Here Is Where: Discovering America's Great Forgotten History

by Andrew Carroll

Topsy, the ill-tempered Coney Island elephant, was put to death in Luna Park, Coney Island, yesterday afternoon. The execution was witnessed by 1,500 or more curious persons, who went down to the island to see the end of the huge beast, to whom they had fed peanuts and cakes in summers that are gone. In order to make Topsy’s execution quick and sure 460 grams of cyanide of potassium were fed to her in carrots. Then a hawser was put around her neck and one end attached to a donkey engine and the other to a post. Next wooden sandals lined with copper were attached to her feet. These electrodes were connected by copper wire with the Edison electric light plant and a current of 6,600 volts was sent through her body. The big beast died without a trumpet or a groan. —From the January 5, 1903, Commercial Advertiser. Thomas Edison promoted Topsy’s execution, which used alternating current (AC) power, to scare Americans into thinking that AC was so dangerous it could kill a full-grown elephant. Edison was engaged in a propaganda war with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, who favored AC over Edison’s direct current (DC). Edison lost, and most electronics now use alternating currents.