Barnum bought Jumbo for $10,000. Jumbo's entire costs actually amounted to $30,000. Barnum later wrote that Jumbo earned his costs in his first two weeks with the circus at Madison Square Garden. Jumbo did no tricks, but 20,000 customers per day saw him in the circus zoo and the parade at the start of the show. The London Zoo had sent Jumbo's "howdah" to America. The great elephant gave rides to circus customers.
On a trip to England in late May 1882, Barnum met a crowd of children on the street who were still angry that the elephant had been taken away. Barnum made plans the same month to raise an iron building on the Thames Embankment for his circus shows. People in the neighborhood did not like the idea. They said they would go to court to stop the plan. Barnum dropped the idea.
Barnum had another publicity plan. The Brooklyn Bridge was finished in 1883. This was a long-awaited and exciting event. Barnum offered the bridge company $5,000 to allow Jumbo to cross the bridge before the official opening. The company directors believed Barnum was using the bridge for circus publicity. They said "no" to his offer.
Jumbo travelled in luxury when he went on tour every year. He had his own railway boxcar. Barnum called it "Jumbo's Palace Car". It was a red and gold boxcar with huge double doors at the center for Jumbo to be able to go in and out easily. Scotty slept in a bunk in a little room near Jumbo's head. Jumbo would never let Scotty close the door to the little room. He loved his friend and wanted to be near him always.
Scotty and Jumbo always shared a bottle of beer before going to bed for the night. It was a little ritual Jumbo loved. One night Scotty drank the bottle of beer and fell asleep. Jumbo picked him up very carefully and set him down near the empty bottle. Scotty woke up and found the bottle. He "got the message". He never forgot to share a bottle of beer with Jumbo again.
In his four seasons as the top star of Barnum's circus, Jumbo never hurt anyone. Now and then though, he tested his strength by destroying parts of his winter Elephant House. Jumbo earned $1.5 million in his first year with the circus. It is likely 16 million adults and 4 million children saw him at the circus.
In his last years with the circus, Jumbo's health grew poor. He could not eat his food because his teeth were worn out. There was no treatment. Jumbo would sooner or later die of this trouble with his teeth. Barnum made plans to have Jumbo preserved after his death by a taxidermist. He arranged everything while Jumbo was still alive just in case the elephant died suddenly.
Jumbo was 24 when he was killed on September 15, 1885, in the rail yards at St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. It was about 9:30 pm. The circus had just finished a performance. The elephants were being led along the main track in the rail yards to their boxcars. To their left was a steep bank; to their right was the circus train. An unscheduled freight train roared down upon them from the east. The engineer tried to stop the train, but failed.
Animal keepers got most of the elephants to safety down the bank. Jumbo and a dwarf elephant called Tom Thumb were the last act on the programme and the last to leave the Big Top. Tom Thumb was behind Jumbo. the little elephant was hit by the train and thrown into a ditch. His left leg was broken, but he lived. Jumbo ran down the track away from the oncoming train with Scotty beside him. The locomotive struck Jumbo from behind. He roared in pain as the train carried him down the track. He was wedged partly above and partly below a flatcar.
Jumbo's skull was fractured in several places. He had serious injuries inside his body. Blood poured from his mouth and trunk. Jumbo reached for and held Scotty's hand in his trunk. He died within minutes of the accident. The locomotive and the tender were thrown off the track. They were destroyed in the collision.
Neither Barnum or Bailey was on the scene of the accident. Hutchinson directed the clean up. One hundred men were needed to remove Jumbo's body from the tracks. Policemen were sent to the scene to drive away souvenir hunters. Scotty became hysterical when he discovered half of Jumbo's ear had been cut off by a collector.
Taxidermists from Rochester, New York, eventually arrived to take charge of the body. Jumbo's death was a serious loss for the circus. So much so that Barnum took the first steps in bankruptcy proceedings a few days after the tragedy.
Just before Jumbo's trip to America in 1882, Barnum had insured the elephant for $500,000. The policy expired once Jumbo stepped on American soil. The elephant was not insured at the time of his death. He had been brought into the United States as "breeding stock". No insurance company would cover livestock for accidents. Jumbo left no children in spite of the fact that he had an elephant "wife" in the London Zoo named Alice. He had completely ignored her during the 18 years he had called London home. Alice was given black and a widow's cap to wear after the death of her "husband".
Barnum sued the Canadian Grand Trunk Railway for $100,000. The case was heard in April 1887. The company claimed it was not liable for Jumbo's death. They said the circus workers were responsible for the death of the elephant. The circus workers had cut down part of a fence so they could lead the elephants across the track. If they had used the regular crossing further down the track, the company stated, railway workers would have warned them of the approaching train. The accident could have been avoided.
The railway also claimed Jumbo was worthless. The London Zoo had sold him, the railway stated, because he was a dangerous animal. They also pointed out that they were not liable for losses above $15,000 as stated in their contract with the circus. The circus argued the contract was illegal, and presented statements from Scotty and other professional animal people who had worked with Jumbo. These statements said Jumbo was not dangerous.
Barnum finally withdrew the lawsuit. He needed the good will of the Grand Trunk Railway if he wanted to move his circus around Canada. He settled out of court for $5,000. He was also granted the right to use the Grand Trunk rails for free in the coming year. This was worth $5,000 in itself. Barnum left court with $10,000.
Two weeks after Jumbo's death, a news reporter named C. F. Richtel of the Hartford, Connecticut, "Sunday Globe" suggested Barnum had killed the elephant "for advertising purposes". Richtel was an old enemy of Barnum's, and accused the showman of masterminding Jumbo's death because the elephant had tuberculosis. Barnum sued the newspaper for $50,000. He settled out of court. The editor of the "Globe" learned the truth about Jumbo's death when he interviewed Scotty and others who had been present at the elephant's end. The editor fired Richtel and published a meek apology to Barnum.
A theory put forth in 1960 alleged that Jumbo's flatulence had created a nasty problem for Barnum and the circus, so the showman decided to get rid of the elephant. Under cover of darkness and amid the clamor of the rail yard, Barnum was said to have had an animal keeper fire a single shot from a powerful pistol into Jumbo's eye. The elephant staggered some distance, trampled the dwarf elephant, collapsed, and died beneath a railway car. No projectiles were found during examinations of Jumbo after his death or later examinations of his skull. The theory has been proven false.
Barnum tried to get as much publicity as possible from Jumbo's death. He called a publisher three days after the accident. He wanted a children's book printed at Christmas about the event. He also told news reporters a lie about Jumbo saving both the dwarf elephant and Scotty, then turning to face the train alone and head-on.