The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1931-08-28
Worlds Greatest
Lion Tanner has
Narrow Escape

Readers Of jungle stories are
told that the tiger always stalks
its prey before attacking.
Such was the dire predicament
in which Clyde Beatty, former
Chillicothe, Ohio, boy, now
Worlds Greatest Lion Tanner,
found himself little over year
ago while going through his act,
a super-feature of the 1881 Ohio
State Fair, August 81 to Septem-
Der s. "Rajah", magnificent
Bengal tiger, weighing 900
pounds, was sitting on his pedestal
as usual, Beatty was putting one
Of the animals on the opposite side
Of the arena through it's PAGES,
when glancing sidewise he noted
that "Rajah" had left his pedestal
and was stealthily stalking him.
Turning in flash to meet him and
showing his chair forward for pro-
lection, Beatty was just in time as
"Rajah" rose to his feet, plunged
upward and forward, crushed the
chair into splinters with one enor-
mius paw ,sprang upon Beatty and
bore him to the ground, sharp
claws tearing at his shoulders, arm
and side, sharp teeth grasping his
neck and dragging him about the
arena. Spectators were Mortified.
Beatty's assistant and many help
ers rushed to the cage expecting
to drag out his mangled and torn
body. But sometimes miracles
happen. Upon the top perch in
the center Of the ring sat Nero,
boss of the lions and one of the
largest specimens ever brought to
this country. Beatty has always
maintained that Nero has no af-
fection for him, that affection is
non-existent in cats, but that Nero
did have an admiration for him.
In nearly every performance,
Beatty reaches up with pole and
scratches Nero's forehead. 1t may
be that Nero's natural antagon-
ism toward his old jungle enemy,
the tiger, prevailed or that he
dreamed of the time when native
African Bush men had lured him
into a cleverly covered pit, had
emeshed him in nets, bound him,
Gagged him and transported him to
Singapore, always caged-always
being tortured. From there to Lon
don and from London to New York.
Then he was shipped to the Hagen
beck Wallace winter quarters In
Peru, Indiana. 1t was only upon
his arrival there that he was re-
leased from this brutal bondage
and met the first and only man he
has ever known-Clyde Beatty,
who treated him with kindness.
So the miracle happened.
Nero swiftly plunged downward,
landed squarely on Rajah, the 900
pound tiger and in second held
him fast in mortal combat. Nat
urally, Rajah had the battle of his
life and was lucky enough to es-
cape with few gashes and
bruises, while Beatty, beaten and
wounded as he was, had strength
enough left to crawl to the safety
door which was opened by attend.
ants and he was safe once again.
He was rushed to the hospital,
his wounds were treated and band
aged, his arm placed in cast.
Three broken ribs were found.
Hospital attaches said he would
have to stay there ten days. This
was in the afternoon. But in the
evening, so great was his will
power and physical endurance that
he was back in the arena and the
act went on as usual.
Confdentially, Clyde will tell you
that, had he failed to appear that
evening, every beast would have
known it and from then on it
would have been difficult, if not
impossible, to subjugate them.
Clyde Beatty and his sensational
act will appear at the Ohio State
Fair, Columbus, August 81 to Sep