Empress (Gypsy)
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Harris Nickel Plate Shows in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Empress (Gypsy)


Identification


Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀, unknown age

People killed:	6
Origin
Born:	* wild
Birth place:
Death
Dead:	†
Death reason:	euthanised: shot, agressive
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Harris Nickel Plate Shows, in United States

Date of arrival

1892-00-00	Harris Nickel Plate Shows from Clark Brothers Circus

1890-00-00	Clark Brothers Circus from Forepaugh & Samwells

1887-00-00	Forepaugh & Samwells from O'Brien Circus

1886-00-00	O'Brien Circus from Grand Circus Royal & English Menagerie

1881-00-00	Grand Circus Royal & English Menagerie from Great Inter-Ocean Shows

1879-00-00	Great Inter-Ocean Shows 1879-00-00 from Campbell's New York and Philadelphia Zoological and Equestrian Institute

1878-00-00	Campbell's New York and Philadelphia Zoological and Equestrian Institute from Dan Rice Circus

1873-00-00	Dan Rice Circus from O'Brien Circus

Record history
History of updates	2025-03-23: poster, news article

Latest document update	2025-03-23 15:22:07

† Empress (Gypsy) is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died at Harris Nickel Plate Shows, in United States, . Official death reason described as shot, agressive.

Casualties

4 casualties

1885: elephant trainer Bernard Shea attacked by Empress (Gypsy). Shea rode Gypsy to a stream so she could cool herself. There, Gypsy’s Trunk grabbed Shea and shoved him underwater. Bernard Shea Survived. Wriggling free, Shea subdued Gypsy in a “brutal” manner, which Johnston does not detail. “Shea quit the show after this incident, knowing it was only a matter of time before (Gypsy) would kill him.”
1885-10-11: other Robert White fatal attack by Empress (Gypsy). Raising her Trunk in the air felled White to the ground with one tremendous blow. She struck him another blow as he lay prostrate, and then rearing on her hind legs brought one of her front Feet down on White’s chest with the full force of her ponderous weight. She paused for a moment apparently to see whether her victim would offer any resistance, and when he moaned feebly she thrust down her immense head and with her tusk literally disemboweled him. † Robert White Died 1885-10-11, Winter quarters of Forepaugh’s Circus. Daniel Taylor, an attaché of the circus, picked up a spear, and dashing into the elephant house plunged it into the brute’s leg. She stopped thrusting at the prostrate man with her single but ugly tusk. White was taken to a hospital, where he died very soon afterward.
1896: animal trainer Frank Scott fatal attack by Empress (Gypsy). Bernard Shea was away and animal handler Frank Scott ignored warnings to leave Gypsy alone. He exercised her. Scott climbed onto Gypsy’s back and sat on her head, the usual custom for riding an elephant. Riding down an alley, “Gypsy caught (Scott) with her Trunk and hurled him to the ground,” according to the Johnston article. “Using her front Feet, she stomped the life out of him. † Frank Scott Died 1896, Harris Nickel Plate Shows Circus winter quarters, Chicago. Shea was contacted at once. He hurried back to the show to be greeted by Gypsy with happy snorting and trumpeting. But Gypsy’s love for trainer Bernard Shea was a temperamental one.
1902-11-22: elephant trainer James "Whiskey Red" O'Rourke fatal attack by Empress (Gypsy). Gypsy abruptly stopped and O’Rourke fell to the cobble-stoned street. “For a long while, O’Rourke lay on the street under the huge elephant’s Trunk. He failed to get up. (Gypsy) hesitated to lift him back to her head,” according to The Times. “Then, slowly, deliberately, the mammoth beast kneeled down over O’Rourke and crushed his body. She then rolled the limp body along with her Trunk and Tusks for some 50 yards. † James "Whiskey Red" O'Rourke Died 1902-11-22, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia. Police Chief Dampier went home to fetch his Krag-Jorgensen rifle, which he had carried in the Spanish-American War, according to most accounts, and shot her dead at Cherry Creek.

Origin

Empress (Gypsy) was born wild .

Comments / pictures

1867-1891: Killed 4 people.
1896: killed Frank Scott
1902: killed James "Whiskey Red" O'Rourke.

Records about Empress (Gypsy) from Bob Cline

EMPRESS / GYPSY
Female Asian 1870 - sold at Auction to John "Pogey" O'Brien for $5,000 in November
1871 - Pogey O'Brien Circus
1873 - Dan Rice Circus
1878 - Campbell's Great New York and Philadelphia Zoological & Equestrienne Institute
1879 to 1880 - Great Inter Ocean
1881 to 1883 - Grand Circus Royal, English Menagerie Consolidated with the Great Astley's Museum & Aquarium Caravan

1885 - Killed Robert White on October 12th
1886 - Pogey O'Brien's Show
1886 - sold to John B. Doris
1887 to 1889 - O'Brien's and the Forepaugh & Samwells' show
1890 to 1891 - Clark Bros. Circus
1892 to 1902 - Harris Nickle Plate Shows renamed Gypsy
1896 - killed 3rd victim ( Trainer Frank Scott )
Died - Nov. 24, 1902 ( Executed by gunshot. )

Bob Cline, author of the book "Americas elephants".

1888:"(Clarks broters) in 1888 purchased some of the Pogey OBrien show equipment and the elephant "Empress." This bull was a bad one and was known to have killed four men. George Hartzell, a well known clown of that period, and the elephant man, along with a few others from the OBrien show, went with the Clarks. Hartzell stayed with the Clark show five months.

1896-03-25: While with W. H. Harris Nickel-Plate, Frank Scott was killed by the elephant Gypsy in winter quarters, Chicago, March 25, 1896. Had recently taken charge of the animal, formerly named Empress, which had always been dangerous. This was her 3rd victim. Scott had been connected with this circus for the last 6 years.
Olympians of the Sawdust Circle, William L. Slout and Circus Historical Society

When the Clark Brothers went broke, the elephant, Empress, was sold to the Harris Nickle Plate Shows, where she was heavily billed as Gypsy. Bill Woodcock said, a short time before he died, that Walter Jennier had told him about being on the Harris show as a child. Jennier reported that Empress had killed a handler, James ORoark (Jimmy the bum), while being loaded to go to the Harris winter quarters in Valdosta, Georgia. Mrs. Harris ordered her executed and she was taken into the swamps and shot. Jennier remembered the crowd cutting off pieces of her Anatomy for souvenirs."
Homer C. Walton. Bandwagon, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Mar-Apr), 1965, pp. 4-11.

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Empress (Gypsy), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Harris Nickel Plate Shows in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 29 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=1447. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Bob Cline, Cheraw, South Carolina, United States. Autor of the book Americas elephants
https://classic.circushistory.org/Olympians/OlympiansS1.htm
Page 87 Elefanten in Zoo und Circus, Dokumentation 2 Nordamerika, 1997, by European Elephant Group: Haufellner, Schilfarth, Schweiger
https://valdostadailytimes.com/2018/09/02/remembering-gypsy-looking-back-at-1902-elephant-rampage/

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CategoriesElephants from Harris Nickel Plate Shows | United States | Mankillers | Asian elephants

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