Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-20
LIoN-rAMERs Welded.
The Famous Pczon Family, of Paris,
at a Grand Domestic Fete.
Paris Letter IN PHILADELPHIA Times.


Paris Letter in PAHadelDAtd Times.
A fortnight back l called on Bidel to
see how he was getting along. He IS
famous lion-tamer, whose exhibitions
with wild beasts at the fairs around Paris
are quite worthy OF the reputation they
enjoy. Just before l called tough old
! lion named Sultan tried to make a meal OF
! Bldel and that was why l wanted to see
| how he was getting on. L have frequently
seen him standing in the midst OF his
! lions, tigers, bears and panthers, forcing
them to obey him as abjectly as though
| they were trained dogs. to leap and gambol
| around him like pugs and spaniels, and
have always had secret hope to be pres
ent when he should be devoured by one OF
! his precious pets. missed seeing Sui
tan go for the old man, and so called to
| least upon his gaping wounds. Bidel re-
| paid my awful act by asking me II
would like TO go to the wedding breakfast
| of Mile. PeZon.
mot Pezon, your rivals daughterW l
asked.
| But she was, though, aud as Miss Marie
| was to marry her cousin Alexander, an
| other lion-tamer, why OF course said I'd
! like nothing better.
The Pezons are a family of CONTAINERS
and they have been so for forty years.
Originally there were five brothers of that
name who travelled all over France, go
| ing to country fairs to exhibit hons and
bears over which they had acquired com
| plete control. Their show took, and to-
day the descendants of those five brothers
| own more menageries than could count
| on all my fingers, and are better known
tnan even the famous Forepaugh himself.
One of the original five long since 'quit
the biz" and IS successful farmer in the
Nl,DN MN Il rn1 hW
one of his employees in a burst OF passion;
third died a natural death; a fourth was
so badly bitten by lions that be departed
this life leaving some of his flesh in their
bellies, and the fifth is the "MOnsieur"
| Baptiste PeZon, whose daughter, 80
Bidel tells me, was to be married to her
cousin Aleck on Aug. 8. So when | said
I'd like to go Bidel said, "Ihatll be all
right" and in due course OF French time
my invitation TO the wedding breakfast
reached me.
IL read that the nOce would be in the
Salon des Families out at Saint Mande, a
queer little suburban village made up of
a single street and bordering on the edge
of Vincennes Park, just the other side of
the Notifications around Paris. had been
out to the Salon des Families before. 1t
enjoys great reputation for weddings; it
has fine garden in which there is a Curl
Gus labyrinth-curious because anyone
can get in, but the trouble is to get out of
1.-THE cooking is first rate and the wines
excellent. When l reached this resort
yesterday there were several wedding par
ties in possession of the place. Thursday is
the day for French marriages, and as saw
no lions, tigers or black bears anywhere
l was be 2innig to wonder what l had bet
ter do when dark, wiry little man came
hobbling toward me, and L recognized
Bidel. In another instant he haS pre-
scented me to old man PeZon, who grasped
my hand in his cotton-gloved ones and
gave me hearty welcome. Then l was IN
trOduced to the rest OF the party; there
were hundred or so men and women
present, and PeZOn said "they're all in the
Drofesh," with as much pride as friend
Zimmerman will find in telling his Phila-
delphia acquaintances about what he saw
and suffered in Europe.
looked around me and saw a curious
group. 1t was almost wholly made up of
those mountebanks, wrestlers, dwarfs.
giants, fat women, bad actors and wild
beast tanners, that in America would be
known as 'side-show" people. Yes, they
are indeed Bohemians, but l believe that
every man present was an honest man
and that every woman is virtuous as she
understands it. Ignorant, illiterate,
dirty, too often given to drink, these kind
OF mortals may be, but they never rob or
cheat their fellow-man. They make good
families, even If they are nomads, and
there was never child in the Chester
Valley that honors its father and it's
mother more than do these same "vaga-
bonds" OF the continent. The profession"
is handed down from father to son and to
daughters like title of nobility. Ii has
been so for ages and it will continue to be
for many generations to come. / confess
to liking these curious people, and that
| ,hvrI ula IN hn of
Monsieur Pezon.
The bride blushed Gas red as any rose"
under her long white veil and orange
blossoms when l paid her pretty oom-
pliment, and she actually giggled, just as
though she had been schoOled at Madame
Chagary's or out at the Convent OF the
Sacred Heart. Nine. Alexander Pezon-
Mile. Marie Pezon that was-is a nice
looking person, and she wouldn't be afraid
TO take her daddy's place in the lions cage
should such action be necessary. Indeed
she has already done so much more than
once but she does not, as a rule, take
part in the family calling. Alexander is
well-built fellow, with swarthy COM
plexlon, energetic, oppressive features
and an arm as hard as steel. Presentations
over. as la dejeuner de noce was not yet
ready, we got in carriages and rode around
the park OF Vincennes. Bye-aud-bye the
procession stopped, and the happy couple
were duly photographed for the benefit OF
the generations that may result from the
union. Thence we rode 10 a menagerie,
now on exhibition in the Boulevard de la
Chapelle, and there we were joined by all
the members OF the side-shOw profession
that had not been hidden to the wedding
feast.
When we got back to the restaurant at
Saint Mande NJ. PeZ0n requested the gen.
tlemen to give their arms to the ladies
and escort them to the dining room.
offered mine at hazard and captured a
prize, and no mistake about it. For the
most part those seated at the long table
were all celebrities. There were some tif-
teen or sixteen Pezons, half dozen
Bidels, two or three OF some other family
famous in their present generation pres
sent, not to mention widows whose nus
bands had been "killed with their boots
on" behind the iron bars. My pretty
young neighbor broke the ice by pointing
out the man We'll, who was nearly eaten
up by lions at Nantes last spring, and
then we fell into conversation. She told
me that her name was Mile. Celia, and
that she was the principal performer at
the Aunt Menagerie. Then, in strict con.
fdence, she proceeded to tell me about a
new act with which she Is going to
paralyze all her rivals. She is going to
''create" this act at the BatignOles fete
neNt fall and as she does not take the