The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-07-30
In the Lions Den.
An Appalling and Horrible OccHrrenee-
Three of RobinsOH's Circus Men Killed
and FOur ShOclkingIy Lnceruted by Saw
nU2 Beasts.
From the MiddIetown (MissourD Danner.I

age Beasts.
From the Middletown (MissourD Danner.l
Upon starting out from Cincinnati for the
season., the management of James Robinson's
circus and animal show determined to produce
something novel in the way of a band chariot,
and conceived the idea of mounting the band
upon the colossal den of performing Numidian
lions, and which would form one of the principal
and most imposing features of the show.
Although repeatedly warned by Prof. Sexton
that he deemed the cage insecure and dangerous
in the extreme, the managers still persisted in
compelling the band to ride upon it. Nothing,
however, occurred until the fatal morning OF
the 18th.
The band took their places, and the procession
commenced to move amid the shouts of the null
titude of rustics who had assembled to witness
the grand pageant, and hear the enlivening strains
of music. Not a thought of danger was enter
tanned by any one, but the awful catastrophe
was about to occur.
As the driver endeavored to make a turn in the
streets the leaders became entangled, and threw
the entire team into confusion, and he lost control
of them, and becoming frightened they broke
into a violent run. Upon the opposite side OF
the street the fore-wheel of the cage came in
contact with a rock with such force as to cause
the braces and Sanctions which supported the
roof to give way, thereby precipitating the entire
band into the awful pit below.
For an instant the vast crowd were p~aralyzed
VIII d u W u OLuOi OAOs oIIO bhOii uiOOC
such a shrek of agony as was never heard before.
The awful groans of terror and agony which
arose from the poor victims who were being torn,
lacerated by the frightful monsters below, were
heartrending and sickening to a terrible degree.
Every moment some one of the band would
extricate himself from the debris and leap over
the sides of the cage to the ground with "a wild
spring and faint away upon striking the earth,
so great was his terror. But human nature
could not stand and see men literally devoured
before their very eyes, for there were willing
hearts and strong arms ready to render every
assistance necessary to rescue the unfortunate
victims of this shocking calamity.
n hardware store which happened to stand
opposite was invaded by the request of the noble
hearted proprietor, and pitchforks, rowbars and
long bars of iron, and in fact every available
weapon was brought into requisition. The side
doors OF the cage were quickly torn from their
fastenings, and then a horrible sight was presented
to view. Mingled among the brilliant uniform
OF the poor untortunates lay legs and arms, torn
from their sockets and half-deVoured, while the
savage brutes glared ferocicusly with their sickly
green-colored eyes upon the petrifed crowd.
Professor Charles White arrived at this moment
and gave orders in regard TO eXtricating the dead
and wounded-he well knowing it would be a
difficult and dangerous undertaking to remove
them from the infuriated monsters.
Stationing men with forks and bars at every
available point. he sprang tearlessly into the den
aHlIu Ine monsters, ana commenced raising the
wounded, and passing them upon the outside to
their friends. He had succeeded in removing the
wounded, and was proceeding to gather up the
remains of the liieless, when the mammoth lion,
known to shoWmen as Old Nero, sprang with a
frightful roar upon his keeper, fastening his teeth
and claws in his neck and shoulders, Iacerating
him in a horrible manner. Professor White
made three herculean efforts to shake the monster
off, but without avail, and gave orders to fire
upon him.
The contents Of four of Colts navys were
Immediately poured into the carcass of the fero-
cious animal, and he fell dead and the brave
little man, notwithstanding the fearful manner
in which he was wounded, never left the cage
until every vestige of the dead was carefully
gathered together and placed upon a sheet for
burial. 1t was found that three of the ten were
killed outright, and four others terribly laeerated.
The names Of the killed are August Schoer,
Conrad Freiz, and Charles Greiner. Collins were
procured and an immediate burial determined
upon, as the bodies were so frightfully torn and
lacerated as to be unacceptable to their most
intimate friends.
The lions are the same ones which nearly cost
Professor Charles White his life two years ago,
while travelling with the Thayer & Noyes party,
and were known to be a very dangerous cage of
animals. Every attention is being given to the
sufferers by the kind and hospitable citizens of
Middletown, and at last accounts they were all
pronounced out of danger.