Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-10-08

Some Curious Anecdotes About French.
men In the 6usInsss
French lion tanners. even IL they DO
| not exceed In skill those Of other ma
lions, have, at any rate, had more
written and said about them, says the
London Field. A few years ago NJ.
Pezon retired from business. having
made fortune by his great power
over animals and gained the distinc-
ton of being possibly the greatest lion
tanner In the world. with the exception,
perhaps, of M. Bidel, at whose me-
nagerie In Paris some time ago there
was a wonderful meeting Of giants,
dwarfs and monstrositIes generally,
for the purpose Of discussing the inter-
| ests of their respective callings, so far
as those interests were connected with
the hiring OF ground In Paris and Its
| vicinity.
| NJ. PezOn was one of the tanners who
ignored the use of heavy whip. Con-
Citation, and not correction, was APP
parently his motto; and, acting on that
principle, he attained prodigious sue
| cess. Henri Martin. too, another
French performer, was quite in the
! front rank; and he. unlike some others
| in the profession, began really young.
He was but small boy when lse first
embarked on circus life, and began
with horses, gradually making his way
| to the more dangerous animals. He Is
said to have been one of the few who
did not object TO tackle tigers. leOpards
| or panthers-three animals which the
majority of wild beast performers
have a wholesome and not unnatural
dislike to. Some of NJ. Martins meth
| DDS appear TO have been curious. Hav-
ing on one occasion to interview hy-
ena, Martin wrapped his legs and arms
| with cords, protected his head with
| handkerchefs and other things, and
| walking into the cage, went to the n.y.
ena and offered his arm. The hyena
| bit it, of course, but Martin looked on
stolidly, as though nothing had hap
| pened. Next day he substituted leg.
and so the training went on, till either
the lryena got tired of biting or was so
| Disguised at seeing no results that he
| gave it up.
Nj. Albert Of Havre, too, was another
| famous man in his calling, and distin-
| guished himself on one occasion, when
he found quarrel going on among the
bears, by walking straight in among
them and separating the fighters; but
George Sanger once did about as
| plucky n thing as ever was known. The
lions and a lioness were having ter
rife fight in their cage, and the battle
ragged so furiously that neither Crock
| EFT nor the keepers cared about ven
| turing in. Mr.. Sanger, however, was
equal to the occasion, and, going in
among the combatants, succeeded in
restoring peace ut last But IL Crock
| EFT, who was a very able trainer,
showed a slight loss Of nerve on that
occasion, he made up for it on an
| other, when groom tempered with
| the fastenings of the lions cage ut Asst
| ley's, in the hope that the occupants
would kill one or more of the horses,
that he might be revenged on the man
agement for some fine inflicted. A
night watchsSan, hearing noise in the
auditorium, soon discovered the cause,
| and a message was sent to Crockett at
his lodgings hard by. The tanner ar
rived, and, going into the auditorium
with a small switch, succeeded in a
very short time in recaging his pupils.