I’m glad the long-abused circus elephants will have a happier fate.
His death on a cold spring day in a land far from where he was intended to roam was an injustice. He was undoubtedly miserable for a good deal of his life. Dad and I stopped there about a decade ago and I checked on the details. They’re stored at the Elkton Community Museum at 105 Elk St. All Elkton has is the 30-30 Savage Army rifle and a few other mementoes, including a piece of luggage made from his skin. Over Museum at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. His skull and some of his bones are at the W.H. “Elephant” told his sad tale in 2010 and the review I read raved about it. A piece of performance theater, complete with interpretative dance, was staged at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. The third Saturday in May was proclaimed “Hero the Elephant Day” in South Dakota and it was so observed for years. Seriously.Īlthough few know the story now, Hero has not been completely forgotten.
Some of it was served at a local hotel, surely the only time elephant meat was on the menu in the state, although local cookbooks long contained a recipe for elephant.
#Tyke elephant eyes skin#
Hero had no better fortune in death than he did in life.Ī South Dakota State College professor and 20 students came to the field and sliced off the skin and harvested the meat. The sheriff had a large hunting rifle, and the bullets it fired pierced Hero’s skull, bringing him down. Farmers and their families took cover.įinally the law was called out.
Jimmy died in 1972, so there’s no way to find out.Īccording to numerous accounts of the incident, Hero finally wearied of the barrage and fled into the countryside, where he rampaged through fences and caused other damage for 12 hours. Dad always said Jimmy may have fired a round or two in Hero after he was brought down, but he doubted Jimmy was actively involved in the hunt. My dad, who first told me the story, loved Jimmy but knew of his gentle nature and, well, relaxed attitude toward work. Uncle Jimmy and other local residents ran for their guns and blazed away as well but Hero’s hide was too thick to be brought down by the small arms. “Anyway, Hero, in a frustrated state, proceeded to shove a couple of wagons off a flat car and then continued out into the countryside.”Ĭircus folks produced guns but their bullets and shotgun pellets didn’t slow him. For a fleeting moment, Hero locked eyes with my mother. My mother said that Hero then walked alongside the coach looking in each window for his prey. “Running for his life, Newton barely made it aboard the train in one of the coaches. Hero tried to tip the wagon over on top of him. “My mother was 14 at the time and since the train happened to be next to the circus lot that day, she had a good view of Newton (Hero’s trainer) being chased under a wagon and barely escaping. William Buckles Woodcock Jr., an elephant trainer who says in a column that his family owned the circus, has written about the incident. The enraged elephant tried to crush Newton as well but it was a snowy day and the muddy ground saved the trainer. He then raged toward the stunned trainer, and bit (his tusks had been removed) and stomped two ponies that were in the way, killing both. Hero picked him up and tossed him 30 feet. Newton, allegedly drunk thanks to some Brookings bootleggers, reportedly flogged the giant beast. Hero may also have been feeling, well, a tad randy.Įither way, he was in no mood to be messed with. By all accounts I have heard and read, Hero was weary of abuse and ill-treatment at the hands of his trainer, Henry Newton. Hero the Elephant (seen above in an image from Buckles Blog ) was a 9-foot-tall, 5-ton Asian elephant and a featured performer in the circus. Jimmy, who was around 20, was there when an elephant, and all hell, broke loose. On May 14, 1916, the Orton Brothers Circus came to town. Jimmy grew up in and around Elkton, a small Brookings County town near the Minnesota state line.
Jimmy had one claim to fame: He was one of the few people who had fired shots at a rogue elephant rampaging through South Dakota. He was a smiling Irishman who loved a good story, knew his way around a deck of cards and cherished his wife Sadie. Jimmy was a kind man, funny, wise and quick with a dime when kids appreciated such a gift. My great-uncle Jimmy Lavin was involved, as has been passed down in my family lore. and Barnum & Bailey ceased using elephants in “The Greatest Show on Earth” a few years ago, which made me think of South Dakota’s lone elephant hunt.
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