Coppini decides to go ahead and create a 10 foot tall plaster cast for exhibition at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. Prior to shipping, Coppini puts out a notice to the world that the heroic will be on display at his studio in San Antonio for three days. Some of the survivors come as well as families of those who drowned. The mood is extremely sad, people crying and so on.  When it is over, Coppini goes out to his porch and cries like a grandmother.

At the St. Louis World’s Fair (also called the Louisiana Purchase World’s Fair), he is to be given premium space in the Fine Arts Building. The San Antonio Fire Engine crew comes to his studio to move the gigantic cast to the train station. An arm breaks and Coppini has to repair it post haste. In St. Louis, the shipping create is mistaken for fruit and stored in a food warehouse.”  The St. Louis managers therefore missed the deadline to get it in place in the Fine Arts Bldg. It ends up being relegated to the Texas Building, instead. It returns, ultimately, to Coppini’s studio for the next 10 years.