What happens
Jerry, a young worker with a traveling circus, helps pack up the camp at Jackson City, where the crew is loading wagons and tents. He chats with an old hand about why people stay with circus work, and about the elephant Gertie, a dependable animal who has saved the crew from trouble before. Zeke, a worker who once nearly died under one of the elephants, has a history of teasing Gertie. As the loading goes on, the elephant grows agitated and a wagon nearly rolls over a worker. Jerry begins to suspect that someone has tampered with the equipment, and he sets out to find out who.
A traveling circus camp in Jackson City, during the breakdown and loading of the tents and wagons.
Characters: Jerry, Zeke, Gertie, Murray, Olson
Listen for: Jerry's discovery of a length of rope and wire tied to Gertie's tail, and the argument between Zeke and the other workers afterward.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.