Story
The Day They Hanged an Elephant
The Day They Hanged an Elephant
Story by Joan Vannorsdall Schroeder First published in the May June 1997 issue of the Blue Ridge Country magazine,available online at blue-ridge-country.com/archive Featuring the Ballad —Mary the Elephant Performed by Chuck Brodsky. From his album Tulips for Lunch. Available through YouTube and Spotify
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Using original source material drawn from the Archives of Appalachia (housed at East Tennessee State University), Joan Vannorsdall Schroeder tells the story of Mary the Elephant who was hung for “murder” in the Clinchfield Railroad Yards in Erwin, Tennessee during September 1916.
Mary was the star of a two-bit traveling circus that toured the reconstruction-era South. Charlie Sparks, the owner of Sparks World Famous Shows, claimed that Mary the Elephant was “the largest living land animal on earth,” three inches bigger than Jumbo, P.T. Barnum’s famous pachyderm. At 30 years old, Mary was five tons of pure talent. She could “play 25 tunes on the musical horns without missing a note.” She was also the pitcher on the circus’ baseball-game gag routine.
Mary was Charlie Sparks’ favorite, his cash cow, his claim to circus fame. She was the leader of his small band of elephants, an exotic crowd-pleaser, an unpredictable giant.