Residents River of Crime Electrocution of Topsy

[MayaInka2012]

Well, would you like to live in a cage with footcuffs and go on stage after beaten up for hours every day???!

Circus with animals should be forbidden because animals belong into the wild!!! got it?!!!!!

[DarthDemaric]

When I first saw this on Modern Marvels "death devices", I was very upset by this. It still is horrible. I lost any respect I had for Edison. Yeah, he was a great inventor, but also a cruel hateful man. He would have to be to do this.

[atomikshopincart]

@DarthDemaric he wasn't doing this to be an ass, the elephant was going to be executed, and the other option was the often-botched elephant hanging. Killing and elephant is never pretty, and in a perfect word there would be no perceived need to, but truly cruel people become elephant trainers. Edison was just trying something new, in the hopes that it would work.

[staciii18]

You see what people with power do to vulnerable creatures? Topsy was aggressive for a reason, but i guess no one back then realized it was their own disgusting behavior that caused it in the first place. Fuck edison, Tesla was the real genius.

[krazyj2010]

Actually I thought that she WOULDN'T eat the carrots because she smelled the poison? That's what my teacher told me... The last trainer was an idiot.. The elephant didn't deserve to be killed. She was being abused they're not domesticated and never will be

[Steveco]

@krazyj2010 Well they fact that she DID eat the carrots and wasn't poisoned meant that to her they weren't poisonous.

[LouiseTopp]

shocking stuff. I have been abused since I was fourteen, perhaps they should have electrocuted me.

[swordman6m1]

pun intended?

[alanlaing]

I cant believe Im watching an argument about something that happened over 100 years ago and talking as if Edison should be held accountable for his crimes.....folks it's ok...he's dead, has been for a while...

[Steveco]

You're right of course.

Let's give William The Conquerer what's coming to him too.

[joesmoe71]

I hear Al Gore is complaining about the carbon footprint using all that electricity made, and that they should have burn it with solar power.

[Deandra12]

ur so rite >.>

[crfortin]

You sick bastards care more about animals than people. Get a grip.

Topsy was on a rampage and had to be put down. The elepant dies in about 2 seconds here, not like Islamics who bleed all their food/animals and let it stagger around for 15 minutes or so.

[XavierNinnis]

Response to crfortin 2 months ago)

Actually, that practice is not limited to "Islamics", it also is part of what defines whether an animal has been butchered in a "kosher" fashion, i.e. that the animal be conscious (the use of a "captive bolt" is forbidden) and that its death be as a result of exsanguination.

[thelowmax]

Topsy wasn't dead when she fell over. They had to zap her several more times. Electrocution has been banned in the US due to it being 'cruel and inhumane punishment'. Also Topsy was on a rampage because she had suffered DECADES of abuse from her captors. Think about it... what would you do if you weighed a couple of tons and somebody fed you a lit cigarette. Lastly, a wise man once said, "a society's humanity can be gauged by the way it treats it's animals".

[Deandra12]

it was a fucking elephant, its not like it knos where u effing live

[thelowmax]

Elephants are, unlike yourself,highly intelligent and sensitive creatures. But if it did know where you live, it would come and fuck you up.

[faizal5k]

the elephant wasnt abused it killed 3 people and u think the firepower back then was tough? u must be idiots only electricty could do the job. only reason y he recorded it is the reason y people record weddings. to look back and see wat u have achieved. so u little kids dont talk trach bout tom, hes the reason y we have light in our house and our MONITORS

[himono123]

fuck off its still abusing the animal

elephants are big animals

they have to be afraid of humans

they abused it

[bdmaple]

Actually not...Edison is pathetic...Im not a child either...Thank TESLA for electricity...and Monitors....remember that monitors use AC...sine waves....Dc sucks anyways and as electric engineers know....its just a hack of AC...hence a "bridge rectifier" takes GOOD AC..and extracts lame dc...

educate yourself before emarrassing yourself...chances are next time you'll just keep quiet...

[thelowmax]

Why do you think it killed? The last guy she killed fed her a lit cigarette. Edison filmed it because he was trying to show the danger of AC power. Direct competition for his DC power. He also invented the movie camera. He was doing it solely for publicity and self-promotion. And wouldn't it have been easier and more humane to put ONE bullet in her brain?

[msspurlock]

Edison had heard of the Missouri fiasco, where ignorant townsfolk finally put down a pitiful "rogue elephant" after three days of torture and a botched hanging. It was a surprisingly common occurrence in the days when an animal killing a human was an automatic death sentence. The animal was going to be killed anyway. He wanted it to be a bit more humane. Of course, he also wanted to sway the whole AC versus DC debate, but he was not a monster as Stalinists would have you believe.

[RoboCorpse3000]

I'm fairly certain Edison would be spinning in his grave to know that a bunch of yahoos with nothing better to do with their time than use the internet (myself included) would be watching a video that his company made of some elephant getting electrocuted, over a century after the fact. He'd probably tell us to go invent something or go outside.

[clydescove]

I used to work for the circus. Elephants are tortured from the moment of capture to get them to perform. Circus life is harsh and brutal- the elephants are miserable slaves. Please don't attend the circus.

Elephants that kill do it becuase they are at the end of their rope, most performing elephants have killed, at least once, this is why the circus only hires vagrants and criminals to work their animals. No one notices when they die.

[dcddjc]

Thomas Edison BURN IN HELL FOR ALL TIMES!

I feel so sorry for this helpless Elephant, I hope this was also her last thoughts (quotation from gattaca):

For someone who was never meant for this world, I must confess I'm suddenly having a hard time leaving it. Of course, they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I'm not leaving... maybe I'm going home.

RIP Topsy

[Steveco]

The elephant wasn't exactly hapless. It killed 3 people (it was provoked). And was sentenced not by Edison but by the fairground owners. Edison simply filmed it and gave technical assistance. The fairground burnt down some years later.

[RoboCorpse3000]

Holy freaking shit, you are quoting Gattaca, the craptacular movie that pretty much nobody watched. Why are you quoting Gattaca? Also, Thomas Edison invented the best version of the lightbulb at the time, as well as came up with sound recorders, electric generators, and tons of other incredibly useful stuff. You, sir, are a goofball who most likely has done nothing except loaf around and generally be an ignoramus.

[dcddjc]

RoboCorpse3000 you know something;

bla bla bla

bla bla

YOU reminde me of SPONGEBOB! ha ha ha

[houseofturds]

@dcddjc he did killed 3 people .. But they probably should have shooted it in stead of this cruel electrocution.

[dcddjc]

@houseofturds I know you are right, but somehow we are killing abusing aso. a paybag to the humans is not false.

[atomikshopincart]

@houseofturds shooting an elephant often just left the elephant wounded. Elephants are very large and hard to kill with bullets. The .375 is the minimum effective gun for killing elephants, and it wasn't around for another 9 years. Not really an expert on the history of guns, but I don't think there were any effective one-shot humane methods of elephant execution back then.

[atomikshopincart]

@dcddjc the other option they normally gave elephants who became killers was hanging. Edison believed that this was a less painful way to die, and it might be, but an elephant hanging may actually be much more traumatic and gruesome if you think about it. Mary the Elephant, who was also executed for killing trainers was hanged, but the chain snapped and broke her hips. She was killed the 2nd time. Edison is not really the bad guy here, the trainers were.

[bfb8688]

holy hell...jonassalk666...you are beyond help...

[Andy28xx]

This makes me angry. My dog accidentally was electrocuted when he touched a live railway line. It's ceratinly not painless as they make out.

[wtb0221]

you gotta remember, Edison held a grudge against those AC bastards. He offered to help kill the animal by giving his expert advice. he thought it might criple the AC industry, but did little to it.

[phonograph78]

Ok interesting topic here...But I am sorry to say that Edison did not electrocute Topsy the elephant. It was done by the owners of Coney Island. Edison was out of the electrical industry by 1894 and never was involved again in it. Topsy was killed in 1903. Nearly 10 years after he leaves the industry. The Edison Co. filmed it as it was quite an event. That was years after the AC/DC battle

[thelowmax]

Edison repeatedly electrocuted animals with 1000V of AC to 'prove' it unsafe, even though protection from electrocution by AC or DC is essentially the same. His workers electrocuted Topsy the elephant. He did this for years to protect his massive investments as well as ego.

[jfs78]

I agree that Edison did electrical experiments on animals in the 1880's and even into the early 1890's. But by 1903 he has no interest in the battle. He had been pushed out of the electrical industry by his own company. By the 20th century Edison was a far removed from electrical experiments with animals as he was from the electric pen.

[thelowmax]

Sorry. You're wrong. Edison still had financial and personal stakes in electricity. It was his idea to use electricution for capital punishment and suggested this as a demonstration to show that 'juice' was better than 'the noose'. Not only was the electrocution his idea but his film company captured this clip.

[DADALITES]

It was part of Edisons propaganda against Nikola Tesla who invented AC that we all use today.

Edison was protecting his invention of DC, and he didn't want Tesla to fiddle with money he got from Westinghouse. So..he started electrocuting animals on the streets to show the danger of AC. That is how this elephant got electrocuted.

[jonassalk666]

DrNo06, YOU, are the slow one. It must be all of the Molsons, donuts, and yellow snow you ingest living in that "great" country of yours. You signed up just to post the above dumbarse remark. What a jerk! Here, play Topsy: take a paperclip in your hand, insert into small slot in 110VAC wall plug, with your other hand grab a waterpipe. Enjoy the ride, moron.

[jonassalk666]

I'm relaxed, but if there is a HELL, I hope he is burning, and in 1000 times the pain that the animals he murdered endured. He was a "genius" and a hero according to the books our children read, but in reality he was far worse than ADOLF HITLER. He cheated his hard working assistants out of the royalties on their inventions, and caused innocent animals to suffer for his own sick pleasure.

[DrNo06]

You're a retard. Topsy was violent and had killed 3 men possibly due to trainer abuse. Edison suggested AC as a quick way to dispatch the animal and make AC look bad because he genuinely thought AC was dangerous. He lacked the advanced math background to imediatley understand the advantages of 3-phase power,etc. but was still father of the industrial lab system (Melano Park) and accomplished 1 million times more in his life through hard work and dedication than you ever will.

[jonassalk666]

eh?

[KirbyzDreamland]

so what if the elephant killed 3 men. like you said, Topsy was ABUSED!!! whenever we murder someone do we still get the chair? in a few states yes, but is US NO! why not when we murder someone we get the crap shoked outa us anymore huh???

[EPISCESGIRL85]

Murderers should still be killed. After all, how would you feel that your taxes are keeping the murderer who killed your family alive. Comforting thought. Murderers are the ones who are laughing at the fact that they get things for free while I have to struggle to pay for the same things.

[thelowmax]

In reality, with the cost of courts and lawyers and years(sometimes decades) of appeals, it's cheaper just put them in prison for the rest of their lives. I think hard labor and chain gangs is the way to go. At least you can get some work out of them.

[thelowmax]

Edison suggested AC to show it was dangerous, to make his DC power look better. He took the credit for all the work his employees did including their invetions.

[jonassalk666]

Thomas Edison was pure EVIL. Most of the inventions attributed to him were stolen from others, or invented by his workers and claimed by him. He electrouted 100s of animals to show how dangerous AC  was, because he wanted to get rich on his DC. I wish I could have injected him with the POLIO virus, watching him slowly become weak, his limbs shrivelling from infantile paralysis, his lungs slowly getting weaker. I'd kick the dying bastard and lead animals to deficate on his defenseless body.

[Steveco]

Well he's dead now so you can relax.

[jonassalk666]

I'm relaxing just fine. Glad the overrated phony is dead. I hope he's burning in hell for his cruel and inhumane actions, and his screwing people out of royalties on inventions that he took credit for. He is far worse than Hitler ever was. His story should be told to school children, not for his lightbulb, but for his atrocities.

[genpepper]

Hitler was responsible for the death fo nearly 12.000.000 people. Nothing compared to some cats and a elephant of course, lol

[jonassalk666]

Cats, dogs and elephants are/were innocent.