Local Spotlight: Old Bet

This week’s local spotlight is a tribute to a four-legged creature made history more than a century ago in York County.

July 24 marks the anniversary of the death of a circus elephant named Old Bet, who died in Alfred in 1816. Most sources say she was the second elephant to enter the United States, some claim she was the first.

According to an 1897 article in the Langdon North Dakota Newspaper, The Courier Democrat, Old Bet was transported to the United States by a French showman. Hachaliah Bailey, a wealthy farmer from Somers, New York, stood in New York City among the crowd of people admiring the elephant. Bailey bought a half-share in Old Bet, gave up farming, and traveled the United States and Canada showcasing Old Bet from 1809-1816.

Old Bet was so popular that Bailey and the elephant would travel by foot during the dark of night, so no one could get a free look at Bet, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Due to his success with Old Bet, Bailey grew his exhibit and acquired a menagerie of animals.

According to a letter from a reader printed in the Connecticut Western News in 1912, there was also a legend that Old Bet drank a bottle of whiskey. According to the story, Bailey was once paid in whiskey instead of money. Old Bet got curious about the bottle of spirits, found where it was hidden, uncorked it, and drank it.

Old Bet made a stop in Alfred during a tour of New England. It was 1816, dubbed “the year without a summer,” as Maine experienced a frost every month of that year, according to Alfred town documents written by local historian Bruce Tucker. An Alfred farmer and sawmill owner named Daniel Davis, like many, was facing failing crops due to the cold weather. Davis thought that it was wrong to take money from poor farmers by charging 25 cents to see Old Bet, and he shot the elephant on July 24, 1816. Davis spent a few days in jail, was bailed out, and then disappeared, said Tucker.

Bailey stripped the hide and the bones from the elephant, and took these remains on tour – still charging 25 cents, but now not having to feed an elephant, said Tucker.

A granite monument was installed in 1963 at the side of Old Bet’s murder, 230 Jordan Springs Road, Alfred, near the intersection of Layman Way which leads to the county jail. Old Bet is also honored with a sculpture in Somers, New York.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.