The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-01-11
LION TANNING.
,siN win George Conkiin, Who aas
benrded the Lion for Seventy ye,rs

henrded the Lion for Seventy Years.
!; Is your life insured ?" asked a Repub.
Hcan !, reporter of George Conklin the
non taner and elephant breaker of the
grounds. 'no 'a't
:, no, nave not got dollar on il,
I'm not good risk, and the companies
won't write me-" '''''
, how do you feel when you enter the
aen @ OF the Ions and tigers p
Try not to think Of anything. but 7
soon ieel the excitement, which gradual.
y becomes delirium Some time ago
l was puttinga family of leopards throuSb
lheir performance, and while working
one OF them, another fastened her fanrs
IN The rear part of my thigh. and vol,
through the excitement, I never felt the
pain. Indeed, it WAS OF when turned
around to engage one o. the other AM.
,ais h,. that l found the brute had mo fast,
m out cowed her down. This, however,
eau not always be done, and as an in
slahce OF this recall the death of nv
friend Herr Lengel, of Philadelphia. /
,e.eiYeu thid extract from one of my
australian correspondents:
Mr. ". a; Courtney, proprietor aud
! manager of the geological circus bearing
MS name, wrote from San Domingo, w
- september l6, as under: Last night
at at ~ o'clock the we'll known lion tanner.
Herr Elijah Lengel, of Philadelphia
IA, entered the den of the BRAZILIAN ii.
gers attached to the circus, aud had ncs..
y concluded Ills performance with them
when he made 9 false step, and one Of
the tigers caught him by the head and
neck, and in less than i've seconds he
was torn to pieces. Hisjugular vein was
cut, MS ear on the right side completely
eaten OF, and his body was a mass Of
mangled flesh and bone. The tent was
ccnsaiy packed with people, and the
scene that followed it is impossible TO de-
scribe. The guard and also n few pri.
Vate individuals commenced firing with
revolyers and rifles at the tiger, and soon
KILLED 1t, thereby enabling the attaches
to drag the body of Lengel through the
compartment. The remaining living ii.
ger at once fell upon the dead animal in
presence of the audience and tore it into
fragments"
"Do you GO armed into the cages ?"
NO, Sir. Three years ago in ST. Louis
during the night the lions dragged per-
forming leopard through the bars and
deVoured it. When went to the cage
next morning Sunday all that remained
OF the creature was its head and one leg.
That leopard was a pet and good per.
iorn:er, which drew the people, and when
told MIR. Cole he said, well George.
can you do anything with any of the
other leopards p told him I'd try, and
that afternoon, took green animal and
worked with her for some time. | guess
tired her out, for she came ut me with
blood in her eye, so had to kill her-it
was Hobson's choice"
"How did you kill herr"
Il struck her on the head with The butt
of my whip. ] can kill any leopard or
tiger that way. Did you ever hear of
an elephant freezing to death in Nav ?"
. never heard of an elephant diving"
We'll, four years ago we were going
10 Denver by way of Pixies Peak. and
the weather was warm enough for your
shirt, sleeves, but two days later it was so
cold that one of my elephants got frost.
bitten, and it was all | could do to get
her to Denver, where she died on May 8,
being literally frozen to DEATH"
Mr.. Conklin has been a wild beast train
er for seventeen years, and his body is
covered with terrible scars, the result of
the caressns more or less demonstrative
Of his animals. Although he has per-
formed his lions thirteen years, he SAYS
that the slightest hesitation or fear dis
played by him would result in ferocious
attack upon him. He rules by fear.
Then an to understand that lion
which you have performed for years never
has any affection for you ?"
"NeYer-or rather Pinafore. They
know me very we'll and fear me, bnt, if
they get the bulge on me, I'd hardly pre-
sent enough material for the Coroner to
werk on. All wild animals make direct
ly for the throat, and in big cage I can
always dodge them until my attendant
can burn 'em with hot irons if they get
80 refractory as to endanger my life.
They are not afraid Of my firing off blank
cartridges, and the most risky thing l do
is to feed them from my hand with raw
meat. The blood makes them banker for
warm human blood, suppose. l have
been around wild beasts ever since |
could walk my father WAS at it before I
was born, and have a brother in the
business now. So used to their traits and
moods have become that I can walk
into strange den among lions who new
er saw or smelled me before. Joe Whit
tie, whom trained up to the business,
came to grief and made a meal for
Frank into whose mouth I rut my
head"
"How was it?"
"Joe was performing Frank and George
in rehearsal, and when he put his head
into Franks mouth the brute closed on
him. Instead of keeping still Joe pulled
his head out, tearing all the flesh off his
neck and face. We called to him to
come out, but he refused, and said ka'd
conquer him 'or die ri ght there He
then whipped the brute through the
drill, and was about to leave the cage
through the trap door, when Frank
pounced on his leg and tore most of it
of. He died, and l have performed the
lions ever since. In Pottsville, Pa, a
lioness took me by the calf, and l kept
still, turned around and beat her with
my whip until she let go. Another time
l had all the meat ciawed Of my chest
and my shirt bosom dislocated; but then
one gets used to these slight inconven-
iences."
1t takes four month"; to train an ele-
phant and their breaker gives them two
lessons day. Two hundred pounds Of
hay and four bushels Of oats, together
with mess Of bread and potatoes, are
consumed daily by each elephant. A
lion takes six months incessant labor to
bring it into subjection and teach it
tricks, and even then only about one lion
in ten is successfully trained for exhibi-
ton. To place ones head into the mouth