Alvin Kelly

1: Bee (Burma) (fatal attack)

1. 1973-06-03: elephant keeper Alvin Kelly fatal attack by Bee (Burma). Alvin Kieran Kelly was lifted into the air by a female Asiatic elephant during a performance. The elephant then put him down and stepped on his chest, crushing him to death. Alvin Kieran Kelly † Alvin Kelly Died 1973-06-03

Aloysius Anthony Kelly was born on May 11, 1893. At the age of 13, Kelly ran away, changed his name from Aloysius to Alvin, and went to sea. On October 11, 1952, "Shipwreck" Kelly was hit by a car on West 51st Street in Manhattan. Kelly was, by then, a widower and his son Alvin was serving in the Navy overseas. For a time, his body went unclaimed, but, eventually, Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly was buried at the Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York. He was 59. His wife was Frances Steele of Dallas, an elevator operator he’d met while pole sitting.

His son, Alvin Kieran Kelly met the tragic fate during an entertainment performance it seemed his father had been destined for. He’d become a laborer for the Clyde Beatty Circus.

1973-06-03: In June, 1973, Alvin Kieran Kelly was lifted into the air by a female Asiatic elephant during a performance. The elephant then put him down and stepped on his chest, crushing him to death. He was 45 years old.

Circus Helper Crushed to Death By Elephant He Was Handling
TENAFLY, June 4 – A 45-year-old circus laborer was picked up and thrown to the ground twice yesterday before being crushed to death by an elephant he was handling after a performance on Roosevelt Common.
The laborer, Alvin Kelly of Dallas, was helping to water a Group of 13 elephants following the afternoon performance of the Clyde Beatty Circus.
…
“We have reports that Kelly had been drinking heavily earlier in the day and that might have had something to do with the elephant’s actions,” the spokesman said. “He also was carrying a big stick, which he may have poked the elephant with at the wrong time.”
The elephant, the police spokesman said, is now with the circus in New City, N.Y., where it had a performance today. “The elephant is a problem for the circus to take care of, not the police,” the spokesman continued.
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