John Peter Haines


John Peter Haines was President of The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals from 1889 to 1906. He was born in Manhattan, New York on December 17, 1851 and died on June 27, 1921. John Haines was the son of William Augustus Haines and Emily Somers Haines. He had three siblings by the names of William Augustus Haines Jr., Richard Townley Haines, and Emily Somers Haines Jr..

Haines and Topsy

John Peter Haines was once the President of The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals from 1889 to 1906. In 1903 he stopped the owners of the Coney Island Luna Park from conducting a public hanging of an elephant named Topsy saying it was needlessly cruel and animal deaths should not be a public spectacle. Instead, he agreed to a more private affair that included poisoned carrots with cyanide, electrocution, then afterwards strangulation with a wench. He later died at age 69 in Toms River, New Jersey.