Black Diamond

Died 1929 - Corsicana, Texas

In Corsicana, Texas, on October 12, 1929, a crowd gathered to watch the elephants from the Al Barnes Circus parade from the rail yard to the circus grounds. One big pachyderm, named Black Diamond -- well-known by circus-goers for his mean temper -- had extra chains around his head and feet. While the elephants were stopped for a drink by a fire hydrant, Black Diamond suddenly went berserk. He rammed a car parked across the street, flipped his handler over another car, then went after bystander Eva Donohoo. Lifting her high in the air, he threw her to the ground and killed her.

The other elephants got into the spirit of things and rioted, sending frantic people fleeing in all directions.

The circus people finally regained control, and Black Diamond was chained at the train. Four days later, when the circus was in Kenedy, TX, owner John Ringling issued his verdict: "Kill Diamond in some humane way."

A firing squad, manned by eager volunteers, unloaded fifty bullets into Diamond while he was chained between some trees.

Like the Manson Murders that ended the peace-and-love sixties, the Black Diamond Murder ended the good times of the twenties. Less than two weeks later, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began.

Eva Donohoo's tombstone stands in Corsicana's Oakwood Cemetery. It reads: "Eva Speed Donohoo, Nov. 18, 1877 - Oct. 12, 1929, Killed By Al G. Barnes Circus Elephant."

Black Diamond has no tombstone, but his body was cut into many pieces and preserved in various locations around the state of Texas. His skull (complete with bullet holes) can be seen at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. One of his feet can be seen at the Karnes County Historical Museum in Helena. His tail is supposedly also on display, somewhere....

Perhaps the greatest Black Diamond trophy of all is currently missing -- a foot that supports a bust of Hans Nagel, Houston's first zookeeper. Reportedly, he was the man who fired the shot that finally brought Black Diamond down.

April 2003: Read The Two Heads of Black Diamond, our special report on the current resting place of most/some of the troublesome elephant in Corsicana, Texas, where the skull has been since 1984.

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