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| Beasts and Ballyhoo, The Menagerie Men of Somers by Terry Ariano, continued, page 2 |
| Town of Somers History |
| Timeline - Elephant Hotel - Hachaliah Bailey - Menageries - Wright-Reis Homestead - Historic Properties Somers Historical Society Home Page - Somers History Page |
| _______________________________________________________________________________________________ (7) contract in SHS archives (8) R.W. Vail, (9) Thayer, Annals, I, 55. (10) Thayer, “The Elephant in America before 1840”, 21. (11) Advertisements, collection of the Somers Historical Society. (12) R.W. Vail (13) in the SHS collections (14) Thayer, “The Elephant in America before 1840,” 22. |
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In another 1809 contract, Hachaliah Baily(sic) bartered with Benjamin Lent, allowing him the one-fourth part of the use or earnings of the Elephant, for eleven months commencing August 15, 1809,and for which Hachaliah received the ½ ownership of the Royal Tiger, owned by Lent. He adds “in case the Elephant should die within said time, I agree to allow said Lent at the rate of five hundred dollars a year for whatever part of said eleven months may remain unexpired. Lent had purchased the Tiger from Cyrus Cady and John E. Russell (about whom we know nothing), on Dec. 9, four days prior to this agreement. (7) Undoubtedly, Old Bet was a phenomenon in this new country. The sight of her, traveling down a country road, or anchored by her “tusk ring” to a post, was unparalleled. Crowninshield’s elephant, when imported to this country, was 2 years old and stood only 6 feet four inches high, while Old Bet was described in an early account as being “13 feet round the body.”(8) Rich and poor flocked to see the exotic creature, willing to pay a quarter of a dollar for the privilege. On June 25, 1812, Old Bet became the first elephant to appear with a circus troupe in America. In a performance by Pepin and Breschard, the troupe “contrived a platform that fit on her back and upon which [the acrobats] performed some pyramids and other gymnastic displays.”(9) Yet her renown was too brief. Tragically, while on tour near Alfred, Maine on July 24, 1816, Old Bet was shot and killed by Daniel Davis, a local man who was apparently aggrieved that poor farmers were spending hard-earned cash to see a wicked beast.(10) |
| Old Bet’s skeleton was recovered, mounted and exhibited in New York City at 301 Broadway in April of 1817. Later her hide was preserved and exhibited at the American Museum, near present City Hall in New York, in 1821.(11) The New York Evening Post of November 26 announced that “the museum has the whole hide of the Elephant who was wontonly shot in the town of Berwick as she with her keepers was passing from Boston to Maine. The animal was Known by the name of Bet. She was considered one of the most docile an tractable of her race, but she fell by the hand of a ruffian. She is now put up in as good a style as it is possible to expect, considering her immense size.”(12) It was this same Museum that P.T. Barnum acquired in the next decade. Regarding the fate of Old Bet’s skeleton and hide, they undoubtedly succumbed in one of the fires that plagued Barnum in his later museum and circus ventures. Hachaliah Bailey, undeterred, proceeded to import two more elephants. In 1817 he and two partners, brother-in-law Isaac Purdy and George Brunn, purchased an eleven-year-old female who came to be called Betty, or Little Bet. She was leased, in 1823, to Edward Finch of Somers who successfully traveled the country with her. |
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| NOTICE, The New York Post, 1817, Reproduction, concerning the post mortem exhibition of Old Bet ‘s skeleton at the American Museum, New York
SHS 89.1.2 & 4 Gift of Carrie Brown Rorer |
| Hachaliah Bailey, undeterred, proceeded to import two more elephants. In 1817 he and two partners, brother-in-law Isaac Purdy and George Brunn, purchased an eleven-year-old female who came to be called Betty, or Little Bet. She was leased, in 1823, to Edward Finch of Somers who successfully traveled the country with her. While leased to Gerard Crane of Somers and his partner John June of North Salem in 1826, Little Bet fell to a similar fate as Old Bet, and was shot in Chepachet, Rhode Island by a group of young men apparently out for some sport. Also in 1817, Hachaliah and his two partners paid $8000 for a six-year-old male elephant, named Columbus for the ship on which he was transported. He was exhibited in Boston on December 13th according to this ad in the Columbian Centinel (13) , which claims it to be the only elephant in America at the time. Columbus later was sold or leased to other traveling shows, including J.R and William Howe of North Salem, and James Raymond of Carmel, both New York towns near Somers. Columbus lived until 1851, when he fell through a bridge in North Adams, Massachusetts.(14) |
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| After the success of Hachaliah Bailey in exhibiting Old Bet, many local individuals sought to become involved in importing and exhibiting exotic animals. The resulting success of these efforts led to a thriving “menagerie” business for many of the farming and drover’s families in Somers. Gerard and Thaddeus Crane, Benjamin and Lewis Lent, and members of the Brown, Purdy, Wright, Finch, and Ganung families, to name a few, were involved with aspects of the profitable menagerie business. |
| The Elephant Columbus, The Columbian Centinel,1817
Notice of importation SHS 82.5 Gift of John Walters |