Mary the Thirsty Elephant

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August 9th, 1928 was a hot, miserable day in the small valley town of Lewiston, Idaho. The snake river lolled lazily through town as the Sells-Floto Circus arrived for their summer tour.  The elephant's werethirsty in the heat but the elephant handlers had not provided them any water, and were beginning to have difficulty controlling the animals.  One elephant named Mary went mad from the thirst and broke away from her trainers, running down the man street of the town in search of water.

Mary, desperate from thirst, became confused by the plate glass windows of the shops and smashed them with her trunk, mistaking them for water.  Finally she caught scent of the water flowing from the local carwash and trampled through the streets to get to it.


Mary was not the first Sells-Floto elephant to trample, and these abused animals had caused deaths and horrible injuries in other towns.  The mayor of Lewiston at the time was Dr. Braddock, an accomplished man who was not only doctor and mayor but a big game hunter.  Mayor Braddock went home to retrieve his gun, and as Mary the elephant stood drinking water at the carwash he dispatched her to protect the town.

  Mary's trunk has been preserved in a private collection.  On the site of her shooting a sign has been erected in what is now the parking lot of Woods and Sons Insurance.


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