What’s Juicy?
The origin of the term “white elephant” seems to come from the White Elephants of Burma. They are very prestigious animals to own, but very expensive to feed and keep. Since they are considered sacred, it would be inappropriate to get rid of the animal.
P.T. Barnum’s elephant, Jumbo, was extremely popular in his circus but the account of Young Taloung is accurate. It was a financial disaster and provided plenty of bad publicity. The description of Toung is accurate as are the pictures. Competing circuses bought animals and painted them to capitalize on Barnum’s defeat. In the end, the animal did die in a barn fire which seemed to be common with Barnum.
Somehow it seems that the term White Elephant became synonymous with extravegance throughout the country. There was a White Elephant in New York and several other cities across the country. Bill Ward said that a syndicate in New York City owned the White Elephant’s in Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Dennison in the article about his retirement.
The first location had a sneak preview on February 29th which invited women to attend. The saloon was outside the Hell’s Half Acre and was intended to be an upscale establishment. The restaurant menus included raw oysters which is incredible to think about in 1884 Fort Worth. It seems like allowing gambling was a way to make up for some of the losses.
Gambling in the Wild West was a bit embarrassing. Three Card Monty, Faro, and Keno were popular games. I am not sure if Luke Short learned Keno at the Oriental Saloon but the fact it had Chinese origins seemed too good to let pass. Jim Courtright was an ex-Marshall who seemed to be extorting gambling businesses for protection. He did it all under the guise of a private detective agency.
The account of the gunfight was from Luke Short’s account in the newspaper. I read three or four other versions and was trying to map them all out, but they didn’t make sense. My opinion is that it was a duel to put an end to the extortion form Courtright and Jim lost. This seems to be what the White Elephant is best known for. All of the stuff about Jim being buried in a borrowed grave is true. I think it was common back then.
Bill Ward did start the Fort Worth Panthers in the White Elephant. However, when they met in San Antonio, I could not find out anything about where they met. I like to think that they met at the White Elephant there. The building looks neat. The filming location was at the abandoned LaGrave Field where the Panthers played starting in 1926.
The story about the Athletics and the white elephant is true. Although, what started out as a joke, started to irritate the players after a while and they put it to death for a while. It was revived years later as a way to remember the history. The elephant is sometimes gray or green but it has been there as long as an elephant can remember.
The Moneyball story seemed to be the perfect reversal of the White Elephant team of 1902. I decided to add it at the last minute. The movie embellished things a bit, but it was a terrific season with a 20 game win streak. I was amused that Brad Pitt’s name was as big as the title of the movie and above the title, that I decided to ignore it and give credit to Phillip Seymore Hoffman.
The old White Elephant did burn down after Ward moved to the new location. Authorities were cracking down on gambling in Fort Worth. While the “Hatchet Granny” Carry Nation did come to Fort Worth, I don’t know if she ever visited Bill Ward.
The White Elephant Saloon in the Stockyards is no where near the original location, but it it nice to see that the tradition of the name is still being preserved. Ironically, it has been opened longer than both of the other saloons combined. I have never seen the gunfight reenactment, but I intend to sometime. It will be interesting to see which version of the story they use.