TORN BY LIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12478, 23 January 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

TORN BY LIONS.

TERRIBLE DEATH OP A LADY TAMER. A well-known -tamer, Mme. Fischer, was torn to pieces by ten lions which she

was putting through tricks in a menagerie at Dessau in Germany recently. Mine. Fischer was a pretty blonde of medium height. She entered the lions' cage in low-necked evening dress, and wore dainty white shoes. She was armed only with a whip. Her appearance suggested anything but her calling. At first all ten lions performed their tricks obediently, but towards the end of the display a savage old African refused to jump through a paper ring. Mine. Fischer struck him with her whip, but finding him still stubborn showered blow after blow upon the animal's head. The lion, infuriated by the chastisement, sprang upon Mine. Fischer, and dealt her a terrific blow with one of his huge fore-paws splitting open her skull. No sooner had this happened than the remaining nine lions, smelling blood, fell upon the body of the unfortunate woman, and tore it to pieces, amid fierce roars. The tragedy was enacted with such rapidity that effective interference on behalf of Mme. Fischer was impossible. But an English lion-tamei named Smith, attached to the menagerie, entered the cage armed with an iron bar, and with the most extraordinary daring, attacked the ten lions, ' whose thirst fo" blood had how been excited to the uttermost. Several keepers fetched iron bars, and prodded the lions from the outside. For several minutes it seemed as if Smith would share the woman's fate. The lions sprang at him with savage fury, striking out with' their immense paws. Smith faced the wild beasts with unflinching courage, and parried their dangerous blows with perfect coolness. Then he belaboured them with his ■ bar, driving then) into a corner, where lie ' lifrM them cowed until two keepers removed Mine. Fischer's mangled remains. The menagerie tent was crowded with people when the tragedy happened. Many women fainted, and there was a mad rush for the exits. But when Smith entered the cage the flight of the spectators was arrested. They watched the encounterone man against ten —spellbound. Mine. Fischer was thirty years of ago, ami had been married ten years. This was her 1000 th public performance with ]ions in a cage, and unlike most other I members of her profession, she entertained j a strong aversion to the life, and counted : 4 the days to the time when her large earn- ' ings Would enable her to retire. One or the most terrible features of the tragedy j was that Mine. Fischer's three children— ; aged nine, seven, and six—were present! •'and saw their mother torn to pieces. i