The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1911-04-28


" Frank Bostock. the
zaS3 animal king, who not
only exhibits wild
animals himself. but also trains them
TO order for other people.
Three weeks after giving this or
der. Madame Pianka exhibited her
fierce Numidian Hon" The audience
shivered as the savage beast dashed
against the bars Of his cage In an at
tempt TO get at a man standing Just
out Of reach-the husband whose
wife" Madame Pianka. was covering
IN a corner OF the lions cage.
The lights went out. and the audi.
ence sat breathless until sudden H.
Illumination showed the lion standing
over Madame Pianka's PROSTATE and
apparently lifeless body. but holding
her baby safe in its mouth. When in
the next scene Madame Pianka,
dressed as the Goddess Of Liberty, sat
with her arm round the erstwhile cav
age beast-now the dlgnifled British
lion-the house went wild with ap-
plause.
During the time between the receipt
OF Madame Pianka's order and her
first exhibition with the fully trained
Hon, Mr.. Bostock's trainers had
busy three weeks. First of all the
lion for the act had to be chosen.
Every animal has it's peculiar charae-
teristics. and before any attempt at
training is made these must be known.
With rare exceptions all felines are
untrustworthy and more or less
treacherous. They are afraid Of man
only as long as he stands erect. The
minute he is down they will attack
him. For such a delicate act as Ma
dame Pianka's, therefore, it was neces-
sary to select the steadiest, most do |
cile, and trustworthy lion that could |
be found.
Mr.. Bostock had forty lions. Among |
these was a magnificent animal which |
had outlived most of his fiefceness, !
and which. by much posing, had be-
come as steady as the stars. This |
lion was chosen. The trainers task |
was to make this lion simulate rage
without being angry-in the parlance
Of the profession, to make him
bounce; to teach him to stand harm
lessly over a PROSTATE human; and to
hold in his mouth whatever was
placed in 1t. Upon the man who was
to appear as Madame Pianka's 'hus-
band" fell the first task. He accom-
plished 1t thus From outside the
cage he teased the lion until the beast |
sprang for him. The minute the lion
jumped, the trainer threw him a piece
Of meat
1t took the lion only few days to
that the appearance Of the
trainer was a cEe ~ him to bounce"
and that the fiercer he ragged, the
more certain he was of his piece of
meat. To get the lion to stand over
a PROSTATE person, the animal was
first put upon high pedestals, while
he trainer walked around and under
him. Gradually the height of the
)edestals was lowered until the lion
vas standing on the floor itself, with
he trainer under him. The third
rick was also easy of accomplish
nent. A lion, like a dog, has nat
lral tendency to carry things in its
mouth. One of Mr. Bostock's lions
Ilways worked" with a long-stemmed
'ose in its mouth. Madame Pianka's
ion was given a roll Of paper to carry.
md each day the size Of this roll was
In time the lion would pa.
faDt1v hold q Ior0a bundle nh -
lsed for the exhibition, needless to
ay, was not real.
From fierce lion to a tame goose
8 far cry, but 1t is no farther than
he range of skill shown by Mr.. Bos.
ock's trainers. One of these train
rs used to be Clyde Powers, now a
tage manager at the New York Hip
odrome. Perhaps you may recall the
1an who used to make you laugh as {
o walked about the Hippodrome 1
tage accompanied by a goose and a {
ig. That man was Mr.. Powers, and
be goose was a famous old bird. {
Once a woman wanted a goose {
rained like this goose "Tl charge t
ou a dollar an hour for training it." '
aid Mr.. Bostock, with a maximum
barge of $50" The woman agreed I
} the price, and Mr. Powers trained !
le goose. This is how he did it. For 1
4 hours he let the goose go without t
,od. The next "a hours he spent S
18th the bird, trying to gain its /
The remaining 80 hours 6
ere devoted to training. To teach B
le goose to follow him, he dropped c
rains of corn as he walked, gradu- b