The Tragic Story of Mary the Elephant, Who Was Hanged for ‘Murder’ in 1916

This photo was taken on September 13, 1916, shortly after a circus elephant named Mary was hanged in Erwin, Tennessee. The animal had killed a circus worker the day before in nearby Kingsport. This picture is believed to be the only one in existence documenting the elephant’s execution. Experts say the picture, which may have been touched up years ago, appears fuzzy because it was taken in late afternoon in the rain.

(Image: AP Photo/Courtesy of East Tennessee State University Archives of Appalachia)

Mary was billed as “the largest living land animal on earth.” At least that was how Charlie Sparks, the owner of Sparks World Famous Shows circus, promoted her, claiming she was three inches taller than Jumbo, P. T. Barnum’s famous pachyderm. At 30 years of age, Mary was five tons of pure talent. It was claimed she could “play 25 tunes on the musical horns without missing a note.” Perhaps more intriguing, she was the pitcher for the circus baseball team and her batting average of .400 “astonished millions in New York.”

On September 11, 1916, a homeless man named Red Eldridge, who landed a job as a transient hotel clerk, was hired as an assistant elephant trainer by the Sparks World Famous Shows circus. He was killed by Mary in Sullivan County, Tennessee, on the following evening. Although unqualified, Eldridge led the elephant parade, riding atop Mary’s back; Mary was the star of the show, walking at the front.

Sparks World Famous Shows circus poster featuring Mary the Elephant.

There have been several accounts of his death. One, recounted by W.H. Coleman, who claimed to be a witness, is that he prodded her behind the ear with a hook after she reached down to nibble on a watermelon rind. She went into a rage, snatched Eldridge with her trunk, threw him against a drink stand and stepped on his head, crushing it.

A contemporary newspaper account, from the Johnson City Staff, said that Mary “collided its trunk vice-like about [Eldridge’s] body, lifted him 10 feet (3.0 m) in the air, then dashed him with fury to the ground... and with the full force of her beastly fury is said to have sunk her giant tusks entirely through his body. The animal then trampled the dying form of Eldridge as if seeking a murderous triumph, then with a sudden... swing of her massive foot hurled his body into the crowd.”

Regardless of the exact circumstances, the ultimate end was the same – a man dead. Old Testament frontier justice had to be served. Man’s insatiable hunger for grotesquery had to be satisfied.

But how?

Guns, of course, were the first course of action. Blacksmith Hench Cox fired his 32-20 five times at Mary; the bullets hardly phased her. Sheriff Gallahan “knocked chips out of her hide a little” with his .45, according to witness Bud Jones. But as the circus manager stated, “There ain’t gun enough in this country that could do the trick.”

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. Some suggested hooking Mary to two opposing railroad engines and dismembering her, or crushing her between two facing engines. Both were dismissed as too cruel. And so it was decided, instead, that “Murderous Mary” would be hung by the neck from a derrick car.

On the following day, a foggy and rainy September 13, 1916, Mary was transported by rail to Unicoi County, Tennessee. More than 2,500 witnesses gathered to watch Mary swing near the powerhouse at the nearby Clinchfield Railyards in Erwin, Tennessee. The roustabouts chained Mary’s leg to the rail while they struggled to get another chain around her neck. When they began to lift her up the crowd was horrified to hear the bones and ligaments cracking in her tethered foot. She was lowered and released from the rail and a second attempt ensued.

Mary the elephant dangled briefly, then fell when the chain broke.

It doesn’t seem surprising that the chain from which Mary hung snapped shortly after she was raised off the ground. It was, after all, just a 7/8” chain and Mary weighed 10,000 pounds. She hit the ground and sat upright, immobilized from the pain of a broken hip.

A stronger chain was attached, the winch was put into motion yet again, and this time Mary died. They left her hanging for a half-hour and then dumped her in the grave they had dug with a steam shovel.

A veterinarian examined Mary after the hanging and determined that she had a severely infected tooth in the precise spot where Red Eldridge had prodded her. The authenticity of a widely distributed (and heavily retouched) photo of her death was disputed years later by Argosy magazine.

Celebrities’s Best Friends: Vintage Photos of Famous Figures and Their Pets

Take a look at these 30 photographs of vintage actors, musicians, and writers with their beloved pets:

Humphrey Bogart. (Popperfoto)

Humphrey Bogart wife Lauren Bacall. (Hulton)

Billie Holiday. (Universal)

Gregory Peck. (Bettmann)

Olivia de Havilland. (Pictorial Parade)

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Fascinating Black-and-White Vintage Photos of Stray Cats in Italy

Take a look at the stray cats once roamed the streets of Italy through 16 fascinating vintage photographs below:

Milan. (Grace Robertson)

Portofino. (Marka)

Three cats sitting and walking in ruins. (David Lees)

Turns Forbidden. (Vincenzo Balocchi)

Siena. (Vincenzo Balocchi)

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Fascinating Photos of the Crufts Dog Shows in the 1950s

Crufts is an international dog show, the largest show of its kind in the world, held annually in the United Kingdom. The first official “Crufts” show was held in 1891, with approximately 2000 dogs and almost 2500 entries.

Children and their dogs, 1952. (Thurston Hopkins)

As the show is not an open contest, only dogs qualified throughout the previous year are allowed to take part in, and they will later compete against others in hierarchical fashion to find the Best in Show and Reverse Best in Show. Best in Show winners will receive a replica of the silver Keddall Memorial Trophy and a small cash prize.

Take a look back at the shows in the 1950s:

A boy with his Saint Bernard, 1950. (Keystone)

Best In Show winner, Welsh Terrier Twynstar Dyma-Fi, 1951. (Reg Speller)

A pair of Miniature Bull Terriers, 1952. (Thurston Hopkins)

A Dalmatian, 1952. (Thurston Hopkins)

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20 Lovely Photos of People With Their Dogs During the 1915 Dog Show

A conformation show, also referred to as a breed show, is a kind of dog show in which a judge, familiar with a specific dog breed, evaluates individual purebred dogs for how well the dogs conform to the established breed type for their breed, as described in a breed's individual breed standard.

People with their dogs during the 1915 dog show

Such shows are useful to breeders as a means of evaluating dogs for breeding purposes. A conformation championship from a recognised national kennel club is generally considered a reasonably objective indication of merit, as it indicates that the dog has been found to be a superior example of its breed by a number of different judges on a number of separate occasions. Many breeders consider championship a prerequisite for breeding.

The first modern conformation dog show was held in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in June 1859, and the only breeds scheduled were pointers and setters.

Here below is a photo set from Harris & Ewing photo collection, Library of Congress that show people with their lovely dogs during the 1915 dog show.

Miss Catherine L. Littaner

Miss Mary E. Patten

Blanche Strebrigh Bonaparte

Miss Adele Godoy

Miss Ann Tracy

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Pére Ubu by Dora Maar, 1936

What kind of creature is in this photograph? Is it a big monster or something smaller? This photograph by artist, Dora Maar, is of a baby armadillo before it is born. Notice the texture of its skin and its long fingers.

(Photo © Estate of Dora Maar)

The surrealist artist Dora Maar is better known as Picasso’s dark-haired model and companion in the late 1930s than for her astonishing works. Her incarnation of the bestial nature of man is titled after the infamous and absurd dictatorial antihero of Alfred Jarry’s play Ubu Roi (1896). Maar’s imaginative evocation of the pear-shaped, breast-plated Ubu in the monstrous reality of a baby armadillo is one of the most compelling and repellent of surrealist photographs.

Dora Maar first saw Pablo Picasso at the end of 1935 when she was taking promotional shots on the set of the Jean Renoir film The Crime of Monsieur Lange. She was captivated by him, but they did not formally meet. Maar was introduced to Picasso a few days later by their mutual friend Paul Eluard at Cafe des Deux Magots.

Picasso was intrigued by Dora’s seductive and masochistic behavior, which served as inspiration for many of his works throughout their relationship. Their liaison would last nearly nine years, during which time Picasso did not end his relationship with Marie-Thérèse Walter, mother of his daughter Maya.

Dora Maar is very well known for her role as Picasso’s lover, subject, and muse. As such, he painted many portraits of her. In the majority of these paintings, Dora Maar was represented as a tortured, anguished woman. The most well known of these portraits is “The Weeping Woman”. Picasso was very inspired by the tragedies of the Spanish Civil War, and he thought of Dora Maar as a living depiction of the pain and suffering that people experienced during this time. Dora did not appreciate Picasso’s depiction of her in this way. When asked about his portraits of her, she said “all portraits of me are lies. They’re Picassos. Not one is Dora Maar.”

Her liaison with Picasso, who physically abused her and made her fight Marie-Therese Walter for his love, ended in 1943, although they met again episodically until 1946. Thus, on 19 March 1944, she played the role of Fat Anguish in the reading, at the home of Michel Leiris, of Picasso’ first play, Desire Caught by the Tail, led by Albert Camus. In 1944, through the intermediary of Paul Éluard, Dora Maar met Jacques Lacan, who took care of her nervous breakdown by administering her electroshocks, which were forbidden at the time. Picasso bought her a house in Ménerbes, Vaucluse, where she retired and lived alone. She turned to the Catholic religion, met the painter Nicolas de Staël (who lived in the same village), and turned to abstract painting.

Maar spent her last years in her apartment in Rue de Savoie, in the Left Bank of Paris. She died on 16 July 1997, at 89 years old. She was buried in the Bois-Tardieu cemetery in Clamart. Her experiments with photograms and dark-room photography were only found posthumously.

In 1916, the Duchy Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Issued This Lovely Passport to a Young Woman Pictured With Her Dog

This passport issued from the Duchy Saxe Coburg-Gotha in 1916 is one of the very rare types within the German Empire. It features a photo of a young woman with her beloved dog.

Clearly, in these days there were no rules about passport photos, so you could take any photograph as long it was fitting on a passport page. Passport pictures were introduced in Germany on January 1, 1915.

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany. It lasted from 1826 to 1918. The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha also refers to the family of the ruling House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which played many varied roles in the dynastic and political history of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Did this young woman travel exclusively with her pup? Where did they go? What did they see? We may never know...

Tom Topol is a passport collector who began his collection after leafing through some old passports at a flea market in Kyoto, Japan. His collection now contains more than 700 passports, and is still growing.

“Old passports are ‘art works,’ as I describe it. Why? Because no passport looks the same at that time, as they were issued manually and not automatically like today. Back then you had beautiful hand-writing, colorful boarder stamps and the passport picture was always a highlight,” Topol told weather.com. “Today you are not even allowed to smile on your picture. In the U.S., you are now not even allowed to wear your eye glasses.”

The collector focuses on German passports. But history’s wars, shifting boarders and evolving political systems have left behind passports from places that are now known by different names. He has spent last decade and a half learning everything he can about the politics and geography of historical passports, as well as digging int.

(Photos © Passport-Collector.com)

Sharing Bananas With a Goat During the Battle of Saipan, ca. 1944

A lovely photo of marine First Sergeant Neil I. Shober of Fort Wayne, Indiana, sharing the spoils of war bananas with a native goat, one of the few survivors of the terrific naval and air bombardment in support of the Marines hitting the beach on the Japanese-mandated island of Saipan, ca. 1944.

(Photo: National Museum of the Pacific War)

The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from June 15 to July 9, 1944.

The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on June 5, 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was launched. The U.S. 2nd Marine Division, 4th Marine Division, and the Army’s 27th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland Smith, defeated the 43rd Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito.

The loss of Saipan, with the deaths of at least 29,000 troops and heavy civilian casualties, precipitated the resignation of Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tōjō and left the Japanese archipelago within the range of United States Army Air Forces B-29 bombers.

An 2000-Year-Old Thracian Chariot With Horse Skeletons Found in the Village of Karanovo, Bulgaria

A 4-wheel chariot with horses in a tomb of a Thracian Aristocrat from the 1st Century A.D. The chariot has four big wheels with a diameter of 4 feet (1.2 meters), embellished richly with silver coated small figures of Eros and riding mythical creatures with bodies of panthers. The skeletons of 2 horses and a dog were discovered next to the chariot.

In November 2008, a team of archaeologists led by Veselin Ignatov, of the Istoricheski muzej Nova Zagora, a museum in Bulgaria, discovered the 2,000-year-old wooden chariot. It was covered in bronze and would have been decorated with scenes from Thracian mythology that are now difficult to see. Its exact age is uncertain and may be closer to 1,800 years old.

This is one of the very few cases where archaeologists can trace the entire pattern of ritual practices accompanying burials of prominent Thracian people who believed in a better after-life. The deceased were to be laid with all the objects they needed during their lifetime. The richer and nobler the dead person, the more exuberant the burial gifts.

The bronze-plated wooden chariot is decorated with scenes from Thracian mythology - the god Eros, a jumping panther and a mythological animal with the body of a panther and the tail of a dolphin. It has wheels 4 feet in diameter. Four wheeled chariots are an extremely rare find, and this one is particularly notable because of the large diameter of its wheels.

The presence of wood in an archaeological site is usually connected with its usage in different activities: construction, instruments of production, etc. Well preserved wooden parts of chariots were found for the first time in the territory of Bulgaria.

Table pottery, glass vessels, well-preserved wooden and leather objects, some of which may have been horse harnesses, and other gifts were also discovered at the funerary mound. All artifacts were used for the funeral of a wealthy Thracian aristocrat.

Skeletons of Grover Krantz and His Dog, Clyde, at the Smithsonian Museum

Same guy, same dog. Grover Krantz donated his body to science. His skeleton was articulated along with the skeleton of one of his beloved dogs and displayed in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Grover Sanders Krantz was an American anthropologist and cryptozoologist. Outside of his formal studies in evolutionary anthropology and primatology, Krantz also did research into the existence of Bigfoot. The latter of those drawing heavy criticism from the science community.

Krantz suffered many failed relationships in his life, one of which with Albert Einstein’s adopted daughter, Evelyn Einstein, whom he had married in 1964 but divorced.

After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, Krantz died on the 14th of February 2002, aged 70. By his request there was no funeral; his body was shipped directly to a body farm to be used in the study of human decomposition and forensic science.

“I’ve been a teacher all my life and I think I might as well be a teacher after I’m dead, so why don’t I just give you my body,” Krantz said. “But there’s one catch: You have to keep my dogs with me.”

He did have one last wish however; that his skeleton was to be kept close to the remains of his three favorite Irish wolfhounds: Clyde, Icky and Yahoo. So in 2009, Krantz’s skeleton was painstakingly articulated and, along with the skeleton of one of his dogs, included on display in the Smithsonian Museum.

Grover Krantz, an anthropologist who wanted his skeletons on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, along with his dog. (Photo: Emily Barton)

The Goatmobile, ca. 1900s

A man and his goat mobile, early 1900s:

The caption reads:

“A progressive citizen of Columbus, Ohio, anxious to emulate his more wealth neighbors in possessing an easy-going conveyance—and being possessed of one large he-goat, of whose electromotive force much has been printed, and more has been thought—conceived the scheme of harnessing the force in such a manner as would make it most easily controlled. Inability to protect the goat by letters patent or a copyright, leaves the invention open, so that whomsoever will may copy it.”

Vintage Photo of a Little Girl Riding a Taxidermy Bear, 1983

So the little girl is riding a three eyed bear, but what the heck is that animal next to it?

The photograph was taken by a street photographer at a resort in Sozopol, Bulgaria in 1983. This was a popular tourist “attraction” back then.

Sozopol is an ancient seaside town located 35 km south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Today it is one of the major seaside resorts in the country, known for the Apollonia art and film festival (which takes place in early September) that is named after one of the town’s ancient names.

(Image courtesy of @missbiliana)

Apparently, This Is How They "Passed the Time" at Cavalry School in the 1930s

The feats of cavalry riders in times gone by... not sure who is braver really, the horse and rider duos, or the ‘jumps’ themselves (especially that upside down guy!)

Cavalry (from the French word cavalerie, itself derived from “cheval” meaning “horse”) are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in the roles of reconnaissance, screening and harassing in many armies, or as heavy cavalry for decisive shock attacks in other armies. An individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations depending on era and tactics, such as cavalryman, horseman, trooper, cataphract, hussar, lancer or dragoon.

Cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, and a soldier fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, and inertial mass over an opponent on foot. Another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent.

In the period between the World Wars, many cavalry units were converted into motorized infantry and mechanized infantry units, or reformed as tank troops. However, some cavalry still served during World War II, notably in the Red Army, the Mongolian People’s Army, the Royal Italian Army, the Romanian Army, the Polish Land Forces, and light reconnaissance units within the Waffen SS. Most cavalry units that are horse-mounted in modern armies serve in purely ceremonial roles, or as mounted infantry in difficult terrain such as mountains or heavily forested areas.

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Fascinating Photos of Neil, the Pet Lion of Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith

Tippi Hedren, best known for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963), was also famous for her dedicated commitment to animal rights and conservation activism. Her non-profit The Roar Foundation and the 80-acre wildlife habitat Shambala Preserve have taken care of and advocated for tigers and lions for decades. In 1971, she, together with her daughter Melanie Griffith and her then-husband Noel Marshall, shared their home in California with a 400-pound mature lion named Neil. Take a look at him playing and relaxing with the family through these fascinating photographs taken by LIFE photographer Michael Rougier:

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How to Make Shadow Puppets, ca. 1930

Profiles of birds and beasts can be made with hands, a light and a screen. This feature explains how anyone can cast the shadows of sixteen different figures, an accomplishment which will provide many full evenings of entertainment for either children or adults.

Ordinary sheet provides the screen for shadow entertainment. Strong electric bulb can be provided with home-made reflector and a cardboard shield — all the equipment needed for highly entertaining home program based on complete details in this article.

No doubt all of you know a few ways to cast bird or animal resembling shadows upon the wall. One who has a dozen or more ways to hold his hands for this purpose will easily afford an interesting hour of evening’s fun. And if he chooses to show his ability at a party, he will be as much in demand at others as a good amateur magician.

The accompanying illustrations show 16 animals, birds and reptiles which can be easily shown with shadows. In practically every case, the position of the hands and fingers show well enough so that their exact location need not be described. In some instances you will be able to show an eye somewhere near where the eye belongs; in others, this will have to be left to the imagination.

One of the easiest shadows to do is that of a horse. It is also one of the best imitations. Place the hands together, first taking care that the thumbs are properly spaced and most of them showing. Then move the touching fingers slightly until you have a good muzzle and jaw also upon the screen.

The elephant is also good because you can cause the trunk to move back and forth in a realistic manner, at the same time moving the left thumb, which throws the shadow of the lower jaw. The puppy can be made to wiggle his tail and also appear to run by moving the fingers which throw shadows for the feet. This shadow is not complete in itself as the arms continue to cast a shadow behind. However, the arrangement soon to be described will help to give the perfect impression.

The cat needs both forearms as well as the hands and one must focus his attention on the left-hand side for best results. The shield described later will help to minimize this defect however.

All you have to do to give the spider shadow is to lock the thumbs together and spread the fingers. Wiggling them will heighten the effect. The turtle is somewhat like the puppy but it is minus tail and to omit this the left thumb is turned down. The crow can be made to fly seemingly by slowly moving the fingers of both hands up and down in unison. The hound can be made to close its mouth for a moment then, quite naturally, open it again and pant.

These are only a few of the shadows possible and with some practice you will be able to evolve other combinations of fingers to produce other results.

The fingers should be exercised frequently to facilitate imitating various kinds of shadows. Begin by spreading and closing the hands, then moving one finger away from the other and back again; then two away and back, then three away and back.

The light should have a shield to throw a circle of light upon the screen. Then any portion of shadow not wanted, such as the right hand side of the cat or the south end of the puppy (going north) can be merged with the shadow cast by the shield.

A good apparatus is to fix a 100-watt bulb in a socket on top of a portable stand with flexible cord and switch in connection. Over this light set a tin can with the bottom fitting snugly to exclude light. A hole one inch in diameter is then made in the side of the can and through this issues the light to be used.

Now cut from a large sheet of stiff cardboard, a hole 10 inches in diameter and provide this also with a support so that it can be set in front of the light and on the same level. The hands are then manipulated between the light and the shield. A sheet hung on the wall serves as a screen.

(By Dale R. Van Horn, via Modern Mechanix)

Giant Hippo Harnessed and Hitched to Circus Cart, About to Give Trainer a Ride, 1924

After considerable coaching at the hands of an animal trainer, “Lotus,” a circus hippopotamus enjoying winter quarters in California, was taught to haul a two-wheeled cart.

A V-shaped tongue attached to a broad band around the creature’s back made traces unnecessary. A bridle of strong leather with the reins attached to the jaws completed the harness, and aided in directing the “river horse” which seemed to enjoy its “stunt” as it walked to its pool and back.

Hippopotamuses are said usually to show little intelligence, but they are capable of great speed when in flight from an enemy, or while rushing to an attack after being wounded.

(via Modern Mechanix)

Fascinating Photos of J. J. Morgan, a Celebrity Dog in 1950

“During its short lifetime television has produced many actors and critics, but now it has produced its first really important actor and critic combined” was the introduction of LIFE magazine for J. J. Morgan, the celebrated television dog star who got his breakout fame for his appearance on the weekly show A Couple of Joes. The three-year-old basset hound’s unexpected stardom came because his owner, who was the producer of the show, needed something to liven it up, and Morgan soon outshone his co-stars. Fascinatingly, his success in capturing the audiences’ hearts was not by doing tricks or performing any feats of intelligence, but solely by “a blend of critical disdain worthy of George Jean Nathan and Queen Victoria,” according to LIFE.

After four months, he received constant demands for guest spots on several other television shows, and through it all, Morgan “maintained the same long-faced hauteur that distinguishes him from most other television stars,” wrote LIFE. Take a look at the celebrity dog through these fascinating photographs:

Singing with Peggy Martin, 1950. (Walter Sanders)

Sitting on a grand piano during the show 'A Couple of Joes,' 1950. (Walter Sanders)

Listening to trombonist Mike Riley play, 1950. (Walter Sanders)

Posing for a LIFE picture, 1950. (Walter Sanders)

Sitting with Laurie Collier and Bill Grady, 1950. (Walter Sanders)

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