Elephant electrocutionIn 1904, Thomas Edison's movie crew filmed the electrocution of an elephant. Topsy was being destroyed by its owners after she killed three men in as many years. The third was a man that fed her a lit cigarette. The event was a public spectacle to a paying audience of 1500 people at Coney Island, where the elephant had been kept on show. Edison was the consultant chosen to arrange the electrocution death after cyanide-laced carrots had failed. Thereafter, he showed the film around the country as part of his unsuccessful effort to discredit the “dangerous”alternating current of George Westinghouse, and promote Edison's direct current electricity system. Eventually, A.C. was universally adopted, however, as more practical for long-distance transmission. |
