On September 11, 1916, a homeless man named Red Eldridge, who landed a job as a transient hotel clerk,[3] was hired as an elephant keeper by the Sparks World Famous Shows circus.

The animal then trampled the dying form of Eldridge as if seeking a murderous triumph, then with a sudden... swing of her massive foot hurled his body into the crowd.

The circus owner, Charlie Sparks, reluctantly decided that the only way to quickly resolve the potentially ruinous situation was to kill the wounded elephant in public.

On the following day, a foggy and rainy September 13, 1916, Mary was transported by rail to Unicoi County, Tennessee, where a crowd of over 2,500 people (including most of the town's children) assembled in the Clinchfield Railroad yard.

In recent years, locals have been shedding the stigma by reviving the town's image as a good place to live in and raising thousands of dollars to rescue elephants.