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At the start of the 20th century, two companies that would go on to dominate American industry were locked in a battle over which type of electrical current the country would embrace. The direct current (DC) champion in this War of the Currents was Thomas Edison and his company, General Electric (NYSE: GE), while Westinghouse, now part of CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), pushed AC, alternating current, made commercially viable by Nikola Tesla.

To make his case that DC was safer than AC current, Edison conducted a number of public exhibitions in which he
"Westinghoused" -- his term for electrocuted -- cats, dogs, and cows using AC. He also had constructed the first electric chair for New York, which was used in 1890 to attempt the execution of William Kemmler. Unfortunately, those in charge underestimated the current needed, resulting in what was described as a horrifying display of cruelty, leaving Kemmler alive but badly hurt.

Undisuaded, Edison continued his campaign of Westinghousing all sorts of mammals. Meanwhile, Coney Island's Luna Park was puzzling over what to do with its elephant Topsy, who had killed three of her handlers in three years (one of whom had been trying to feed her a lit cigarette). When the ASPCA stepped in to protest plans to hang the animal, the owners struck on the idea of electrocuting Topsy. Edison made sure cameras were on hand to capture the tragic event on January 4, 1903 as 6,600 volts of AC dropped her in her tracks He released the film under the title Electrocuting an Elephant.

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Ads Gone Bad: Edison electrocutes Topsy the elephant originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.