Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1894-10-12
sUBDUINa WILD BEASTS.
The Special Dangers of the Tanners OF Iionl
and Tigers.

The Special Dangers of the Tanners OF Lions
and Tigers.
Now and then, for no reason that any
one can find, a lion or tiger that has
been doing his duty regularly and we'll
grows suddenly rebellious. He will no
longer balance on the big ball, no lon
ger stand unprotestingly on the seesaw
board, no longer ride the horse or jump
the hurdles. He comes out instead with
a plain, pointed, leonine mo- for the
whole programme and proceeds to get
square with the game by tearing the
life out Of some trainer or groom. APP
parently his pride and hate and revenge
are all stirred up together against all
surrounding conditions, and the people
to whom he has been most obedient are
the very ones he now desires most to
kill When tanners meet a violent death,
it is often under one of these unforeseen
and inexplicable outbursts of madness.
But there is another and perhaps
subtler source of danger to tanners.
Everything goes well for two or three
years. and the tanner, proud of his sue
cess and swelling bank account, becomes
overconfdent. One day he gets nip
from beast or scratch from a tiger 5
claw This will happen inevitably, I'M
less tho greatest watchfulness is en-
ployed, and without any vicious inten-
ton ON the part Of the wild beast. But
the wound fingers on hand or arm, for
wounds from a wild beasts claws or
fangs, however trifling, are long i'll
healing and very painful. The member
swells double its normal size. The
wound tears open again and again, and
months pass before the man is healed
The moral effect of such an experience
is bad. Perhaps another bite or scratch
is incurred before the old one is quite
well, and after a number of such mis-
haps the tanner, though he will not adj
NIT it, perhaps even to himself, is apt
to become afraid of his animals. Then
he has recourse to stimulants to ''steady
his nerves" before going into the ring
But by this treatment his nerves are not
steadied; rather they are the more
shaken. And the more he drinks tho
more unfit he is to face the danger and
the likelier to take some reckless step
WIISn Will ICSulb III LID otllOAo llJhlJ
or death, for it is undoubtedly a fact
that tanners are not infrequently manned
for life, and even killed. Such case
was that of the tanner Heigenreich, who
was torn to pieces some years ago while
giving an exhibition in Russia. A large
lion sprang upon him and literally tore
his life out before the eyes of the spec
tators. Nothing could be done to save
the man. Nothing can ever be done in
such a case.
Perhaps the best safeguard against
these dreadful accidents-a safeguard
better than hot irons or revolvers-is a
ready line of hose, with a strong pressure
of water, which can be turned on at a
moments notice. 1t has been found that
q lion struck by a powerful stream Of
water will drop his bleeding victim
when prodding with iron hooks or SINH
lar measures will only make him hold on
the tighter.
Thus it is absolutely fatal to the
tanner to fall into any fear. As soon as
he gets the idea that he is going to be
killed he had better give up the work
at once, or the chances are that he will
be killed. -Clevelan Moffett in Nc
Clure's Magazine