MARY THE ELEPHANT
(Chuck Brodsky)

In the Sparks Brothers Circus
They smoked only cheap cigars
A two bit travelling circus.
10 to 15 railroad cars
With a not so high high wire
And some leaks around the tent
Educated sea lions
And four or five elephants

In the Clinch River Valley
A little mining town
Not too far from Kingsport
There's no one still around
That can tell it like it happened
And just stick to the facts
Not get mixed up with legends
Or start filling in the cracks

Red was Mary's handler
They'd hired him that day
He'd rode in on a box car
And he just sort of stayed
He got a job as janitor
At the Riverside Hotel
Until the circus came to town
He bid everyone farewell

He knew nothing about elephants
But what was there to know?
They were big, they were dumb
And they walked kind of slow
They had trunks for grabbing peanuts
And to stuff them in their mouths
He figured that was pretty much all
You need to know about 'em

So they handed Red a stick
For the afternoon parade
Only once did he whack Mary
It was his only mistake
She wrapped her trunk around him
Threw him to the ground
Stepped upon his head
There were children all around

Now contrary to the rumors
She was never tried
She never was convicted
Of any homicide
She never went to prison
No one sentenced her to hang
Like the storytellers told it
And the singers often sang

It was front page in the papers
From Statesville to Little Rock
From barbershops to filling stations
Mary was the talk
Sparks Brothers Circus
They just couldn't be going around
With such an unpredictable creature
They would have to put her down

It's said they fired bullets
But it was too small a gun
They tried some electricity
But she wasn't even stunned
It was all done in the spirit of
Good clean family fun
In the entertainment business
You give the people what they want

They shipped Mary in a railcar
To Erwin, Tennessee
They advertised a hanging
3000 came to see
The ringleader announced
It would be in the railroad yard
When the matinee was over
And there'd be no extra charge

They left her hanging half an hour
Till somebody got her down
The people got their money's worth
Pity the poor clowns
Who weren't really smiling
When they dumped her in a grave
That had been dug by a steam shovel
And was as big as a cave

The town won't put a marker
Above where Mary lies
They don't want the attention
Or lawsuits to arise
She never went to prison
No court sentenced her to hang
Like some storytellers told it
And some singers often sang


For the story and pictures you know what to do
http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/mary-the-elephant.html