By Richard
I came across this item a week ago. Tom Edison, the guy that brought you elek-tri-city went about trying to get the penal system to buy into the idea that electrocuting prisoners was a good thing.

He called it "Westinghousing" and he made a film where he electrocuted an elephant to sell his idea. I didn't bother with the clip, it can be found on line if you want, I hate the idea of this jerk killing an elephant to sell the thought.

I really admired all the inventors and dreamers who made or invented things to make our lives easier......

Imagine what he would say if he knew that some 100 years later his idea would be used to kill prisoners and shock 9 year old political sign vandals!
While I am no fan of Edison as should be evident in a previous post. Edison did not kill the Elephant for the reasons you mentioned. The Penal system had been electrocuting prisoners for years before this occurred. He was trying to demonstrate that AC current was dangerous because this was what Westinghouse was promoting thanks to Tesla. Actually DC is much more dangerous than AC ever thought about being. This was Edison trying grandstand and discredit the Westinghouse approach.

The poor Elephant was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was slated to be put down because it had become uncontrollable and had injured several people. This was just another example of the opportunistic Edison.