Ellsworth American., 1878-11-14
Madame Rhinehart and the Leopard.


The New York Herald gives the follow
ing account of an attack upon Nine. Rhine
hart by the leopard in the den at the Eques-
curriculum:
The last act of the circus had come. and
the audience was prepared for the sensa-
tion which was to be the climax. The
horses and the gymnasts and the clowns
had finished. and the wild beats were to
be defied. The creaky little wagon that
held them was drawn out into the ring,
and a woman entered the cage-a slender,
1.-THE, active. sinewy woman, with black
eyes full Of fire and a cruel rawhde whip
in her hand. The whip was weighted at
the handle and quick shift would make it
a deadly slungshot, but this the audience
did not know.
1t was Nine. Rhinehart, and the wild
beasts were the lion. lioness and leopard
In the Equescurrculum. The woman
cool careful. quick aud keenly watchful
as ever-suapped the whip around, and
with sharp. angry words of command
drove the beasts from corner to corner In
the usual style of such performances. 1t
was exciting even to those used to the kind
OF performance they were witnessing, and
to the ladies and children it was thrilling,
for the deep, angry roar of the beasts was
no mock raging. They were too sullen to
be laughed at.
Suddenly Madame Rhinehart stepped
backward to leave room for the lion to
jump In one of the tricks she had taught
him. and she stepped against the leopard.
With a snarl that seemed halt human in
its malice. and wholly devisn In its utter
ferocty. the angry beast turned its head
and raised its paw. The paw rested ore
moment on the right thigh OF the daring
woman aud the claws shot straight through
the thin garments into the Quivering flesh.
The jaws now opened an instant and then
closed on what seemed the woman's body
Probably not one person in five in the
audience realized that what they saw was
anything different from the usual perform-
ance, for everything Nine. Rhinehart had
done had been done in flash, aud there
was no time to realize this before she had
mastered the sitGation. Turning as quick |
ly as the hinge leopard had turned, she
shot her slender white left hand straight |
from the shoulder to the leopard's throat |
with motion rs quick "a iieenan's, and !
with her right she whlrled the whip around |
and brought the loaded handle down |
squarcly between the two great green eyes |
that were cleaning hate into her own. |
Then shifting the whip again so quickly /
that few saw the motion. she rained "A doz- |
en quick fierce blows on tho tenderest /
spots The leopard wears. There was not /
time for the shudder the audience began to /
feel to have passed away before the trick |
was over, the lion was ready for his next |
word OF command, and the leopard had |
SUNK back two steps 10 far corner OF |
the cage, cowed and beaten by woman |
he could have rent limb from limb had he |
known MS power.
Only three great drsp. of blood remain
Ell 10 tell the story Of what might have |
happened. and they did not show on the
gaudy dress she wore. The woman's stays, |
rigid aud stronger than the fashionable
corset, had served to protect her side from
the iangs Of the beast, and her arms and
legs were only scratched
Al least she called them scratches, when |
few moments later she laughingly stretch /
ed ont mained arm and grasped the re-
porter'- hand so firmly a almost to make
him vince. She was putting plaster over
III" scratches" disdainng auy better
treatmrui.
The Madame" a. every one around the
circus calls her. respectiully-is a black
haired, back-eyed woman, with strong fea-
lures aud strong fingers, quick eyes aud
motions. who talks as simply and unafiect-
edly OF what she does as another woman
would talk of embroidering.
I've been at il all my life" she said.
'At least for sixteen years. and sixteen
years ago was a girl. | began in the
side-show line. and kept candy stands aud
that sort oi thing. How did | get into
this, Well. hardly know. had an idea
| could do 1t, and | did. First began rid
Ing. Now there is hardly bone in my
body that hasn't been broken By horse
at some time or another, but | am not
afraid Of any horse living. Well, thought
| could do a. We'll with the beasts AS any
of the tanners, and | got chance To try
with Sells Brothers circus, that travelled
out OF Columbus, and since then I've kept
at it mostly all the time
NO, | never had bone broken bv any
OF the wild beasts. But I've had my flesh
torn and chewed up most horribly al dit
ferent times. My leg, from my waist to
my heel, has been Torn all over. This par
tcular leopard has attacked me four times
this season. You see he is ugly any way !
and he seems TO hate me particularly. |
ought TO feed them all myself but have
been careless about it lately and have let
one OF the men do it for me.
What do do? Well, | hardly know.
| get hold OF his nose or his throat and
beat him with a whip or club. don't
know why il is, but he gets frightened and
gives up right away. l suppose its be-
cause | don't get frightened. | always
have club handy, however, in case |
should drop my whip. and man Away,
stands near to help me-