Occasionally a foolish and intermeddling spectator will endeavor to
show his brilliancy by experimenting with the animals. More than once
this tendency has well-nigh cost a performer his life. I recall one
instance when a performer was doing an act in a cage containing five
lions. He had just begun his work, and the lions had taken their
positions. In the middle of the cage, facing him, was one large lion,
and at either end sat two others. Of course a big crowd had collected
in front of the cage and was pressing heavily against the guard ropes.
Suddenly a countryman of the smart kind was seized with a desire to
distinguish himself and attract a little attention. Slipping inside the
ropes, he stooped down and took up the ragged little dog that was
crouching at his heels. The instant he lifted the cur up to the level
of the cage every lion gave out a roar and made a wild leap for the
yellow mongrel.
[Illustration: "EVERY LION GAVE A ROAR AND MADE A WILD LEAP."]
For a few moments the performer was completely lost to view, buried
underneath the writhing bodies of the infuriated lions. Of course the
animal men outside made a rush for the cage door, but before they could
reach it with their irons in hand the plucky performer was on his feet
again and fighting his own battle. A tooth or a claw had split his nose
and upper lip, and the tattered condition of his clothing indicated
that he had suffered severely. Although his face was bathed in blood,
he stood his ground and plied his rod on the heads and noses of the
growling beasts until they were momentarily driven back. But they had
tasted blood and were furious. Before he could reach the door they were
at him again, and in the onslaught his right arm and hip were
frightfully lacerated. His grit, however, was indomitable, and he
struck and jabbed right and left like a gladiator. Finally the howls of
pain from the lions revealed the fact that he was getting the upper
hand of them, and at last they were driven howling and whining into the
corners of the cage and he backed out of the door. No sooner was he
safely outside the cage than he became unconscious.
It was a good thing for the countryman whose folly had stirred up the
lions that he contrived to make his escape from the grounds before the
circus men got hold of him. This incident is simply typical of hundreds
of others perhaps more interesting and exciting. It will, however,
serve to indicate the constant perils that surround the trainer or
performer, many of which arise from sources over which he has no
control.
I have often been asked if the training of animals does not quite
generally involve considerable cruelty. This, it seems to me, may
fairly be answered in the negative, although one exception should be
made. Though great firmness must be shown in working wild animals, and
frequent and severe chastisements are called for, there is nothing
essentially cruel in the method of training. This, however, cannot be
said of the methods generally followed by the trainers of horses.
I can never forget how forcibly and painfully this exception was
brought home to me. In company with Mr. Costello I had brought from
Texas and New Mexico a herd of beautiful pinto ponies, or bronchos.
They were handsome piebald creatures, and apparently very intelligent,
although desperately wild. From a herd of about forty we picked out
sixteen to be educated for the ring. About ten miles out of Chicago we
put up a convenient stable and engaged one of the most celebrated
trainers in the United States. In the course of a few weeks the animals
became accustomed to having men about them, and then I told the trainer
to begin his work.
I had never watched a trainer work horses for the ring, and I was
greatly interested to see how it was done. The method was so cruel that
I told the trainer if he could not invent a method which inflicted less
torture he might quit and we would have the horses sold. He had not the
ingenuity or patience to devise a more humane method, and consequently
retired from the field, leaving his assistant to work out the problem
under my directions. This we finally succeeded in doing with fair
results, but the method followed by the trainer is a more general one.