A FIGHT BETWEEN A LION AND HIS TAMER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2224, 9 October 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

A FIGHT BETWEEN A LION AND HIS TAMER.

Galignani gives some pnrt'cular* of the narrow escape which Bidel, the celebrated lion tamer, had recently at the fair at Neuilly. For several dayn previously he had pud his trained lions through their performance with difficulty, owinj? to a sharp attaok of rheumatism in his left leg. On Tuesday evening he was alone in the c*ge with Sultan, the finest lion in the menagerie, and was putting him through his performance when his foot gave way, and he fell on bis side. The lion immediately rushed on him, and grasping him on the arm with hi* claws seized him by the neck. The tamer did not loae his presence of mind, but seized him by the throat, and tried to choke him off. At this moment two of the assistants named Maretti entered the cage. The lion left his prey, and advanced towards the assistants, lashing his tail. The younger of the two gave him what the Americans call a "nose-ender" with a heavy bar of iron, whereupon the huge beast turned tail and entered his den. Bidel was raisedjfrom the ground, and, in spite of the blood which flowed from his wounds, wished to make the lion go over his performance again, but the public would not consent. The tamer then left the cage, and after appearing at the entrance to re-assure the spectators outnide, who had been greatly excited, returned to his van, where he was examined by four surgeons who were among the spectators. They dressed his wouiuls, which were eighteen in number, on the arms, the neck, and the left leg. Bidel was then taken to his home in Asnieres. His medical attendant believes that, unless complications declare themselves, the tamer will recover from the Bhock to his system, but it will be at leant three weeks before he can be cured. Bidel has only once before during his long career been attacked by one of his beasfs, and then he only received a Ntr<>ke from a paw. Sultan, the lion which attacked him on Tuesday, is a pplendid African lion about 18 ypars old with a black mane. Bidel bought him in 1872 for £600. On his arrival at Lyons he bit off the arm of a man who went too near the cage, and who paid the penalty of his rashness with his life. The family of Bidel have been lion tamers from father to son for a century, and not one of them has lost his life in the exercise of his dangerous profession.