1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,200 Speaker 1: Hey there, history fans. We're off this week so I 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: can catch up after the holidays, but don't worry, We've 3 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: got plenty of classic shows to tide you over. Please 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: enjoy these flashback episodes from the TDI HC Vault, and 5 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: be sure to meet me back here next Tuesday for 6 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: a brand new episode. 7 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 2: Welcome to This Day in History Class from HowStuffWorks dot 8 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 2: com and from the desk of Stuff you Missed in 9 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 2: History Class. It's the show where we explore the past 10 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 2: one day at a time with a quick look at 11 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 2: what happened today in history. Hello and welcome to the podcast. 12 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 2: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and it's January fourth. Topsy the 13 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 2: elephant died on this day in nineteen oh three, which 14 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 2: some people remember as a cruel publicity stunt orchestrated by 15 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 2: Thomas Edison. That is not exactly what happened, though, but 16 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 2: all this does mean that animal cruelty is a big 17 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 2: part of today's episode. Topsy was a circus elephant. She 18 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 2: had been captured as a baby in Southeast Asia sometime 19 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 2: roughly around eighteen seventy five. She was sent to the 20 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 2: United States and sold to the fore Paw circus, But 21 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 2: even by the standards of the late nineteenth and early 22 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 2: twentieth centuries, the way she was handled and trained was 23 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 2: really cruel. She passed from trainer to trainer and circus 24 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 2: to circus, and her training frequently involved being beaten and 25 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 2: otherwise mistreated. So by nineteen o two, after all these 26 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,919 Speaker 2: years of abuse, she had developed a reputation for being 27 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 2: an aggressive animal. That year, Topsy killed a man named 28 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 2: James Fielding Blunt, and this was reportedly after he had 29 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 2: burned her with a cigar. Her owners, rather than taking 30 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 2: any steps to try to mitigate what was happening, started 31 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 2: marketing her as a man killer. Afterwards, she was sent 32 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 2: to Luna Park, which was an amusement park on Coney Island. 33 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 2: This wasn't just to be part of the entertainment there, 34 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 2: It was also to were calling materials that were being 35 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 2: used in the park's construction, and as was the case 36 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 2: leading up to this, her treatment there still involved a 37 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 2: lot of beatings and other cruelty. By late nineteen oh two, 38 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 2: Topsy's behavior had become unpredictable enough that her owners thought 39 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 2: she was too much of a liability and that she 40 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 2: needed to be put down. There are some reports that 41 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 2: she had killed two other people in addition to Blunt. Initially, 42 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 2: what they planned to do, I'm hesitant to call this 43 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 2: youth in Asia because all the methods that they were 44 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 2: talking about were more violent than is typically used to 45 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 2: euthanize animals today. Initially they talked about though a hanging 46 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 2: for topsy, but the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty 47 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 2: to Animals or SPCA, raised some concerns that a hanging 48 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 2: might take too long, it might not work, it might 49 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 2: just be inhumane, and trying to hang such a large 50 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,079 Speaker 2: animal did seem like it would have a number of 51 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 2: logistical issues. So the SPCA helped park officials work out 52 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 2: what they thought would be the most humane way to 53 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 2: kill an elephant, and this was this combination of poisoning, strangulation, 54 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 2: and electrocution. They believed that the electrocution would be a 55 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 2: humane part of this because of a series of experiments 56 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,239 Speaker 2: that had been conducted at Edison Labs in the late 57 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 2: eighteen hundreds. Ultimately, this was carried out before a crowd 58 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 2: of more than one thousand people on January fourth, nineteen 59 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 2: oh three. First, they fed topsy vegetables that were laced 60 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 2: with poison, and then they connected two of her feet 61 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 2: to electrodes and electrocuted her. Afterward, a noose that had 62 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 2: been leaped around her neck beforehand was tightened in case 63 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 2: she had not died in the electrocution. Edison's name was 64 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 2: definitely all over this. Edison Manufacturing recorded the event and 65 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 2: released the footage of it later that year, and like 66 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 2: all of the hundreds of other films that they made, 67 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 2: Edison himself was credited at the end. Electricians from Edison 68 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 2: Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn, which was the local power company, 69 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 2: were also the ones who arranged the electrocution itself, including 70 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,039 Speaker 2: those electrodes that were used in the process, But Edison 71 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 2: himself was almost certainly not there. He might not have 72 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 2: been personally involved in any way. These were all companies 73 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 2: that had his name on them, but by this point 74 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 2: they were also so large that he wasn't overseeing every 75 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 2: element of day to day operations. A lot of times 76 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 2: this is also described as something that happened during the 77 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 2: War of the Currents, and so Edison was trying to 78 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 2: prove that Westinghouse's alternating current model was dangerous. But the 79 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 2: War of the Currents had really been over for years. 80 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 2: At this point, it was really the decision of Topsy's handlers, 81 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 2: not Edison, to kill her, and it was also the 82 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:09,040 Speaker 2: decision of Topsy's handlers and the SPCA to use electrocution 83 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,039 Speaker 2: under the idea that it would be humane. This included 84 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 2: reports afterward that her death had taken less than ten seconds, 85 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,479 Speaker 2: and one SPCA official said quote they had never seen 86 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 2: a more humane manner of causing death. So Topsy's execution 87 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 2: was certainly the result of all those years of cruelty 88 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:33,040 Speaker 2: that she had endured, because those years undoubtedly contributed to 89 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 2: her unpredictable and aggressive behavior. So this wasn't something masterminded 90 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 2: by Thomas Edison to try to take down Westinghouse. Thanks 91 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 2: to Casey Pegrim and Chandler Mays for their audio work 92 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 2: on this show. You can subscribe to This Day in 93 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,239 Speaker 2: History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, 94 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 2: and wherever else to get podcasts, and you can tune 95 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 2: in tomorrow for the birth of a man who made 96 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 2: it a whole lot easier to scrape the hair off 97 00:05:58,000 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 2: your face. 98 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 3: Hey, I'm Eves, and you're listening to This Day in 99 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 3: History Class, a podcast that proves history is always happening. 100 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 3: The day was January fourth, eighteen o nine French educator 101 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 3: Louis Breill, namesake of the Braille reading and writing system, 102 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 3: was born. Braille was born in Couvret, France, a village 103 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 3: near Paris. He was the youngest of four siblings, born 104 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 3: to Simon Renee Bril and Monique Baron. When he was 105 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 3: three years old, he injured his eye with a sharp 106 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 3: tool while playing in his father's workshop. His eye soon 107 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 3: became infected and the infection spread to his other eye 108 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,840 Speaker 3: and what's believed to have been a case of sympathetic ophthalmia. 109 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 3: Sympathetic ophthalmia occurs when the uveal track and an uninjured 110 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 3: eye becomes inflamed after trauma or surgery in the other eye. 111 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 3: By the time he was five, he was completely blind. 112 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 3: As a child, Brail was taught to read by feeling 113 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 3: studs hammered into wood in the shape of letters. His 114 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 3: parents sent him to the Royal Institute for a Blind 115 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 3: Youth in Paris when he was ten years old. There, 116 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 3: students were taught to read books that used embossed print 117 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 3: letters and to write. Students had to memorize the shape 118 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 3: of letters and try to recreate them on paper. This, 119 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 3: of course, was a difficult task. Conditions at the school 120 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,760 Speaker 3: were subpar, but the environment and curriculum had their benefits 121 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 3: for the students there. Brail was considered a smart and 122 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 3: creative student, and he became a good cello player and organist. 123 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 3: Around the same time, Charlotte Barbier, a retired artillery officer 124 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 3: in Napoleon's army, created a system of writing using a 125 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 3: raised dot alphabet. Barbier attempted to sell the system, called 126 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 3: night writing to the French army, so that soldiers could 127 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 3: pass notes in the dark without striking a light. When 128 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 3: the army proved uninterested in the idea, Barbier turned his 129 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 3: attention to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. Brail saw 130 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 3: Barbier's demonstration and was intrigued by night writing, but he 131 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 3: thought that it needed many improvements. By eighteen twenty four, 132 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 3: Brail had devised his own improved system. It was simpler 133 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 3: than Barbier's system, and it was better adapted for blind people. 134 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 3: As Barbier was cited, Brail's method used a six dot 135 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 3: sale rather than a twelve dot system. In it, six 136 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 3: dots were arranged in different patterns or sales that formed letters, numbers, 137 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 3: and later musical notes. Other students at the Royal Institute 138 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 3: picked up the system, but the school did not endorse it. 139 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 3: Rail became a teacher at the Institute, and in eighteen 140 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 3: twenty nine he published the book Procedure for Writing Words, 141 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 3: Music and Plainsong and Dots. But it took a while 142 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:01,400 Speaker 3: for the Braille system to catch on. That was partly 143 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 3: because Valentine Arroe, a cited man who found at the 144 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 3: Royal Institute, worked on a principle that blind people should 145 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 3: not have a different alphabet than cited people, and Pierre 146 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 3: Armand Dufa, the director of the Institute, beginning in eighteen forty, 147 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 3: restricted use of the Braille system in the school and 148 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 3: had books and braille writing equipment burned. Dufo eventually changed 149 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 3: his tune, but the Braille system was not officially adopted 150 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 3: in France until eighteen fifty four, two years after Braill died. 151 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 3: But during his lifetime Brail worked on improving his reading 152 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 3: and writing system. In eighteen thirty seven, he published a 153 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 3: revised edition of the system. In this edition, the raised 154 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 3: dash was eliminated, leaving just raised dots. 155 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: Despite the system. 156 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 3: Not being widely accepted, students learned Braill on their own, 157 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 3: and Brail himself continued to teach history, geometry, and algebra 158 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 3: at the school. A Braille system spread throughout Europe. It 159 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 3: met resistance from people who thought blind people didn't need 160 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 3: to know how to read, from people who thought it 161 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 3: was unnecessary because cited people could not read it, and 162 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 3: from those who will post it for other reasons. But 163 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 3: since then the Brail system has been modified by Braille's 164 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:23,439 Speaker 3: successors and recognized as a universal language. I'm Eve Chefcote 165 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 3: and hopefully you know a little more about history today 166 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 3: than you did yesterday. If you'd like to follow us 167 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 3: on social media, you can do so at TDIHC podcast 168 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:39,679 Speaker 3: on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also email us 169 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 3: at this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks again for 170 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 3: listening and we'll see you tomorrow. 171 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,679 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 172 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.