From Hal Guyon

Scan10542, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. LAST WORD REGARDING “BIG MARY” By Ruth Pieper, Erwin Tennessee Big Mary of the Sparks World Famous Shows became known as Murderous Mary on September 12, 1916 in Kingsport, Tennessee - when she killed a new bull keeper hired just a couple of days before in St Paul, Virginia. A crowd of local people had gathered for the towns first County Fair and Sparks Show. Mary was advertised as the “ Largest Living Land Animal On Earth - 3 Inches Taller Than Jumbo And Weighing Over 5 Tons” So that her gruesome killing of “Red” after a matinee performance, was seen by young and old alike. Fear triggered pandemonium, “ kill her, kill her” was the cry and 24 hours later, Big Mary was hung by a train derrick of the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railroad in Erwin, Tennessee. It would seem that Erwin, had condemned Big Mary. For it was here, at the main office of the C. C. & O Railroad that they would have a train derrick coming in to do the hanging. It was deemed the safest and most humane method of execution for that time and circumstances. The C. C. & O. Tracks were laid through rugged terrain of the Blue Ridge Mountains south of Erwin, over the Appalachian Range into North Carolina which followed the Toe River. The C. C. & O. Advertised in the Johnson City Staff newspaper, “ Special train Leaving Johnson City September 10 (1916) to Flooded District of Blue Ridge Mountains near Altapass, N.C. . - See the devastation of the Floods of July 15 and 16.” It was still wet season in September. In order to have the train derrick available to travel south in case of more wash outs, the railroad company decided not to send the train derrick some thirty miles north to Kingsport. On Wednesday September 13, 1916 the Sparks Show arrived in Erwin to perform their matinee and the dramatic task. It was to remain etched in the minds of Erwin ever since. Mainly because a C. C. & O. railroad employee, T. K. Broyles Jr. Had the presents of mind to capture this historic event with his box camera. It became a dimly lite photograph of the hanging that occurred late in the afternoon of a cloudy day. That photo was to prove the first hanging of an elephant in the United States and to perpetuate this local history. Photo from Buckles