Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-03-06
BEAST TANNERS.
A Protest Against Women Follow
ing This Profession.
The Terrible Fate of Miss Sterling at Be-
xiers, France, Should Be Taken as q
Solemn Warning Against Allowing
Such Performances.

Such Performances.
In the reign of Charles v. of France,
a professional tanner of wild beasts per
forming in the Royal presence was un-
lucky 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 menagerie 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 medi@val
times? There is sad need to ask the ques-
ton when 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 a lions mouth, and
to all appearances going to sleep in that
abnormal and, it may be added, disgust
ing position. Only last Sunday Miss
Sterling had received a significant
warning of the desperate peril she was
mourning by a wound inflicted on her by
one of the savage brutes whose ferocious
instincts she was wantonly tempting;
but on Monday she was again ready to
repeat her desperate feat The exhibit
ton began, as usual, before a crowded
house, and she stepped into the cage,
accompanied by the male ion-tamer,
who proceeded to mesmerize her-or at
least to profess to do so. The due stage
of 1, l. L1
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 lioness named Nancy" the
largest 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
audience was intense, and that the 81
lence 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 his pupil. Whatever steps
the ''dompteur" did take, they were in
effectua1 to prevent the fierce beast
from Selling 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 Hon-tamer's whip forced
Nancy to drop her prey for a moment,
but she again seized the unfortunate
Miss Sterling, this time by the arm, and
dragged her about the cage. The lion
tanner fought bravely enough to save
the poor girl from the clutches Of the
Infatuated 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 ioness.
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
amputation of the limb was necessary.
1t was also found that she had sustained
other injuries of q serious nature. If
the poor young creature RECEIVERS she
will obviously be cripple for life; but
the awful accident which has befallen her
will, it is to be hoped, bear so much
compromising 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 a Geneva Convention to estab-
ish, on a basis of common agreement,
the rules affecting the treatment of the
wounded in the battlefield; we have had
a Congress at Brussels delibera ting on
the best means for stamping out the At
rican slave trade; and both these emf
nently philanthropic movements have
manifestly been prompted by desire to
abate the unnecessary sacrifice of hui
man life. At no great expense, and in a
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 ap-
pearance of females at menagerie per
formances either as ''lion queens or as
professedly hypnotized patients. The
travelling menagerie proprietor is as
ubiquitous nomad as the circus man
nger. 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
which public opinion should demand is.
that the impressario Of public menag-
erie should find that, as far as the en-
ployment of women in the cages of wild
beasts was concerned, his occupation
was wholly gone, and that whenever he
yentnred to advertise the performances
of . s'lion queen" or ga sleeping beauty
in the lions mouth" he should at once
be bounced upon by the police and
forced to abandon the contemplated
performance. It is nothing but the
cupidity and rapacity OF the showmen
that keeps these disgusting and demon
alixing exhibitions alive. They think
that they can take more money 1t their
doors by the exhibition Of female Hon~