Thursday, August 04, 2005

Orton Bros. Circus 1916/ "Hero"


Well the horrid deed was done, R.Z. was encumbered with more show than he could afford and included in the deal was a big male elephant named "Hero" formerly with the Norris & Rowe Circus. Here he is posing in front of the Advance car flanked by one of his officials "Baker" and General Agent, Dave Jarrett.

Posted by Buckles at 8/04/2005 07:04:00 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one BIG elephant! How on earth would a show girl work with this GIANT? Did showgirls do mounts in those good old days?

04 August, 2005 15:28
Anonymous said...

These are some great photographs
of the ill fated elephant"Hero".
I grew up in South Dakota and heard about the story.
Hero's bullet ridden skull,
some limb bones and part of its pelvis can been seen on display at the
W.H Over Museum in Vermillion South Dakota,its the favorite attraction to see with all the young visitors there.There had been some talk in the past of mounting Hero's skeleton,however I believe some of the bones are missing,especially the ephysis
on the limb bones,as when they were cleaned,back in 1916 the bones were boiled,as since Hero was only about 19 years old,they were not fused onto the diaphysis.
Originally Hero's skeleton was complete.It was found in a store room during renovations to make a bathroom at the dorm University of South Dakota,but over the years various bones were taken as souviners or lost.
Kenton C.

20 August, 2005 15:13

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