The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-17

/ der no consideration Is the animal fur
+her treated while 1t is angry In time,
even in the most stubborn cases, the
tiger learns that II he leaves the man
In peace nothing will happen. Also, that
If he tries to attack the result is pain and
defeat. Also, that the man will feed the
tiger daily, not alone with meat and eat
ables, but with Injuries of the cat world
-catnip for example.
Once this relation has been established
between man and beast the second stage
of the training is undertaken. It be-
| comes necessary to prepare the brute for
a closer interview with the stranger, who
now prepares to enter the cage. Exactly
as in the case of lion tanning, chair is
the first thing introduced into the den.
He Of the catnip and the wand opens the
cage and regards the surprised tiger, who
wonders what is going to happen. He
| places wooden chair in the cage of the
brute and, leaving the cage as quickly as
he had entered it, watches developments.
Unused to the strange intrusion the
tiger lies scowling in a conner and re-
CARDS the chair. That the char must die
is settled. Never before has he seen such
a quadruped. He does not even know
| In which direction it moves. He begins
I to reconnoitre by circling around and
around the thing. The chair stands mo-
! tioness-another feature which the ami
NAL regards with dstrust and disgust.
Never before has he encountered an
enemy, except the man with the catnip
and the eyes in the back of his head,
that does not present front ready for
| defense
The Attack.
Finally comes the attack. With a vio-
| lent spring the tiger lands on the chair,
| hurles it over and crunches the wood
in his mighty teeth. There is no resist
ance. Only here and there drops of blood
from the mouth of the beast show traces
of the encounter. The battered chair
remains as before, turned over and
SCARED, but calmly awaiting another at
tack
| That is the lesson for one day. pre-
ceding catnip and a raw hunk of meat,
and while digesting splinters and the
meat the animal ponders over the queer
experiences he has had with the friend
of the queer man. That he does ponder
over the situation is shown by the fact
that next day when another chair is
placed inside thu cage no attack is made
on 1t. Instead, the puzzled tiger walks
around and around it, shifting at 1t final
ly and then lies down in a corner con-
tent If not happy at any old intrusion the
queer man may wish to infict.
1t is only then that the trainer ventures
! inside the cage armed with the yellow
wand and a blacksnake whip. In these
latter days of progress an ingenious
woman tiger trainer. with more regard
for twentieth century luxury than the
history of her profession, used what is
known as an ammonia gun in teaching
the tiger lesson. The "gun" was simply
a rubber ball supplied with a nozzle out
| of which a solution of diluted ammonia
could be squirted by pressing the ball.
1t is the blacksnake whip, however,
upon which the real tiger trainer depends
rather than solution of ammonia to get
into the eyes and nose of the splendid an
imal. AS he enters the cage for the first
time to fight the attack which is certain
| to be made the man carries with him a
peculiar weapon considering the nature
of the expected encounter-a wooden
chair of the kind first used in introduce
ing the tiger to the elements of civiliza-
| ton.
Surprised beyond action by the intru-
sion of the man the tiger at first scouts
listlessly to corner of the cage to await
what he thinks is going to be an attack
For all of five minutes 1t may be before
he takes the initiative, the trainer watch
ing sharply and expecting every moment
the terrific onslaught which will mean
life or death. Everything in that cli-
max of the tigers education depends
upon the trainers pluck and swiftness
II he wins the brute is conquered
and for all, practically; If he fails. 1t re-
mains for assistants outside the cage
to help him in his fight with pitchforks
| and to get him out of the clutches of the
maddened animal as best they can.
When the Tiger crouches.
1t is when the tiger crouches. ready for
the spring which invariably precedes his
attack, that the trainer is on edge as to
the outcome. Watching closely without
directly facing the animal the man
stands. The next instant there is a
giant, yellow body shooting through the
air Before 1t lands the man has mped
aside, thrown his chair full at the head
of the wild beast and brings down his
backsnake whip with a cut that would
draw blood from the hide of an OK. Then
1t is time to beat a retreat and to give
the tiger time to eat the chair and to
consider as before.
In time the man and chair may enter
the den with impunity, though there is
still another fit due when the man at
tempts to sit in the chair, familiarity
which no tiger will allow unresented In
his presence unless he Is taught that he
has to.
The battle between the puny man and
the blacksnake whip on the one side and
the tiger on the other has taken up to
| this point about three weeks at least, but
now it is practically finished. Finished,
at least, as much as II ever can be in
| the case of a tiger.