ALFRED — No one will ever know why Daniel Davis Jr. hid in the bushes alongside what is now Route 4, took careful aim and fired two musket shots, killing Old Bet on July 24, 1816.
There are plenty of tales that go around about Davis’ reasons for killing the elephant, which had been on tour through Maine when she was felled by gunshot in Alfred.
Davis was arrested and charged with trespassing, according to Alfred historian Bruce Tucker, who gave a talk about Old Bet to the Waterborough Historical Society Thursday.
Davis was committed to York County Jail in Alfred on Sept. 5, 1816 and bail was set at $500 ”“ a hefty sum. According to Tucker, Davis posted bail and no further action was taken.
“It never came to trial,” he said.
Old Bet was purchased by Boston artist Ed Savage in 1804. She was later sold for $1,000 to Hachaliah Bailey of Somers, N.Y. a farmer who figured he could make money displaying the animal on tour. She is thought to be only the second elephant to come to America.
“By 1808, he was making so much money his neighbors bought lions and giraffes and tigers to show,” said Tucker.
Another event, a world away, that happened some months before Old Bet was slain leads Tucker to believe it was hardship and frustration that brought Davis to the roadside of Alfred that day, gun at the ready.
The year 1816 is known as The Year Without a Summer. Other accounts call it “1800 and Froze to Death.”
Dairies and journals of Maine farmers and homesteaders at the time told of snow and killing frosts in June and July. Crops were planted and replanted, but never amounted to much, Tucker said.
What wasn’t discussed in the newspapers of the time was the eruption of Mount Tambora on the island off Sumbawa in Indonesia. The eruption and aftermath killed most of the island’s inhabitants and spewed ash into the air for months. Worldwide, there was a decrease in temperatures by three to five degrees, and in Connecticut, June was seven degrees colder than normal, Tucker said research shows.
On May 27, 1816, apple and cherry trees were in bloom, but an arctic wind blew in May 29 and froze the blooms. There was a cold snap on June 8 and diarist Benjamin Robbins, a Winthrop native who was homesteading in Phillips, said it snowed until noon. There was snow and frost in Limington from June 6 to 13, according to another diarist.
Tucker said the weather then improved and farmers had new hope, only to have poor weather again in early July.
At the same time, Old Bet and her owner, Bailey, were making their way up the coast by boat, stopping in Kennebunk along the way and then on to the midcoast. They then proceeded inland on foot and made their way south again.
Apparently, Old Bet refused to cross a bridge over the Androscoggin in Lewiston and swam the river instead. She then continued her walk south.
On July 23, they arrived in Alfred and Old Bet ”“ named, apparently, after an ex-wife of Bailey ”“ was put up in a tavern stable. The next day, they started for south Sanford when “the fatal shot rang out from the undergrowth” and Old Bet was felled.
An excerpt from the July 27, 1816 Kennebunk Visitor newspaper told the tale of “some unprincipled villain” who discharged a musket, hitting Old Bet and killing her.
Letters were dispatched to the editors of the Boston papers. The killing was described as “an elephant murder,” said Tucker.
Bailey, the entrepreneur, took Old Bet’s skin and bones on tour, allegedly making as much money with the display as he had when she was alive.
Davis Jr., who with his brother had a lumber mill on the Middle Branch of the Mousam River off the Gore Road near Fort Ridge, was apparently the shooter, but because there was no trial he was never convicted.
Davis had fallen on hard times. Until the war of 1812, the lumber mill had done well, but his brother had died. Davis and his family were living on his brother’s land and he was caring for both families. The land was scheduled to be sold at auction later in the year, Tucker said.
“We’ll never know for sure,” said Tucker, but among all the stories told of why Davis killed the elephant, is this tidbit: Davis felt “charging money to see an elephant was a poor way to be taking money from people.”
The hardships of the year ”“ his family about to be dispossessed, a lull in the lumber business and weather that meant a poor harvest, could have been his reasons, Tucker said.
What happened to Davis after his release from jail ”“ or even details like where he raised the bail money ”“ aren’t precisely known, but he left the area.
Bailey returned to Somers, where he opened a lodging house called the Elephant Hotel.
And while her bones might have gone on tour with Bailey, Alfred residents never forgot Old Bet.
Resident John Cook recalls being at a Town Meeting in Alfred in the 1960s when a warrant article was introduced that sought a town contribution to help pay for a monument for Old Bet. It caused some debate, said Cook, but was approved by townspeople.
The granite monument faces the road in front of York County Emergency Management Agency on Route 4.
Tucker said sometimes there are flowers at the site.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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