Independence's very own Space Travelers

Able died during an operation, but Baker, the other monkey,  lived until 1984 at age 27.

A newspaper article in the "Reporter" of Independence, KS  - Monday June 1, 1959

An Island Native

Able, No 1 Space Monkey, Left Local Zoo in Fall, 1958

It's a long way from the peanut catching life of Monkey Island at the Independence Zoo in a 10,000 mile-an-hour missile ride into space, but Able did it and is now the No. 1 monkey hero of the nation.

Local residents read with interest last Thursday of the accounts of the two monkeys making the successful space flight at the nose-end of a Jupiter missile, but little did they realize that one of the astro-monks had been on the receiving end of their peanuts at the local zoo.

John R. Cauley of the Kansas City Star's Washington staff was the first to reveal that Able, the Rhesus monkey, was an Independence native.  Cauley had learned this at the news conference held Saturday for the two history-making monks in Washington.

This morning the Reporter contacted Ralph C. Mitchell, former mayor and now local park board chairman, and he explained how Able got into the space act.

Last fall Mitchell was contacted by his friend, Alton V. Freeman of the Miami Rare Bird Farms, Inc. in Florida.  Freeman said he had a rush order for two dozen Rhesus monkeys.  The monks had to be healthy, acclimated and TB tested.

Mitchell, as park board chairman, had long wanted to get rid of the island's rhesus population due to various reasons and grabbed at the opportunity.  He made a deal with Freeman to trade even for 26 Spider monkeys and he was given shipping instructions.

The 26 Independence monks were sent to Wisconsin University's research department.  Mitchell said he received a letter afterward from a department head at the university stating the shipment was the finest collection of clean, healthy monkeys they had ever received.

Apparently it was after the monkeys were tested at Wisconsin U. that Able and others in the shipment were turned over to the Army medical service.  Cauley's account stated Able's alternate was also from the Independence Zoo.

Having retained an interest in the Independence zoo for many years, Mitchell said a Rhesus monkey is as nearly like a human as any monkey known.  He added that only one female Rhesus was retained at the local zoo and is now in a separate pen in the monkey house.  They are found only in India.

Mitchell was apparently the first contact made by Freeman when he received the order fo the Rhesus monkeys.  The Miami dealer had no idea why the monkeys were wanted.  Mitchell and Freeman have dealt with each other for many years and the last big purchase from Freeman was Susie the elephant. 

"You can't ever tell where your kids will end up," said Mitchell jokingly this morning as he read that Able would be given regular checkups at Walter Reed Research Center in Washington.

City Manager Glen Hackmaster said this morning he recently received a long distance call from Washington from a man identifying himself only as an Army colonel, who was inquiring about the background of the monkeys Independence had shipped to Wisconsin.

He wanted to know if the monkeys had been imported and was informed that most of them and possibly all of them were natives of the local zoo.  The city manager had no idea at the time of why the information was sought, but apparently it was for research, preparatory to sending the monks on the fast ride, 300 miles into space.