News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-01-04
HOW He tanned THEM.
Martins Way of Ruling Fer0ciOus Beusts.
IErfrrn tho Rnltirnnnn Nnr.rS

From the Baltimore News
A curious history, and one that sheds
many CLEANS of light upon the charac-
ter of beasts in the menagerie, is that of
Henri Martin the lion tanner, who died,
ninety years old, quietly at his home
g among his collections of butterflies and
his books of botany" Martin, accord
ing to his own letters, began to cultivate
his gift of control over animals in the
days when he was connected with circus,
by acquiring an extraordinary power over
horses, which he taught every trick
known to the profession, and some of
which have hardly been exactly
paralleled. From this he went on to
tanning wild beasts, and soon after he
had started business as part proprietor of
a mena9erie he had labOred eight months
i'll training a royal tiger and had taught
spotted hyena to pick up his gloves.
He was never seen with a whip in his
hand; but he crossed lis arms and gave
his animals the word of command to
leap ON and off his shoulders, and he con-
sidered his method infinitely superior to
that of the trainers who go through their
business chiefly by the terrorism of
heavy whip and a revolver. Their beasts
obey them, but, he said, " they are not
tanned as mine were, and when one of
them rebels you can Judge the tragic
result from the tragical end of Lucas"
One day Martin told his wife that he
anticipated trouble with .his lion Co
bOurg, who was then in a dangerous
state of excitement She begged him
to put off the performance, but he said:
'No; if [ should do it once [ should have
to do it every time the animals have ca
prices. The next night his foreboding
were fulfilled. Instead of performing his
part properly, Cobourg crouched low and
dug his talOns into the stage, and his
eyes fared Martin had no weapon at
command except dagger in his belt
81 have said never a whip" Instead of
obeying orders the lion leaped at Martin,
and combat occurred, in the course of
which the lion took Martin up in his
mouth and shook him in the air Martin
struck the animal over the nose for
second time, and then, feeling his strength
exhausted, gave himself up for lost, and
and turned his back to the beast, so that
at the next spring it might attack the
back of his neck, and so ''make an end
of the business. ''But two seconds
passed-two seconds that seemed to me
an eternity. [ turned around The lions
mood had changed. He looked at the
audience; he looked at me. I gave &le
sign to go. He went away as if nothing
had happened"
It was fourteen weeks before Martin
could perform again, but then the lion
worked as well as usual, and continued
to do so for four years without any more
caprices.
In tanning one of his tigers Martin be-
gan by taking the brute's attention Oft
the door of the cage, and then, armed
with a dagger, went rapidly into the
cage and stood looking at the tiger,
which, for some minutes, lay motionless,
staring at him. Then, feeling a shIver,
and knowing that if the tiger saw it all
would be over with him, he went swiftly
ont
At the end of a fortnight he went
again into the cage. and this time stay
ing thera half au hour. A third time
he paved the tiger a visit of three-quar-
GERS Of an hour. The fourth time the
tiger, trembling at first, lay down before
the pigmy who braved it. To tame a
hyena, Martin wrapped his legs and
arms with cords and protected his head
with handkerchiefs, and then, walking
into the cage, went straight to the ami
NAL and offered it his forearm. The
hyena bit it, and the tanner, looking
steadily i'll its eyes, stood mOtionless.
The next day he repeated the expert
ment, substituting a leg for an arm,
''and all the time Martins black pupils
were flashing into the gray eyes OF the
hyena. The beast gave up, cringed and
smelled the feet of the master"
Martin tanned his subjects by his per-
sonal influence alone, and Charles No
der once said of him: cat the head of
an army Martin might have been a Bona
parte. Chance has made man of genius
a director of q menagerie.