TORN TO DEATH BY LIONS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1146, 1 April 1872, Page 4

TORN TO DEATH BY LIONS.

An inquest was held on 11th January on Thomas M'Carte, who died from injuries inflicted on him by the lions in Maudtr's Menagerie on the previous day. He was a native of Cork, and 33 years old. The first witness was Eliza M 'Carte, widow of the deceased. He had only one arm. The other he lost nine years ago in Liverpool by two lions connected with Meyer's and Bell's Circus, with which deceased was connected as lion-tamer. John Ryan : lam a keeper in the menagerie, and was present at the time. I, saw deceased slip on the floor of the den. As soon as I saw him fall 1 ran with a lamp iron and put it into the fire, and as soon as I could make it hot, in about a minute, I ran with it to the den. It is a duty of every one connected with the menagerie to heat irons. Deceased was laid upon the floor, the lions worrying him, when I got to the den. I probed one of the lions in the eye. After taking the iron to the fire again and getting back again to the den, four lions ; were then worrying him. He fought them with His sword as long as he could. All four lions were at him on his right side. The largest of them got hold of him by thejbhick part of the arm. When M'Carte'found he was , overpowered, and could not use his arm, he dropped the sword, saying "Some one take the sword . " After the four lions had had him down, M'Carte got up and went towards the dqor; ; which he reached within a yard-, when one of the lions.gbt'. hold of ; him by tho top of his boots and pulled him back again. A slide had by this time been got half way in, but as strangers had put it in, it was inserted in the wrong place/ and it took one and a half or two minutes to get it out again, Tho four lions again attacked. him, had all hold of hinrwith their mouths at 'once, and dragged J him about three times from one end of the caravan to the other. M'Carte had a re.volver and fired it once ; some one else also fired it, but that had no effect. The Rev. Enoch Franks said — I was in the inenagerio, and saw the deceased go into the den. He was just in that position when men are mischievous, bold, daring, thoughtless. I called the attention of a gentleman to him, and said, "Unlike every other lion-tamer, he is not managing these beasis with his eyes." He kept the . lions going through one class of performance what appeared to me a long time, and I began to be apprehensive that aggravation must follow. I was going away when I saw the lion-tamer down in a corner of the den which was very wet, and a lion had taken a leopard's skin from his breast. When he dropped the skin, the lion seized hold of him by the boot. ThCJion : tamerJ'fleemed^ tq;ine"to be as i cool as any roan Could' posßibly be under the circumstances, and while he lay in a recumbent position with his head up, he was fighting away with his sword all round, striking out The lions then dragged the poor man to the other end of

the den, and he fired his own revolver three times. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that death was caused by misadventure while performing with lions, and the following remarks were added :— " That the jury feel it to be their bounden duty to .express the:'? •entire disapprobation of the reckless custom" of : ab-c^lled lion-tamers performing in the dens where ferocious animals are caged up."