DeSotoSky
Gold Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2011
- Messages
- 6,842
Hello and welcome to the Sunday Picture Show. Share your Buck knives with others by posting pictures of them here. New or old, plain or custom, user or safe queen, one or a collection, we love to see them all. This weekly tradition was started in 2010 by ItsTooEarly (Armand Hernandez) and Oregon (Steve Dunn). Help keep the tradition alive. Feel free to click that 'LIKE' but lets not let it replace discussing and complimenting each others knives. Above all, enjoy the show. DeSotoSky (Roger Yost)
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On this Day, January 4th, 1903, Topsy the Elephant was publically electrocuted to demonstrate AC power Dangers.
On a freezing January morning in 1903 at Luna Park, Coney Island, a crowd gathered to watch something unthinkable — the public execution of an elephant named Topsy.
Topsy had spent her life in the circus, where she was abused, beaten, had incidents involved where a drunk handler sticking a lit cigar in her mouth. After she reacted violently — likely out of pain and fear — she was labeled dangerous. But instead of being treated with compassion, her death was turned into a public show.
First, she was fed carrots filled with cyanide. Then, with cameras rolling and hundreds watching, 6,600 volts of electricity were sent through her body. Smoke rose from her feet, her legs buckled, and she collapsed.
Topsy’s death was one of the earliest caught on film. While some were horrified, others clapped.
More than 100 years later, her story still haunts us. It marks a moment when people began to question the way we treat animals in captivity. Topsy didn’t die for science. She died because people wanted a show — even in death.
There is a surprising amount of material on YouTube about this incident.
Topsy (elephant) - Wikipedia
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For the January 4th SPS my opening knife is the model 104 Standard Hunting Knife c.1947-1948. $8 in the 1948 catalog it sports a 5-1/2" by 1" blade. In the 1951 catalog it was called the Camper and inflation had pushed the price to $15 and a $16 Lignum Vitae handle option was offered. This knife is considered the predecessor to the modern day 119. The 1st knife in the 2017 75th Anniversary Historical Set is a copy of this knife. I don't know how much cleaning of the blade is acceptable on these early ones.
2017 Catalog
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