THE LION-TAMER AT HOME.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1678, 3 October 1887, Page 3

THE LION-TAMER AT HOME.

A writer m the "Pall Mall Gaz tte " has been interviewing m Paris M. Bidel the well kn wn lion-tamer, aod has extracted somo interesting facts from bim : A LION-TAMER BY BIRTH. _ | In answer to the question. " How did I you become a lion-tamer ? ' M; Bidel said : — •' I was born to the business. My father kept a show. .1 began to enter the cages when I was quite a child I began with wolves, hy teaus, and other small fry. At fifteen I left my parents and travelled about the country with other shows In 1859 I was at Bayonno with the Banarbo Menagerie. A young royal Bengal tiger | got loose. You can imagine the state of | the inhabitants. I wa. sent for. If looked for the beast for some time, and found him at last m a blacksmith's Bhop. I went to him, caught him by tho throat with one hand, and with the other threw him on my Bbouldpra and carried him hack to his cage, I carried him 300 yards. My back was considerably damaged. I was twenty years old then, and it is from that moment I date my veritable career. 1 had faced danger, knew what it was, and did not fear it. I immediately began to tame lions, lionesses, tigers, polar bears, panthers, etc." THB SKOBBT OP LION TAMING, " What means do you employ to tame your animals ? " " My oomplete self-oonfidenoe and my oourage. I consider the-e the only means. Red-hot irons, arms, loaded whip?, are the implements of the charlatan or of the coward. I have never made nee of any- < thing more formidable than an ordinary 1 riding whip. And, please observe, I only work with full-grown animals captured m ] a wild state and not, like my confreres, , with beas'B born m the ruen-geriH and J brought up by bitches or with a suckingbot.lr, Wheti the Princoand Prirce.a of < Wales v'sited my establishment m 1878. at the time of the Exhibttion, I entered the 1 cape m their preseuce and m the ptesonce i ofG-mbetta. __n_.WeGlrardin,andotherß, ( and mastered s'x full-grown African lions , whom I had received that day, and wbo t were aa feroolouß aB any I have ever had to do witb. Sultan, too, tne lion whose portrait you see over the Greplaoei and who nearly i killed me a year ago, waa alx years old — i that is, m hie prime — when I entered this , cage for the first time. That was down at , Lyons, m September, 1876. The previous day he had killed a man called Vicard, and my performance was given m favor of i Vioard's widow and orphan, Vicard waa a railway porter,andbad been fooli.h enough < to put his hand into the lion's travelling < box at the station — Sultan hid just j arrived from Africa tbat . morning — tc ( stroke the brute. Sultan seized his arm ' aud tore it off bodily. Tho man died J the same night. Before 24 hours had ' elapsed, I had entirely subjugated this . man-killer. I worked regularly with i bim twice a day for ten years, It was i just a year ago that he attacked me and ] nearly killed me. I was suffering from , rheumatic pains that day and happened to slip. A lion-tamer must never fall. Lions have '? not your English notions ] about respecting a fallen foe. The brut. ' was on me like a shot, and got me by tho neck. I caught him by the throat and shouted, 'Sultan! Sultan. !. what are you doing V My voice frightened him, doubtlesß, for he opened hiß j.wa and loosened his hold without tearing out the flesh. If he; had done that I should - inevitably have been tilled. He then seized me by the aim, and afterwards by the thigh, wounding me besides with his claws m three other places. I managed, however, In spite of my terrlbls wound ., to ttruggle to my feet, and onoe on my feet was master of him. Since then, however, I have not entered the cages. I have been terribly shaken and reduced m strength. It will be some time before I shall have sufficient nerve to approach Sultan, once more." WOMEN IN THE LION'S DEN, " You sometimes take amateurs Into the cage with you, do you not 1 " " Frequently. Ladies usually. Women are much more courageous than men. A woman who h&9 once offered to enter never draws back. Men frequently do. Women aro far nobler and more intelligent than men. That is obvious; they take much less alcohol. They certainly ought to be allowed to vote. The first woman who entered the cage with me was Mdlle. Ghlnassi, cf the Varieties Theatre. That was m Paris m 1874. All the bruteo m my show were collected m the cage. In 1879, Mdlle. Roueseil, tragic actress, also accompanied me, and surrounded by all my lions, recited ' MelpomeV In 1879, Mdlle. Josse, of Cherbourg, and In 1880, Mr Orockford, of Dieppe, an English shipowner, repeated the experiment. My guests tremble a good deal outside the door, but onoe inside tbe cage, seem to master the emotion. The women always show more pluck." " THE EVE IS HUMBUG." "Do you believe m the power of the eye ? There is a man at the FolietBergeres who professes to tame lions by the power of fascination, mesmerism. What is your opinion of thia profession ?" "I consider it obarlataniam of the purest water. The animals are doubtless tame brutes, born m the cage. Ido not believe m the power of *the eye- A blind man could be as good a lion-tamer, if he had tbe requisite pluok, as any other man. I myself am stiort-ighted, and, as you will see, possessgno quelling eyes." • c No," he continued, * I do not believe ; m fascination. The voice, the tone of ; command, :s a great — the principal — ; Instrument m Iron-turning. Aniou'ate i sound seems to amtzj (ham." , " That is so," put In Mr Alex.ano ; "the I i voice, e'est tout. The eye is humbug. Why > I very often turn my baok on one or other , of the brutes m th« cage. Command them, stand up to them, chow them you i are not afraid, and thoy will buckle _ under."