Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Topsy

As George Westinghouse began promoting his new system for distributing electricity, Thomas Alva Edison took one look at the income he’d been receiving from his original direct-current patents, and mounted an extensive disinformation campaign on the dangers of alternating current, including the public electrocution of live animals. Even as late as 1903, upon hearing of the impending execution of Topsy the Elephant—who had killed her abusive trainer—Edison recommended electrocution and actually sent a crew to Coney Island to film the spectacle . . . for although he’d lost the War of Currents, he had a lot invested in the electric chair.

Part 2 is here.

Posted to Magpie Tales and ABC Wednesday.
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17 comments:

  1. MaggieOctober 5, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    That made me ill. I never knew that about Edison. I have some choice words running in my head about what I think of him.

    That poor creature. : (

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  2. geraldine snapeOctober 5, 2011 at 5:36 PM

    Oh how horrid....can it be true? oh yes ...experiments .....

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  3. TeresaOctober 5, 2011 at 6:17 PM

    How funny!

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  4. moondustwriterOctober 5, 2011 at 9:04 PM

    There is fiction and then there is FICTION!!!

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  5. KayOctober 6, 2011 at 3:04 AM

    wow....i think i have heard of this before but your piece slammed it back to me!!! poor, poor topsy. :(

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  6. TrellissimoOctober 6, 2011 at 3:33 PM

    You certainly took this Magpie in an odd direction... :) Full marks for lateral thinking. LOL

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  7. Tess KincaidOctober 6, 2011 at 4:01 PM

    Yikes...

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  8. izzyOctober 6, 2011 at 6:29 PM

    Oh dear...

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  9. Roy SchulzeOctober 6, 2011 at 9:13 PM

    @Trellissimo: the idea started out innocently enough. I thought of an elephant angel, and the story was supposed to end with the idea that even if Topsy had made it to heaven, it was doubtful that Edison would be so blessed, but by the time I got there that seemed rather trite and, besides, I'd exceeded my self-imposed 100-word limit.

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  10. Lane SavantOctober 7, 2011 at 1:17 AM

    I think there is a movie of the execution somewhere

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  11. chiccorealOctober 10, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    Dear Kathy: I love your wry/dark chocolate humour. A George Westinghouse! hahah!

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  12. Steve IsaakOctober 14, 2011 at 3:19 PM

    Disturbing, excellent, distinctive.

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  13. WandaMay 29, 2012 at 7:49 PM

    That really is distrubing...I hate that we have to use animals for testing....I guess I just want to believe it doesn't happen.

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  14. zongrikMay 29, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    i'm sure the trainer deserved to be killed because of how abusive he was. elephants have been and still are abused horribly.


    verification makes it really hard to comment. you'd get more comments if you turned it off. i had to do this several times to get it to work.

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  15. Roger Owen GreenMay 29, 2012 at 9:24 PM

    what a TERRIBLE story
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  16. lotusleafMay 30, 2012 at 1:14 AM

    Terrible, but true! And to think we make him out to be a hero!

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  17. AnonymousJuly 15, 2013 at 3:10 AM

    Edison should have attached his own ass to the power source...This was all about the almighty buck.

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