Odd, Old News: When Empress the Elephant Came to Humboldt County

 

Forepaugh_Sells_Brothers-vintage-circus-poster-1899

A poster for the Forepaugh and Sells Brothers Circus. [Image from here]

Nuggets of old news is served up once a week by David Heller, one of our local historians.

In late May of 1888, residents along the wagon road to Humboldt County were amazed to see three men trekking northwards with a huge elephant and albino camel. Billed as the largest and best trained of circus elephants, and as “a magnificent animal having extraordinary intelligence”, the five ton elephant’s name was Empress, at this time. Purported to be the only trained camel in America, the albino camel was Nebo. They were performers in the Forepaugh Circus, the first large circus to perform in Humboldt County.

In the 1870’s and 1880’s, the Forepaugh Circus was the main rival to the Barnum and Bailey circus. As Adam Forepaugh’s Wikipedia page tells us: “His innovations included commissioning the first railroad cars for a traveling circus in 1877, the first three-ring presentation, and the first Wild West show”. His circus was said to have had more animals than Barnum’s, and Forepaugh paid better wages to attract quality European performers. Their competition over rights to perform in the most desirable locations in the country led to the two rivals dividing up the market, and the Forepaugh Circus touring northern California in the late 1880’s. While the circus entertained San Franciscans, a promotional scout for the company was so impressed by Blue Lake’s newspaper, the Northern Advocate, the predecessor to the Blue Lake Advocate, “that he decided any town which could afford a home newspaper of its excellence was certainly a favorable place to patronize amusements of superior merits.” (Blue Lake Advocate, 4/10/1958)

The departure from the Bay area on May 26th was announced: “The paraphernalia of Forepaugh’s Circus was placed on board the steamer Humboldt, at Jackson Street wharf, yesterday, for transportation to Humboldt. The elephant was too big to go in the hold, and so was taken on the ferryboat Tiburon across the bay. It will be taken by the cars to Cloverdale, and from there will have to walk to Eureka, where the show opens.”(Humboldt Times Standard, 5/29/1888)

Anticipation grew: “It is certainly a notable sign of progress in our young city that it has attracted the attention of the great Forepaugh management, the rival of Barnum, and led to the decision to cause the lordly elephant to make a journey of two hundred miles on foot, scaling mountains and fording rivers in order that it may be seen on our streets. The march will be a novel affair, and will draw together numbers of people along the way, and probably no beast has ever been greeted in this county by so large a crowd as will be on hand at the time of his arrival, if the boys are smart enough to find out when it is.”(HTS, 5/30/1888)

The march of the elephant and camel through the Healdsburg area was reported: “Great was the delight of the small boy Saturday morning. An elephant and camel were brought through our town en route for Eureka. As the boys from far and near gathered around these natives of the Eastern continent and followed as far as Heald’s Hill, many as far as Hopland, and the more venturesome are still pursuing.”(Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar, 5/30/1888)

Their path north followed the main North/South stage route, and once past Long Valley, took to the Mail Ridge/Bell Springs route atop the ridgeline dividing the drainages of the main Eel River and the South Fork of the Eel river. It was recorded that they stayed overnight in the old stage coach barn at Harris that still stands today. From there the road dropped down to the Eel River at Alderpoint, and went on to Blocksburg where the arrival of Empress became known as one of the town’s biggest events. Continuing north on the stage route to Bridgeville, and thence downstream, the animals were able to avoid more populous areas by taking the Eel River and Eureka Railroad from Burnell’s to Eureka. The Weekly Humboldt Times reported: “Although the matter was kept very quiet, a large number of boys were at the depot yesterday when the train arrived at Eureka with the elephant and camel aboard. The strange appearance of the animals caused considerable commotion among the horses that were in the vicinity,” as did the odor of strange animals.(BLA, 4/10/1958)

Although smaller circus animal acts had performed in Eureka, the first real circus had arrived: “The Great Show. For the first time in the way of shows Eureka has a real live elephant of huge proportions, a fierce lion, the king of beasts, and his mate, a patient camel and several smaller imported animals. The immense pavilion is 110×210 feet, and fitted up with tiers of a spacious amphitheatre capable of accommodating a vast audience. The performance last night was exceedingly novel and amusing and gave great satisfaction to the spectators.” (HTS, 6/1/1888)

Around the 6th of June the circus performed in Blue Lake: “All the small boys took in the circus. They had never been there before and of course wanted to see the elephant. Some big boys and girls were in the same boat.”(BLA 6/12/1888)

After delighting crowds with their performances for days, the entire circus headed south transported on wagons and horse teams that were hired in Humboldt County. Coming down the Walker Grade in Mendocino County a Mrs. Fowler encountered Empress and the circus wagons and nearly had a serious accident when her horses took fright and backed off the grade. The circus continued on south and headed east into the Sierras in hopes of more lucrative audiences. It was expensive for a circus to move about and often they were on the economic edge, or in debt. Indeed, circus teamsters attached the property of the Forepaugh circus for wages due them and put up their teams as bonds, which forced their Humboldt County owners to go into the Sierras to find and reclaim his four horse teams.

Humboldt County audiences appear to have been oblivious to Empress’s dark history and that three years earlier she had killed another man to add the list recorded as notches on her tusk. By 1889 the “4-Paws” circus had made its way back east. When an escaped lion killed a camel at the circus’s winter headquarters in Pennsylvania, Empress became enraged and pummeled the lion(was the camel Nebo?). In this same year, Adam Forepaugh sold off his circus and train cars, and retired, passing a year later.

Though well behaved when visiting Humboldt County, Empress returned to her violent ways in the 1890’s. Perhaps it was just her temperament as claimed, but it is easy to surmise that mistreatment by handlers with their iron prods was a large factor.

Gypsy/Empress with Fatty Shea

Gypsy the elephant about 1894, with trainer Fatty Shea, and a smaller elephant possibly Pearl Courtesy of the Ray City History Blog

Gypsy, now owned again by W.H. Harris for his Nickel Plate Show, killed another handler in 1896 in Chicago, a tragedy that made the national press. Her previous trainer, Fatty Shea was recalled, stating that he had never had difficulty with her in his intermittent ten years of working with her. He also confirmed that Gypsy was only another name for Empress, the original old Empress, who was the first elephant imported into this country.
Like all elephants, she never forgot an injury, or a kindness. Their reunion was described: “Chicago, March 27.—Trainer Shea arrived in town last night and made haste to reach Gypsy’s quarters. The meeting between the two astonished those who beheld it. Shea patted the elephant as he asked: “How are you, old girl?” Almost instantly Gypsy wrapped her big trunk around the waist of her friend and held him firmly, yet tenderly, for many minutes. Then, receiving a reassuring kiss from Shea, the monster slowly lowers him to the floor. While her trainer remained in her quarters Gypsy trumpeted merrily, and it was not until the keeper left the place that the beast ceased these manifestations of her joy”. (Alexandria Post News, 4/2/1896)

After this last death, public sentiment turned against Gypsy, who was now promoted as “Gypsy, the Man Killing Elephant”. Discussions of her possible fate made for great publicity. In the years following the 1893 Columbian Exposition where Nikola Tesla’s alternating current 200,000 electric light bulb display dazzled the public, Tesla was engaged in a competition with Edison who promoted a direct current system. Edison took to electrocuting animals in public with AC to show the dangers of Tesla’s alternating current. Never one to miss an opportunity to sensationalize, Harris proposed a public electrocution of Gypsy/Empress with a five dollar entrance fee. Harris also touted a scheme to send Gypsy to Cuba to fight the Spanish in the Spanish-American war. It was said that she had been condemned to death six times, neither of Harris’s options was pursued and she continued her circus performances.

Gypsy in early advertisement for the Nickel Plate Show Courtesy of the Ray City History Blog

Gypsy in early advertisement for the Nickel Plate Show Courtesy of the Ray City History Blog

At times docile and at times unmanageable, Empress/Gypsy went on to kill two more men, finally meeting her death in 1902 at the age 65. After her last victim’s death, she rampaged through the town of Valdosta, Georgia. At the end of a six mile chase, the chief of police put her down with a high-powered rifle, thus ending the troubled life of one of America’s most viewed and long lived elephant circus performers. She had been owned by nearly all the big circuses, was usually sold because of her temper, but always for a big price because of her intelligence and training.

In 2016 Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey stopped using elephant acts in response to local ordinances seeking to prevent the cruel practices customarily involved in training and controlling elephants.

Earlier Odd and Old News:

There are many, but here are the most recent:

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18 Comments
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Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago

What well written story. A history both tragic and informative about humans and their relationship with animals and the times. An elephant and camel walking from Cloverdale to Humboldt Co in order to perform at Blue Lake because the circus owner was impressed by a local newspaper is a striking idea. Thank you for this bit of history.

cu2morrow
Guest
cu2morrow
2 years ago

quite a feat to travel Northward thru treacherous terrain on a wagon trail. All to met with tragic ending.

Skippy
Guest
Skippy
2 years ago

What a great story and something I’d never heard of before. Thank you.

Anna
Guest
Anna
2 years ago

Just another story showing how humans believe they own and have the rights to every thing, living or otherwise on this earth and with that entitlement, we chose abuse. Continuously. It says all we need to know about human nature that for centuries (even some folks today) we actually questioned if animals felt pain/emotions. Then again, some also had the same question about babies and people of color.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago
Reply to  Anna

Way to not have learned anything about your own species.

CharlesA
Guest
CharlesA
2 years ago
Reply to  Anna

“Then again, some also had the same question about babies and people of color.”

Then again, some also HAVE the same question about babies and people of color.
Sick people are still around dear. Still abusing helpless animals and humans.

Its still going on.

Guest
Guest
Guest
2 years ago

Look at the eyes of that poor elephant.

Incredibly sad and pained.

How awful it must have been treated.

Dave Sky
Guest
Dave Sky
2 years ago

Thanks. Well detailed bit of history. Brings back to mind how much people suck.

David Heller
Guest
David Heller
2 years ago
Reply to  Dave Sky

Starting from a few mentions about an elephant passing through Harris and Blocksburg, the story carried me away. The links take her distressing story deeper. There were a lot of discrepancies to wade through, she is often described as an Asian female, but Asian female elephants don’t have tusks. One source got it right. Her frequent name changes were interesting, one source had a list of the eight circuses she had worked for. In 1885, Harris bought her.
“Purchased from the deep South’s W. W. Cole’s Circus, she proved to be a huge brute that put fear into everyone. Charley Curran, the trainer, examined her tusk stubs and noting many notches there-on, exclaimed, “I knew it!, this is Pogie O’Brien’s notorious outlaw and as she has nine notches filed into her tusks, she has killed at least that many people”. “Well”, dryly commented Harris, “we bought her as Gypsy, so don’t anyone mention her bloody history”. – White Tops, April 1930, Col. C. G. Sturtevant.”
After a number of violent incidents with humans in 1885 gave her a bad reputation under the name Gypsy, they must have changed it back to Empress with new ownership before the 1888 California tour.
Although Barney Shea comes across well as her trainer, he also knew of her long memory, and “stated that she had old grudges against him that she would never forget”. Circus personnel learned to be on guard around her.

She injured and killed many humans, still, we sympathize with her as a victim of our mistreatment, much as we do with the elephant in the movie Water for Elephants.

Yeah, sure
Guest
Yeah, sure
2 years ago
Reply to  David Heller

Water for Elephants is an excellent book.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
2 years ago

My mother lived at the Rancho El Primero north of Laytonville when she was a child in the 1920’s. She used to tell a story about when the circus came to town. (not the same circus) She said that the elephant pulled a wagon down the road. They were still building the Highway 101 at the time. When the circus went past The-Half-bridge ( that’s what the locals called the road around the bluff between Leggett and Piercy just north of Bridges Creek just south of Tree House. The newcomers renamed it “The Slab”… I’m beginning to sound like a Zane Grey novel…)

Anyway, when the elephant came around the corner, some of the highway workers jumped off the road in fright. ( I don’t know what happened to the workers that jumped. This is 2021, you don’t get to hear the whole story….)

You can’t talk to the people in Harris very long before you hear the story of the elephant the stayed it the barn over a hundred years ago. The Smith family still owns the ranch and the Barn. Joe Valk knows the story well. I think that Michelle Bushnell is also a descendant of the Smith Family that owns the ranch.

Good Story David. Thanks.

Lynn H
Guest
Lynn H
2 years ago

One of my earliest memories was a very close encounter with maybe 5 or 6 elephants when I was somewhere around 3 years old. I remember being frustrated by not being able to complete my sentences out loud- although maybe it was from being overly emotional.

My mother brought me to the zoo. I was absolutely fascinated by the elephants and noticed that the big iron fence containing them was just above a gutter and the fence was lifted a little bit off the bottom of that gutter. Just enough I thought.. Yes! I can do that! I waited and as soon as my mother turned her back I rushed over and quickly scooted underneath the fence and into the elephant cage. “Elephants!” I said, and lifted my arms up.

Luckily for me those bored caged elephants were equally fascinated by the little baby human who had come so close. They very slowly crowded all around me and gently lifted their trunks out to touch me oh so carefully. They touched my dress but didn’t touch my skin directly with their trunks- only the hairs of their trunks. They softly breathed in my scent and then they smiled. The rest of their bodies were perfectly still and they were calm. I kept still but was elated and crying. They were so beautiful. They *felt* beautiful. I swear to this day they were the most loving beings.

Our little world was then suddenly ripped apart by the zoo keeper who ran into the pen and beat the elephants off of me with a short whip. At least, that was what he was doing in his mind. He was frantic. So sad and unfair I thought. Only then did I hear my mother outside the pen screaming. The elephants had completely surrounded me and no one could see what they were doing. I later wondered if they would have understood if they were able to see it.

The zoo keeper yanked and dragged me out of the pen and curtly handed me in my filthy dress to my screaming mother. Boy, was I ever in trouble. It was so worth it. I will never forget how beautiful and intelligent they felt. I was in heaven all the way home and barely even heard my mother’s admonishments and threats “if I *ever* did that again. It was a long time till we went to the zoo again.

Don’t try this at home..

Lynn H
Guest
Lynn H
2 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Thanks. That is the best memory of my life. What one can get away with at 3. Everyone loves babies.

David Heller
Guest
David Heller
2 years ago
Reply to  Lynn H

Such a special experience for one to have. Thanks for sharing Lynn.

Lynn H
Guest
Lynn H
2 years ago
Reply to  David Heller

Thanks for your stories as well David. You make the interesting even more so.

Joe
Guest
Joe
2 years ago
Reply to  Lynn H

That’s a great story, Lynn! Thanks for sharing! Thank you also, David!

Vic Jules
Guest
Vic Jules
2 years ago

This story deserves to be a movie.Dell Arte Blue Lake art/music makers ? Where yo be?