The dictionary says that to become immersed means to “involve oneself deeply in a particular activity or interest”. As most of you know, I write articles about people, places, events, and topics that were of significance to our county from 1800-1950. I write for two newspapers, two Facebook pages, our library website, and my “hometown” blog. For the newspaper pieces I usually spend a week or two researching a subject before actually writing about it. The rest of my writing is often based on bits and pieces, details or people, that don’t make it into the newspaper article.
I won’t bore you with the minutiae of my writing process. I’ve been doing this for so many years that it’s as natural to me as gardening or cooking or working a jigsaw puzzle. However, this past week was so very different. The topic research was both informative and disturbing on a deeply personal level.
Warning: The following is heartbreaking, so I completely understand if you choose to stop reading. But I must write this…
I’ve been somewhat obsessed by elephants since I was a very young child and touched the trunk of a baby elephant at our local zoo. Since then, I’ve rarely passed up the opportunity to see one in person. I’ve visited many at zoos and circuses. I taught kindergarten in Hugo, Oklahoma, our “circus town”, where elephants are cared for in a local sanctuary. I even helped recruit one to participate in our town’s annual Heritage Day celebration many years ago.
When I write about anything that took place in the past, I always imagine how it affected my ancestors. Did they know this person? Did they shop at this store? Did they help plan this event? Did they save their money and buy a ticket to this fair, rodeo, circus? Often, I don’t have to guess because my great-grandfather wrote about the family in his weekly newspaper column. I can’t find any mention of the circus in his writings, but knowing that many circuses visited Caddo over several decades, I feel confident that at least some of my relatives attended the free parade that preceded each show. And even a small traveling circus had at least one elephant in their menagerie.
Most of my research last week about “railroad shows” (the term used for early traveling circuses) was delightful. The circus community has kept detailed records over the years. The ads and early photos are amusing. The stories of individual performers are sometimes as entertaining as their acts. The early newspapers wrote in great detail about shows. Easy, effortless research compared to a few previous topics. But those “details” reported by the newspapers became heartbreaking when I read about an “incident” that took place in Kansas in 1894.
George, a 7,000 lb. elephant belonging to the Howe & Cushing circus allegedly “attacked” one of his trainers. Newspaper accounts vary somewhat, but some indicate that the trainer was giving him his “annual” spring beating to make sure he still knew who was boss. The circus had owned the “monster” elephant for fifteen years and he had a reputation for aggressive behavior. He tossed the trainer ten feet in the air, wounding him badly enough to require hospitalization. The assistant and crew members roped George, tied him down, chained him, tortured him, and when he finally breathed his last, had the audacity to say he “died of a broken heart”. No…it died of a broken and cut body.
I’ve long been aware that people are capable of great cruelty, and that many of the animals used in circuses and other shows were treated very badly in the past. No doubt, some still suffer abuse and neglect. I think what troubles me as much as George’s death, is the reaction AFTER his death.
April issues of many Kansas and Oklahoma newspapers contained stories of George’s beating. One Kansas report on April 3rd was particularly graphic and disturbing. On April 7th the same newspaper ran an ad for the upcoming performance of H&C on the 14th. The April 14th paper contained a glowing report of the show, including this comment: “The menagerie is an exceptionally strong attraction, although the new $6,000 elephant will not arrive in time to take the place of the one that recently died”. The show then moved on to Oklahoma and continued their schedule. As far as I can determine, no one from the circus was punished and audiences weren’t deterred by his death. My mind and heart struggle with visions of the fate of their new elephant…
Thankfully, my current research is about a building.
In a few weeks I’ll be immersed in something else, but I’ll never completely forget George.