Edison - the animal torturing bastard

[charred_heart]

(From a comment on youtube, some grammar mistakes were corrected)

Edison wanted to show the dangers of alternating current (he was an advocate of direct current) by electrocuting an elephant to death. He also killed many cats and dogs in the same way, to prove that alternating current was dangerous - all in an attempt to discredit his biggest competitor Westinghouse (the representative of alternating current).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bowA1xUZpmA&mode=related&search=

[CoHo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_(elephant)


Because Topsy was so violent, her owners decided to put her to death. A proposal of hanging was abandoned after the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals protested. Per the suggestion of Thomas Edison, she was to be electrocuted using 6,600 volts of alternating current electricity, which Edison, a backer of direct current, had argued was more dangerous than DC as part of his unsuccessful campaign to discredit AC. The ASPCA found this suggestion acceptable, viewing electrocution as a more humane form of killing.

did they say hanging? believe it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Mary)

[Lurker]

How the fuck do you hang an elephant.

[charred_heart]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_(elephant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_%28elephant))that was back when people didn't know electrocution hurt huh? humane, lol

[charred_heart]

did they say hanging? believe it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Mary)
it all started on september 11th too... woo

[PiccoloNamek]

The smoke makes it look horrible and painful, but the elephant probably lost consciousness almost immediately.

[Biff_Loman]

I do the same, to demonstrate to all my friends and neighbours that they should respect electrical power.

[PsiKik]

The smoke makes it look horrible and painful, but the elephant probably lost consciousness almost immediately.

Nevertheless I found this video pretty disgusting and disturbing.

<sarcasm>Thomas Edison, the great genius. </sarcasm>

[wildcat]

(From a comment on youtube, some grammar mistakes were corrected)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bowA1xUZpmA&mode=related&search=
What about the cats and dogs in your back yard?

[CoHo]

I don't get the Edison bashing


A proposal of hanging was abandoned after the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals protested. Per the suggestion of Thomas Edison, she was to be electrocuted ... The ASPCA found this suggestion acceptable.

Edison didn't actually kill the elephant he suggested electrocution and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals AGREED with him.

[Jennywocky]

How the fuck do you hang an elephant.

With a thick-enough rope. ("And what would you like on your Tombstone?")

But you'd better hope it actually dies. Because elephants never forget.


I don't get the Edison bashing

in this context, no. Sounds like this is driven more by the death of the poor hapless elephant, than Edison's motivations.

I haven't done any specific Edison research, so I could be wrong, but the same perververance and will to succeed that drove him past failure after failure seems to have resulted in anecdotal accounts of what a ruthless bastard he was in terms of competing.

[stopharian]

I don't get the Edison bashing



Edison didn't actually kill the elephant he suggested electrocution and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals AGREED with him.


The electrocution of Topsy was the culmination of Edison's animal electrocution campaign. He had already electrocuted countless dogs, calves, sheep, cows, even horses using AC current in an attempt to discredit Tesla and Westinghouse and their proposals to use AC current instead of his beloved DC(which could only travel about a mile from a powerplant). He was known to give out a bounty of like 25 cents to any neighborhood child who would bring him stray dogs. This was so that he could test the invention of the electric chair which was developed in his laboratory. At the first human electrocution, Edison secretly purchased and installed Westinghouse dynamos at the prison. When the guy had been executed all of the newspapers to edison's delight, reported that he had been "westinghoused".

[stopharian]

With a thick-enough rope. ("And what would you like on your Tombstone?")

But you'd better hope it actually dies. Because elephants never forget.



in this context, no. Sounds like this is driven more by the death of the poor hapless elephant, than Edison's motivations.

I haven't done any specific Edison research, so I could be wrong, but the same perververance and will to succeed that drove him past failure after failure seems to have resulted in anecdotal accounts of what a ruthless bastard he was in terms of competing.

Really the Elephant electrocution is just an interesting side note in Edison's demented quest to discredit AC using animal and human electrocution. There are actually a few books on the subject. Look up "edison the american myth" and "edison and the electric chair" (not exact titles.)

edit:

Executioner's Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair (http://www.amazon.com/Executioners-Current-Westinghouse-Invention-Electric/dp/037572446X/sr=8-1/qid=1165588047/ref=sr_1_1/102-8662255-3604921?ie=UTF8&s=books)

here is the editorial review which adds some quick background:

From Publishers Weekly
This account opens at New York's Auburn Penitentiary, in 1890, with a bloody, scorched body strapped in the electric chair. The first electrocution concluded a courtroom drama involving a humanitarian dentist, an ambitious attorney, an illiterate murderer and the great American inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison. Edison joined the debate over electrocution in an effort to discredit his rival, George Westinghouse, whose system of alternating current, or AC, was rapidly outpacing Edison's direct current, or DC, in the race to electrify America. Playing upon concerns about public safety and eager to brand Westinghouse electricity the "executioner's current," Edison advised legislators that a shock of AC killed most efficiently and, disregarding his own professed opposition to capital punishment, suggested a design for the chair. Meanwhile, Westinghouse surreptitiously underwrote the appeals of the condemned man, William Kemmler, challenging the constitutionality of electrocution. Withholding his personal opposition to the death penalty until the book's final sentence, Moran (Knowing Right from Wrong: The Insanity Defense of Daniel McNaughton), a sociologist at Mount Holyoke College, marshals his sources-committee reports, legislative hearings, court decisions-to argue that the search for a humane method of execution does not resolve the moral dilemma, but instead leaves capital punishment in the hands of alleged experts who are too often guided by self-interest. For all his careful documentation and apparent impartiality, Moran freely borrows from sensational newspaper stories, many based on second-hand accounts, to accentuate the horrors of electrocution and portray the condemned as victims. With Edison's name in the title and macabre execution scenes in the opening pages, this book should attract browsers as well as politically engaged readers. 22 b&w illus.



Thomas Alva Edison: An American Myth (http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Alva-Edison-American-Myth/dp/0262730650/sr=1-1/qid=1165588394/ref=sr_1_1/102-8662255-3604921?ie=UTF8&s=books)

another interesting book from MIT press

Book Description
"...a significant and much-respected attempt to peer through layers of legend and explain how 'Edison came to rank with Santa Claus.'" - The New York Times
Product Details

[stopharian]

exerpted from: War of Currents on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents)

Edison's publicity campaign

Edison went on to carry out a campaign to discourage the use of alternating current. Edison personally presided over several executions of animals, primarily stray cats and dogs, to demonstrate to the press that his system of direct current was safer than that of alternating current.[citation needed] Edison's series of animal executions peaked with the electrocution of Topsy the Elephant. He also tried to popularize the term for being electrocuted as being "Westinghoused".

Edison opposed capital punishment, but his desire to disparage the system of alternating current led to the invention of the electric chair. Harold P. Brown, who was being secretly paid by Edison, constructed the first electric chair for the state of New York in order to promote the idea that alternating current was deadlier than DC. [1]

When the chair was first used, on August 6, 1890, the technicians on hand misjudged the voltage needed to kill the condemned prisoner, William Kemmler. The first jolt of electricity was not enough to kill Kemmler, and left him only badly injured. The procedure had to be repeated and a reporter on hand described it as "an awful spectacle, far worse than hanging". George Westinghouse commented: "They would have done better using an axe."[citation needed]

[NoahFence]

I wonder how many cats he went through before he settled on a carbon filament. I know hindsight is 20/20, but I'd think working out the lightbulb wouldn't be that confusing...I mean, come on...

[Ferrus]

Personally, I torture animals on a regular basis, and it has never done me any harm.

[Jennywocky]

I wonder how many cats he went through before he settled on a carbon filament. I know hindsight is 20/20, but I'd think working out the lightbulb wouldn't be that confusing...I mean, come on...

Well, with cats, you can at least divide that number by nine.

[NoahFence]

Well, with cats, you can at least divide that number by nine.

Thomas Edison, Father of modern recycling?

[Jennywocky]

Thomas Edison, Father of modern recycling?

I was thinking more along the lines of how many lives a cat metaphysically seems to have compared to other animals, but their physical durability probably could be of benefit as well...

[NoahFence]

Right, recycle the same cat nine times. Not sure if you could still make tennis rackets out of the remains. Edison's not known for his breakthroughs in racket design, so I guess that proves they're all used up!

[Jennywocky]

Right, recycle the same cat nine times. Not sure if you could still make tennis rackets out of the remains. Edison's not known for his breakthroughs in racket design, so I guess that proves they're all used up!

I guess it would be "raccat" instead of "racket."

Catgut is very valuable, at least with old style raccats.

I love cats, they make such a delightful noise when they fall out of trees.

[voogle]

http://www.blueridgecountry.com/elephant/elephant.html