.
But now, how can these countless angry crowds in front of them understand an elephant. Mary was sold to Charlie's family at the age of 4 and grew up with him for more than 20 years, making it difficult for him to choose, both emotionally and financially. But if Mary is not executed, not only will the circus be closed, but it is also likely that human life will fall out of control.
He thought about it for a long time and finally agreed to the request of the local **, and appeased the anger of the people by carrying out a public execution of Mary. Killing a 5-ton beast was not an easy task under the circumstances. The nearby residents also immediately launched a fierce ** after hearing the news, and they were extremely excited to give advice to the circus.
The first thing that comes to mind is to use bullets to attack Mary's deadly area, which is the most convenient method. But the problem is that the lethality of firearms at that time was limited, and it was difficult to guarantee that the elephant would be killed instantly, and at the same time, there were many onlookers at the scene, and it was very likely that the grenade would hurt people.
The second method was electrocution, but the use of electricity during this period was not well developed, and it was difficult to create an instantaneous electric current to kill an elephant, even if it consumed the electricity of an entire town. Since the mainstream approach could not be implemented, someone thought of a new approach.
Mary's front legs and hind legs were tied to two trains traveling in opposite directions, and it was dismembered by great force to achieve the purpose of execution. This method is highly feasible, but it is too bloody for Charlie to accept, and it is likely to have a psychological impact on the people at the scene.
After countless doctrines were abandoned, they finally found the best way to hang the elephant alive with a rail-mounted industrial crane, which in their opinion was the only way to be both humane and fully demonstrative.
Just one day after the Sept. 13 incident, a 100-ton heavy starter was deployed to the town of Irvine, near Kingsport. More than 2,500 spectators also gathered excitedly to welcome this historic moment.
In the afternoon of this day, in order to deceive the clever Mary, the circus took five elephants to the side of the railway as usual. Unlike her companions, Mary immediately became terrified when she saw the crowd, howling incessantly, as if begging her master for mercy.
Ignoring Mary's wailings, several staff members quickly tied her hind legs to a railroad track, and after making sure it was secure, they led the other elephants to begin their final preparations. The sky was drizzling, and a huge hole had been dug in the ground, and a wrangled derrick had been fixed on board. Unlike the noise that had just begun, the scene was suddenly as silent as death, except for Mary's panicked howls.
At 4 p.m., the execution finally began, and several men put chains around Mary's neck, and as the winch slowly turned, the elephant's body gradually took off, and its howl became louder and louder under the squeezing. In the rise to 1When she was 5 meters high, the chain suddenly broke because she couldn't bear the weight, and Mary's lower body fell heavily to the ground, her pelvis shattered by the force of the fall, and she struggled on the ground in pain, letting out a heart-rending scream.
The people around them were frightened and fled, but when they saw that the elephant had been thrown and could not move, they quickly regrouped and waited for the second round of executions to begin. This time Mary was hung on a stronger chain, and the crane finally suspended it completely into the air, her huge body convulsing in the air, and she could no longer make any sound.
It wasn't until half an hour later, when the elephant's body was motionless, that the veterinarian finally pronounced him dead. Thunderous applause erupted in the silent square, and the beast was finally punished as it deserved. But what they didn't know was that at the time of the procession, although Mary did trample the animal trainer to death, she just stayed where she was in a panic after making her mistake, waiting for her master to arrive.
All the descriptions of Mary's atrocities have led to countless people hating her, and what they don't know is that when the veterinarian examines Mary's body, he finds extensive ulcers in her ears and beside her gums. This shows that at the time of the performance, Mary was brutally beaten by the animal trainers just because she wanted to pick up a piece of watermelon skin.
Judging by the extent of the festering, the elephant may have suffered far more than one might have imagined. After learning the truth about Mary the Elephant, people called the town of Owen where the incident took place the town of the hanged elephant. Until now, the town has held an annual week-long commemoration to help improve the lives of wild elephants through public fundraising, hoping to make amends for past mistakes.
In 1995, Tennessee established an elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald to provide a suitable habitat for elephants who retired from zoos and circuses to enjoy their last life, and there are still 11 elephants living here today, and they finally no longer need to be seen and played, but all this Mary will never know.