The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-28 00:00:00

The show waasot up in an extensive inclosure, called the
e• 41Itt.ract.ory ti ard," just in the suburbs of 'Warwick, on
Inc read towards Northampton ; and the cage in which the
fie 1 tau'? placerstood in the centre of a hollow square, formed
en t *deities by ranges of empty workshops, the windows of
' adlich were fitted up with planks on barrels as seauefoa the
• epectatori ; arid, in the remaining two,' by. the whole of Mr.
VS'orobwell's wild " collection," as they have been on show
for swine days. past, arranged-in their respective dens •and tra-
' veiling C.Rmagrs.
flags. bills were posted and circulated in Warwick and the
et;ghboarbocal 'f Leamington, -swearing that the " Match",
• es made for 5,000 sovereigns; but this lie was too monstrous
far even rustic credtility to swallow.. The dogs which were to
exhibit ware statedein the same publications, to be furnished
by some person or persons (whom nobody had ever heard of)
residing at Liverpool; but as the ".backers" names were with-
:v:ld, from motives of delicacy," the common belief was,
t'sat it was all a packed affair, and that no money was really
repending.
in the course of the morning these animals were shown, for
the fee of a shilling, at a public-house in Warwick, called the
Caeca Dragon." Eight had been brought over originally ;
ant, by a mistake of locking them up together on the preced-
ing night, they hail fallen out among. themselves, and one had
beer...tilled entirely ; a second escaping only with the loss of
an ear, and -a portion of one cheek. The guardian of the
- being eebuited for this accident, declared he could not
i 1 V!! supposed they would have fought each other—being
" 0;1 the same side ;" six, however, still remained in con-
ditian, as Mrs. Heidelberg expresses it, for the " rancounter."
The price of admission demanded in the first instance for the
.fight seemed to have been foUnded on very gross miscalculation.
Three guineas were asked for seats at the windows in the first,
second, and third floors of the unoccupied manufactory; two
guineas for seats on the fourth floor of this building; one
guinea for places at a si ill more distant point; and half-a-guinea
. :or standing room in the square. The appearance of the cage
when erected was rather fragile, considering the furious struggle
which was to take place within it. It measured fifteen feet
square, and ten feet high, the floor of it standing about six feet
from the gent:nil. The top, as well as the sides, was composed
merely of iron bars, apparently slight, and placed at such dis-
tance l'rona each other, that the dogs might enter or escape be-
tween, hat too close for the lion to follow. Some doubts were
expres:ied about the sufficiency of this last precaution—merely
because a number of "ladies,7 it was understood, would be
present; hut the ladies in general escaped that disgrace, for not
a single female came; and, at all events, be attendant bear-
wards swore in the most solemn way—that is to say, using a
hundred imprecations instead of one—that the security of ,the
whole was past a doubt. Towards afternoon the determination
as to " prices" seemed a little to abate; and it was suspected
- that, in the end, the speculator would take whatever prices he
could get. The fact became pretty clear, too, that no real
match, nor any thing approaching to one, was pending, be-
cause the parties themselves, in their printed notices, did not
settle any circumesances satisfactorily, undsr which the contest
could he considered as concluded. Wheeler, Mr. Martin's
agent, who had come down on Monday,, applied to the local
authorities to stop the exhibition ; but the Mayor, and after-
wards, as we understood, a Magistrate of the name of Wade,
declined interfering, on the ground that, under Mr. Martin's
present Act, no steps could be taken before the act constituting
cruelty had been committed. A gentleman, a Quaker, who
resides near Warwick, also went down to the menagerie, in
. arson, to remonstrate with Mr. Wombwell; but against the
hope of letting seats at " Three Guineas" a-head, of course his
• meditation could have very little chance of success.
In the mean time, the unfortuilate lion lay in a caravan, by
himself, all day, in front of the cage in which he was to be
. baited, surveying the preparations for his own annoyance with
great simplicity and apparent good humour; and not at all dis-
comfited by the -notice of the numerous persons who came to
look at him. It. the course of the day, the dogs who were to
fight were brought into the menagerie in slips—it being not the
least singular featuee of this combat that it was to take place
. -under the eyes of an immense host of wild beasts
of all descriptions—not including the human spectators—three
sailer lions; a she-wolf, with cubs ; a hyaena ; a white bees.; a
• :lioness ; two female leopards, with cubs ; two zebras, male and
. femaleea large assortment of monkeys, and two wild asses;_
. witira variety of other interesting foreigners, being arranged
- within a few yards of the grand stand.
These animals, generally, looked clean, and in good condi-
tion; and were (as is the custom with such creatures when
confined) perpetually in motion ; but the dogs disappointed ex.
pectation—they were very little excited by the introduction.
They were strong, however, and lively ; crossed, apparently,
`the majority of them, between the bull and the mastiff breed ;
oce or two showed a touch of the lurcher—a point in the
descent of fighting dogs which is held to give an increased ca-
pacity of mouth.- The average weight of those which fought
was from-about five and thirty to five and forty pounds each ;
one had been brought over that weighed more than sixty, but
•

he was on some accOant-or other excluded from the contest.

, - The e.uh.leopards were'" fine darling little creatures," as an
old lady near us observed in the morning, fully marked and
. coloured, 'and about the sire of a two months' old kitten. The
young wolves had a haggard, cur-like look; but were so corn-
. plotely like sheep-dog puppies, the.t a mother of that race might
have suckled then-I:for her own. A story was told of the lion
" Nero" having already Had a trial in the way of " give and
take," with a bull bitch, who had attacked him, but, at the
first onset, been bitten through the throat. The bitck was
.. said to have been got off-by throwing meat to the lion ; and if
tbe account .was true, the result was only such as with a single
dog, against such odds, might reasonably have been expected.
. ,llp on a late hour of the day, the arrival of strangers was far
less considerable tharhad been anticipated ; and doubts were
etitettajned whether, in the end, the owner of the lion would
not.,eseclare off. . • •
At.Aquarter past seven, however, in the evening, from about
—,444.14 400_persons of different descriptions being assembled,
preparations were made for commencing

• ' THE COMBAT. • • -
• -The deli Which contained the animals on show were covered
in- walreintters ; tire liOn'S travelling caravan was drawn close
to the fighting cage, so that idoor could be opened from one
- into the other; and the keeper, Wombwell, then goinginto
-dseeravelling caravan, in which another man had already been
staying witlithe lion for some time, the animal followed him
into the•cage as tamely as 'a Newfoundland dog. The whole
- demeanour of the beast, insreed, was so quiet and generous, that
-• at his first appearance it became very much doubted whether
• he would attempt to fight at all. While the multitude shout.
•! 'ed.; and the 'does were yelling in the ground below, he walked
• up and downhis • rage—Wombwell still remainieg in it—with
the most perfect composure, not at all angered, or even excited;
ktst looking with apparentlygreat curiosity at his new dwelling
aced the objects generally about him.; and there can hardly be
n•stuestien, that, disring•the.whOle contest, such as it turned out,
.• any one of the keepers might, have remained close to him with
entire safety.
hoWever, having,qtartted the cage, the first relay
• of dogs was laid on. These were a fallow-coloured dog, a
- brown with white legs, and a third 'brown altogether • averag-
ing about 4016. in weiiht a-piece, and described, in the printed
'papers which were distributed, by the names of Captain, Tiger,
- Turk. As the 'slogs were held for a minute in slips, upon
the inclined plane which ran from the, ground to the stage, the
Jl3ll crouched on his belly to'receive them; but with so perfect'
- an absence of any tbing like feiocity, that many persons were of
.•• opinion he rather was disposed to play ; at all events, the next
moment showed` clearly that the idea of fighting—or doing
. mischief to any living creature—never had occurred to him.
• At the first rush of the :logs, which the lion evidently had
- not expected, and did' not at all know how to meet, they all
- --fixed themselves, upon. him ; hut
.caught only by the 'dewlap
and the Mane. With a single effort he shook them.ofr, without
attempting to return the attack. He then flew from side to
aide of the rages endeavouring to get away, but in the next mo-
• men't the as.sailante were upon him again ; and the brown dog,'
Turk, seized film by the nose, while the two others fastened at
the same time on the fiesisy part of his•lips and under jaw. The
• lion then.roared dreadfully, but evidently only from the pain
he sufFered—not at all from anger.. As the dogs hung to his
throat and head, he pawed them off by sheer strength and in
doing this, ant 'rolling upon them, did them considerably mis-
.chief j but it amounts to a most curious fact, that he never

. once bit, or attempted to. bite, during the whole contest, or
-seemed to have any desire to retaliate any of the punishment
which was inflicted upon him. When he was first " pinned,"
• for instance (to use the phraseology of the bear-garden), the
slogs hung to him for more than a minute, and were drawn,
holding to his nose and lips, several times round the ring.
After a shorttime, roaring tremendously, he tore them off with
his claws, mauling two a good deal in the operation, but still
BOt attempting afterwards to act on fhe ofFensive. After about
five*Minutes fighting, the fallow coloured dog was taken away,
lame, and apparently much distressed, .and the remaining two
-continuing the combat alone, th,
,lion. still—wprking only with
his paws, as though seeking to rid Mika 'of fortitre, the na-