Mighty Mary

On September 12, 1916 Mary the circus elephant killed her assistant trainer Red Eldridge after he apparently poked her behind the ear with a hook as she was about to eat a watermelon rind. The locals immediately demanded her death and newspapers falsified reports that she had killed before. After receiving boycott threats, Charlie Sparks, owner of the circus Mary performed at, decided that the only reasonable way to prevent his business from failing was to publicly execute Mary. On September 13, 1916 Mary was taken to the Clinchfield Railroad yard in Erwin, Tennessee where she was to be hung from an industrial crane. The first attempt failed resulting in Mary receiving a broken hip among other grave injuries. After a thicker chain was placed around her neck she was hung again and after a few minutes Mighty Mary died. This incident remains the only known elephant hanging in history.



For more info go to Mighty Mary's wikipedia entry. For a more detailed account go here.