Samuel Phillips Verner (14 November 1873 - 9 October 1943) was a former missionary turned explorer in the Congo and trader of exotic wares and animals. Commissioned to parade natives from Africa for ethnographic spectacles at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition feat. World's Fair of 1904 in the United States. The most well-known among Verner's activities was the pygmy Ota Benga, the sole survivor of his clan, who appeared in human spectacles and conferences until being held a virtual captive in the Bronx zoo until 1906, September 27 when George B. McClellan Jr. the mayor of New York City ordered his immediate release.