Woodcut engraving published in Harper's Weekly, Jan. 1887. Does anyone know how many elephant's Barnum actually had in the menagerie at this time?
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Fire at Barnum's Menagerie
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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2 comments:
Based on a number of accounts of the fire, it seems that the Barnum show had 31 elephants in quarters on the terrible night.
Twenty seven were saved. The keepers managed to get 28 of them out of the winter quarters and away from the area. However, one of them ran away and out into the bay where it got stuck in the muck. It died from shock and exposure. That left 27.
Three were consumed in the blaze. They seem to have been in a barn different from the rest of the herd. They were:
* * Alice, female African. She had been brought over from London zoo in 1886 to serve as Jumbo’s widow.
* * Samson, huge male Asian. He had been owned by W. W. Cole and had been a feature of his fine circus through 1886. With Bailey having dropped out of the partnership with Barnum for 1886 Cole bought into the Barnum show. He was with it in 1887. I do not know if Samson toured with the Barnum circus that year. He was a tough customer.
* * Toung Taloung, the celebrated white elephant from Burma, a male. Barnum had paid a king’s ransom to get him for the 1884 tour. Though genuine, he turned out to be a flop for an attraction (public expected an alabaster white animal) and toured only two years. He stayed in quarters in 1886 and 1887.
Richard,
Thank you for that great information. I didn't realize there were that many elephants with Barnum.
Wade
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