Skip to content

     
Limit search to available items
Limited to: Words in the TITLE "Topsy"
Search LINK+ Catalog
Book Cover
BOOK/MAGAZINE
Author Daly, Michael, 1952-

Title Topsy : the startling story of the crooked-tailed elephant, P.T. Barnum, and the American wizard, Thomas Edison / Michael Daly.

Publication Info. New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, [2013]

Copies

Location Call No. Public Note Status
 Esparto Adult Nonfiction  791.32092 DAL    CHECK SHELVES
Edition First Edition.
Description viii, 369 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Content type text txt rdacontent
Format volume nc rdacarrier
Note Includes index.
Contents The 200-pound baby -- The Elephant -- Barnum -- The Elephantine Expedition -- Ugly -- The War between the States, the Battle of the Dwarfs -- 4-Paw -- The fire, the plowing elephant, the panic, and the "dusky attendant" -- Crooked tale, crooked tail -- The continued magic of kindness and the first beauty contest -- The Wizard -- The White Elephant War -- Eph's escape, pickpockets, and pink lemonade -- The Tree of Knowledge and the Fearless Frogman -- Another war begins -- The executioner's experiments -- The Chair -- Westinghoused -- Reading your own obituary -- The great name vanishes -- Topsy somersaults, gold dust and Duncan get a home -- The Wizard's latest marvel and so many elephants -- Sid Sorrows, Topsy traipses -- Topsy and the tormentor -- From Lady Moody to the billion-dollar smile -- "Here I am! Here I am! Where are you?" -- The big swim.
Summary Describes how a circus elephant named Topsy was electrocuted in 1903 with 6,600 volts of alternating current as proof that it was much more dangerous than direct current in an ongoing dispute between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.
Subject Topsy (Elephant)
Elephants.
Circus animals.
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891.
Circus owners -- United States -- Biography.
Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931.
Inventors -- United States -- Biography.
Circus -- United States -- History.
Electrocution -- Experiments.
ISBN 9780802119049 hardcover
0802119042 hardcover