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rickb
01-16-2003, 18:58
I've posted this before, but since the story is such an important part of history along the Trail, I thought I'd repeat myself:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/pet/bigmary.html

Rick B

:eek:

Jumpstart
01-16-2003, 19:37
We researched this story and learned of it while we were in Erwin. Great story...amazing to think they actually pulled it off! The animal rigths activists of today would have a coniption....:D

Redbeard
01-16-2003, 20:53
Actually we would have left Erwin in ashes.(except miss janets, of course)

Bandana Man
01-16-2003, 21:46
In the interest of fairness, I think Erwin should hang a donkey.

Blue Jay
01-17-2003, 09:09
Far be it for me to tell anyone what to discuss on this site, but I have no idea why hanging an elephant has anything to do with hiking or the AT. Since you claim to have posted this before it is an important event to you. Is this a way to denegrate the South or Tenn.? I'm just mystified?

max patch
01-17-2003, 09:42
The post is relevant as the incident happened in Erwin; which is a town stop that probably all thru-hikers take advantage of.

As a matter of fact, Darrell Maret, the editor of the The Philosophers Guide (the original thru-hikers handbook) always ended his comments about Erwin with the statement : Elephants should avoid Erwin at all costs! He finally explained this cryptic comment the last year the Philosophers Guide was produced (1990).

Blue Jay
01-17-2003, 12:39
A lot of things happen in Erwin (and all other trail towns) that are also completely independent of the AT. Someone's Aunt Ethel lives in Hanover, so what. It still sounds to me like some kind of back sided denegration of a trail town I happen to like.

Lone Wolf
01-17-2003, 12:57
From Darrell Maret's 1990 Philosophers Guide, "Elephants should avoid Erwin at all costs! Since this is the final edition of the PG, I will finally explain that line. In a nearby town many years ago, an elephant in a parade stepped on and killed a child. It was determined the elephant had to hang for it's offense, but how? Erwin had a RR crane! The elephant was marched to Erwin and properly hanged. Ask around: There are pictures of this unhappy event."

rickb
01-17-2003, 14:45
Blue Jay is right.

Reparations are in order, as is a formal apology from the Town Fathers. Oh, and one from the Governor since his office failed to issue a pardon.

The dark cloud of shame should not be born by just the decendants of those who committed the deed, but by all those living in the state of TN. And indeed, by all Americans who have ever attended a circus.

I stand as a proud advocate of all that is good and true. How can we ever heal as a nation unless we face our history, and then take responsibility for it.

Yes, Blue Jay is right. I am only ashamed that I wan't more forthright with my agenda. Next, I intend to expose the conspiracy that took place in Breton Woods to all my fellow hikers, since the highway marker is a few miles off the Trail.

Rick B

EDIT:

Thought I'd better add a ;-), just in case my sarcasm got lost in cyberspace. No disrespect to Erwin intended, and I think its cool that Blue Jay want to stick up for a cool town. I respect your reaction Blue Jay!

Perhaps I am just a trivia junkie (no, I am a trivia junkie) but I find the stories that surround the AT to be a great source of facination. Whether its thinking about Shay's Rebellion when I filed my State Sales Tax Report earlier in the week, or while watching a The Dirty Dozen on TV (I passed Charles Bronson on my thru hike as I walked through Hanover), I find a whole bunch of things about the AT to be important, even when they arn't, really. WHen Kissenger was going to be appointed to that commission thisa Fall, thoughts of politics came only after I wondered if I had walked by his house in CT, for example. Still bugs me I don't know. Thinking about the Trail is a burdon, I tell ya.

Redbeard
01-17-2003, 22:45
Asimov's SciFi mid december 1992 issue, page 86 appears a story called "Mahout" by Jeff Vandermeer. Set in the town of Erwin and follows the thoughts of an Indian elephant keeper from the arrival in Erwin to the death of Mary. The story includes many Quotes from several local papers of the time, used with permission of course. It looks like it fairly well follows the story but adds a mystic touch through the mind of the Hindu elephant keeper. I read this while traveling to Georgia for my 2002 hike, when I got to Erwin it was a wee bit freaky.

Blue Jay
01-18-2003, 22:18
If you had mentioned Shay's Rebellion I would have known you were a harmless history buff. I love that story. Irwin just gets enough negative press for a reason most thrus know about. Sorry I over reacted.

wilconow
06-26-2006, 15:11
this is a great article about poor mary

http://www.blueridgecountry.com/elephant/elephant.html