Truth is stranger than fiction. An elephant named Topsy at Dreamland Park in Coney Island did kill a spectator who fed her a lit cigarette. To boost ticket sales, her owners planned to hang her for murder but were stopped by an animal rights group. Instead they rigged up a metal plate with electrodes, chained her to it,and sold tickets to the poor animal's public electrocution. Her trainer stood by in tears refusing to help control Topsy when she would not climb on the plate. The elephant burned, as did the park not long afterwards. An elephant never forgets.