Did arsenic in Charlotte kill 11 circus elephants?

“[In 1941, while Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey was] touring the South, 11 elephants died suddenly, most of them during their Atlanta stand. Autopsies revealed the animals had consumed large amounts of arsenic. At first a member of the circus train crew was arrested on suspicion of poisoning, but charges were dropped. Police picked up several other suspects — including a recently fired worker — then let them go as well.

“Old hands remembered that in the early ’30s several elephants had fallen sick in Charlotte, North Carolina, from grazing near a chemical plant by the lot, and one of the last stands before Atlanta had been Charlotte. While many circus folk accepted this explanation, the connection was tenuous at best. The cause was never conclusively determined.”

— From “The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy” by Stewart O’Nan (2000)