If Topsy was innocent, then why was she electrocuted? The Daily Beast's Michael Daly's new book Topsy explores the life of the ill-fated elephant, who was put to death for being a "serial man-killer." Topsy—who really only killed one man who threw a cigar in her mouth in ten years—was electrocuted at Luna Park in Coney Island in 1903. It was a way for Thomas Edison to vent his anger after losing the "War of Currents" against George Westinghouse. Topsy was gentle, even at the end.
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