The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-04-17
Carei
Washington Capital.
BEAST TANNERS.
A Protest Against Women Follow
ing This Profession.
The Terrible Fate of Miss Sterling at Be
zlers, France. Should Be Taken ~ =
solemn Warning Against Allowing
Such Performances.

IN the reign Of Charles v. Of France,
professional tanner Of wild beasts per-
forming in the Royal presence was un-
luclly enough to have his arm bitten off
by a. tiger, and the King was so much
shocked by this mishap that he forthwith
ordered that all the wild animals in his
own Tnenagerie should be slaughtered,
and forbade his subjects, under pain Of
death, from witnessing pastimes which
could have such terrible results Is Chris
tendon in 1890 less civilized, or at least
less humane, than it was in medieval
times? There is sad need to ask the ques-
-tiea-wAeH= we read such a story as that
which comes from Beziers, in France, and
which narrates the second terrible mis-
hap of which the victim has been Miss
.sterling,--a brave, foolhardy young
woman who has lately been earning no
toriety in the Redenbach menagerie by
placing her head in lions mouth, and
10 all appearances going to sleep in that
abIT0rpial and, 1t may be added, disgust
ing position. Only last Sunday Miss
Sterling had received significant
mourning by wound inflicted on her by
ono of the savage brutes whose ferocious
instincts she was wantonly tempting;
byt on Monday she was again ready to-
repeat her desperate feat. The exhibi-
ton began, as usual, before a crowded
house, and she stepped into the cage,
accompanied by the male lion-tamer,
who proceeded to mesmerize her-or at
least to profess to do So The due stage
of hypnotisn having been ostensibly
reached, the patient was stretched out
=between two chairs, her body forming a
barrier, across which the lions were to
leap All went well until it came to the
turn of honess named Nancy" the
ffargest and most dangerous of the fero-
cious troupe. Urged by the whip, the
beast prepared for spring, but sudden
changed her intent, and, uttering a
low roar, and swinging her tail in wrath,
advanced towards the motionless body
extended between the two chairs. 1t is
added that the excitement among the
udience was intense, and that the 81
lcnce was oppressive, although one
would have thought, for the sake of
common humanity, that cry Of horror
would have come from the spectators,
and that the lion tanner would have
, been vehemently hidden to rush to the
assistance Of bis pupil Whatever steps
the ''dompteur" did take, they were in
effectual to prevent the fierce beast
from seizing Miss Sterling by the leg.
The wretched girl, If she had indeed
been slumbering, awoke at once to the
full agony of her situation. Repeated
blows from the lion-tamer's whip forced
Nancy to drop her prey for moment,
but she again seized the unfortunate
Miss Sterling, this time by the arm, and
dragged her about the cage. The lion
tanner fought braxely enough to save
the poor girl from the clutches Of the
infuriated beast. Fortunately, in addi-
ton to the whip, the ''dompteur' had
within reach gladiatorial trident. the
sharp prongs of which he drove again
and again into the body of the honess.
Ultimately the savage beast was
cowed, and relinquished the strug-
GLE. The hapless Miss Sterling was
carried out Of the cage, but on medical
Examination her leg was found to be so
dreadfully mutilated that immediate
--amPatation of the limb WAS necessary.
III was also found that she had sustained
other injuries of a. serious nature, II
the poor young creature RECEIVERS she
will obviously be cripple for life; but
theawful accident which has befallen her
will, it is to be hoped, bear so much
compensating fruit as to incite all
Christian nations to abolish at once and
for ever any exhibitions of wild-beast-
tanning in which women take part We
have had Geneva Convention to estab-
lish, on q basis of common agreement,
the rules affecting the treatment of the
wounded in the battlefield; we have had
Congress at Brussels celebrating on
the best means for stamping out the At
rican slave trade; and both these emf
nently philanthropic movements have
msnifestly been prompted by a desire to
abate the unnecessary sacrifice OF hui
man life. At no great expense, and in .
very short time, the European Powers
could, in conjunction with our colonies
and the United States, agree to pass one
short,sharp law, the execution Of which
should be intrusted to the police, abso-
lately and entirely forbidding the APP
pearance of females at menagerie per-
fernlanees either as .lion queens" or as
professedly hypnotized patients. The
strayelilg menagerie proprietor is as
Ubiquitous nomad as the circus man
ager, The whole world is his field OF
action. One year he may be in France;
another may find him at Moscow,
at. Constantinople, at Melbourne,
at Calcutta, or in England. That
r which public, opinion should demand is,
that the impressario of public menag-
erie should find that, as far as the en-
pioyment Of women in the cages Of wild
beasts was concerned, his occupation
was wholly gone, and that whenever he
Fentured to advertise the performances
OF lion queen, or "a sleeping beauty
In the lions mouth" he should at once
be bounced upon by the police and
forced to abandon the contemplated
performance. 1t is nothing but the
eupldity and rapacity of the showmen
mat keeps thesedisgusting and demon
Allz'ng exhibitions alive They think
mat lheNnan take more money at their
doors by the exhibition otefemale lion.