Wednesday, June 14, 2006

From Bob Cline #2

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was anyone able to find out just where in Florida that
the famous circus equestrian and elephant handler, Frank Melville had his farm ca.1900?

Bob Cline said...

I never found out. In 1905 Frank Melville was breaking 209 horses from the Thompson / Dundee venue at Coney Island. I knew he retired an elephant named EMPRESS to the farm that had been under the care of the Melville family for 4 generations and was last exhibited at Coney Island in 1906. By 1908, Mr. Melville had died suddenly in the offices of the Hippodrome in New York.
Bob

Anonymous said...

I dont think that "The Empress" ever made it down to Florida,
but died in the Hippodrome in NYC.
BTW There is some indication that this Empress was aka "Mary",
the boss elephant that traveled with the John Robinson show as far back as the 1860's through the 1880's and perhaps longer.