By William “Skip” Deegans
For many years, summer in the Greenbrier Valley meant a trip to Ronceverte to see a circus. In 1898, the W. H. Harris World-Famous Nickel Plate Show arrived in town on ten railroad cars. Undoubtedly, it was great fun for the spectators; however, the circus was beset by a tragedy.
The one-ring circus was founded in 1893 by W. H. Harris. Two of its featured attractions were the elephant Gypsy and her son, Barney. At 10,000 pounds, Gypsy was advertised as one of the largest elephants in the world. On Sunday night before the Monday opening in Ronceverte, men worked until midnight setting up tents. Too tired to go to the sleeping car, they lay down on a pile of canvas in a tent where Gypsy and Barney were staked. During the night, the men were awakened by Gypsy pulling at the canvas. They ran outside but one man was not accounted for. The elephants’ keeper came, entered the tent, and found the missing man had been horribly crushed and killed by Gypsy.
The man killed in Ronceverte was not the first death associated with Gypsy. She was previously named Empress and belonged to the Forepaugh Circus. In Philadelphia in 1885, she struck a circus worker with her trunk, crushed him with one of her front feet, and disemboweled him with one of her tusks.
- H. Harris purchased Gypsy in late 1895 from W. W. Cole’s circus, and it was reported she had nine notches on her tusks for each victim to date. By 1897, Harris determined Gypsy was too dangerous to show and he was unable to sell her. He promoted the idea of electrocuting her and charging $5 admission for the event. For some reason that plan didn’t materialize, and he took Gypsy back on the show circuit.
In 1902, the circus reached Valdosta, Georgia, for its final show of the season where Gypsy trampled her keeper to death and escaped. An all-night search ended when Valdosta’s chief of police killed her with one shot. A half-dozen horses were unable to drag Gypsy to her grave, and she was cut into pieces. Some 3,000 people came to see her carcass.
Gypsy was one of the first elephants brought to the United States, and when she died she was 65 years-old. She was very intelligent and considered to be one of the best performers of the circus elephants. One of her acts included blowing a harmonica. While she never forgot people who mistreated her, she showed affection for those who were kind to her.
Sources: The West Virginia News, The Valdosta Times, Lowndes County Historical Society.