AFTER FIFTY YEARS

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 140, 13 May 1930, Page 2

AFTER FIFTY YEARS

MR GEORGE WIRTH RETIRES FROM CIRCUS. After 53 years in active circus life—he started at the age of 10—Mr George Wirth has decided to retire and leave the management of Wirth Bros.’ clrcns to his brother Philip and his family. “I do not think I will miss the hnriyburly,” he informed a Sydney Morning Herald reporter. “My wife, who has been a splendid heipmate, will notice tlie change much more than I. For years it was a labour of love with her to ‘dress’ the circus. She supplied the wardrobes, and had the elephant rugs and other trappings and decorations made. When the grand parade took place, the delighted surprise of the audience more than repaid her for her efforts.” One of Mr Geo. Wirth’s most exciting experiences concerned the notorious elephant “Cardie.” “ ‘Cardie’ had struck several keepers,” said Mr Wirth, “and even went so far as to show his contempt for the general manager of the show, for he felled him one night with a ‘gentle’ tap on the head with his trunk. It was so gentle that the manager (Mr Geo. Anderson) was not about for months. After this there were only three men who would dare go near ‘Cardie’—the keeper (Lee), John Cook and John Bernasconi. But Bernasconi left the show for some time, and on returning he went up and spoke to ‘Cardie,’ who immediately gave him a crack on tho head. Their friendly days were at an end. That left only two who could handle him—his trainer and his keeper. On June 29, 1923, whilst doing his act in the ring ‘Cardie’ knocked his trainer (Mr Cooke) down. I believe he did it unintentionally, but the moment he saw Mr Cooke on the ground he pricked up his ears and rushed over to him. Putting one foot on the prostrate man’s leg he held him down and was proceeding to crush him with his head. I just got there in time to turn him off. Mr Cooke told me afterwards that he thought it was all over with him. He saw me running to the rescue, but thought that I would never reach him in time. At first it was hard to convince him that he was alive. . . Taking it altogether we were the losers by several thousand pounds when we shot ‘Cardie,’ but it was not only the value of ‘Cardie’s’ work and his looks that made me sorry to destroy him. He had been with us 21 years. “Elephants have great wisdom, and they remember both friends and enemies for years after either a friendly action or a cruelty is done them.” SIX LIONS LOOSE. At Murrurundi in 1905 two lions and four lionesses got loose. This is how Mr Wirth tells the story: “We had these lions and two wolves in a big cage. After their performance the door was opened to let the lions into one of the smaller cages, but the wolves got in too. To make it worse one of the boys got in with them also. I saw ‘red.’ My brother Philip pulled the boy out, and also got the wolves out, but he did not close the door quickly enough. The lions broke through and got into the street. The people who had seen the show were afraid to move. They stayed in the tent. A little later one of our performers, named Datas, whose turn did not commence until 10 o’clock, came in and said that he had seen ‘the biggest dog he had ever set eyes on outside an hotel.’ We told him tlrat the lions had got loose, and he was so overcome that he could not go on with his turn. We hadn’t much trouble in recapturing the lionesses, but it was different with the lions. We found one lion in tho fowlyard of an hotel, but could not locate tho other. Search parties went out, and in the early hours we saw the other lion in a paddock two cr three miles out of the town. It had knocked down a cow, and had started to cat it. Wo destroyed the cow, and eventually recaptured the lion.

BEAR SEIZED TRAINER. “There is one experience I shall never forget. It occurred at Christchurch (N.Z.). There was an act in which sit lions, two bears, and two wolves performed together. One of the bears did not like the acting trainer, Sid Rose. One night she seized him in her paws and threw him to the ground. The man was fighting for his life, and the bear seemed to be eating into bis stomach. The audience was panic-stricken. Seizing a piece of 3 x 2 wood I rushed over, and with all the force I could command I aimed .at the bear. The wood rebounded from the bear’s head to my forehead, cutting it open. One of our men then picked up a heavy iron bar, and struck at the bear. I thought that its skull would be split open, but the iron bar bad no more effect that my wood. Then Schmidt, the Polar bear trainer, came on the scene. He jabbed a fork into the bear’s mouth, and led her into the retiring cage. Then I remembered for the first time tho six lions, two wolves, and the other bear. I had to get them off their pedestals and back to their cages. As it happened, they obeyed like frightened children.”