GIRL'S SUICIDE IN A LION'S CAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14219, 16 November 1909, Page 3

GIRL'S SUICIDE IN A LION'S CAGE.

TERRIBLE PARIS SCENE.

RESULT OF A QUARREL. * ; - One , of the most. horrible. tragedies, ever known has been enacted in lion's cage in Montmartre, at the Theatre Moncey. A young woman is alleged to have, with suicidal intent, given herself ;up to be devoured by lions. Of course, the intention of committing suicide cannot be proved, but the circumstances of* the tragedy,"~as related by witnesses of the scene, all point to this conclusion. A play of De Courcella's, called "Papa la Vertu,'' had been given in the theatre for the last three weeks (writes a Paris correspondent under date October 1), and in the third act two lionesses figure in the tableau. The lionesses were supplied by M. Pezon's associate, who sent a young man,. 21 years of age, to watch them. With the two lionesses, named respectively Victoria and Cleo, there Avas also a lion named Menelick. They were all three 18 months old, and had been brought from- Abyssinia'. •* ~ -• -" "■ * The young tamer who had them in charge was living with a young woman j of his . own age, but ,as he was about to leave for Fontainebleau for his military service she felt the separation keenly, and the couple had some words over it. The young woman told him that it would all end j badly. She had free access to the theatre, as she was frequently of assistance in attending the lions. The tragedy is explained by her alleged intention to commit suicide, but it is quite possible also that, as she jims, constantly, around, the- lions, -the. glare of the savage beasts may have worked like a fascination on her nervous temperament, and, if suicide it was, it > may not have been altogether voluntary. After 11 o'clock last night, when the sixth tableau had just been concluded, the stage manager happened to pass through the corridor where the cage of the lions stood.

A DELIBERATE DEED. , To his horror he saw the young woman close up to the cage, with her right arm, which,she had'passed between the bars, in the jaws of -the lioness Victoria. He rushed to her assistance, but, instead of iwithdrawing her arm, the young woman, he alleges, deliberately pushed it farther into the cage to , give the lioness an opportunity to devour it leisurely. - Before", her would-be rescuer was able to pull her away from the cage the lioness seized the young woman's shoulder, which seemed to be willingly offered, and crushedithe whole upper part of the bust with her teeth. The young woman sank down dead on the spot. An actor, who also came on the scene at this instant, took a big bar of ; iron, with which he -had* great difficulty in preventing the other; lions, excited by the taste of blood, from devouring the entire body. 1)1 Pezon's, assistant, attracted by the roar of his lions and the calls for help, hurried to the cage, and it took him some time before lie was able to drag the mutilated corpse away from the claws of the beasts. The scene created terrible excitement among all the stage people, and the audience, which soon : became • aWare that a tragedy had happened, was near}" thrown into a panic. The curtain had to be let down, and the manager, with difficulty, quieted the public. A doctor, who was immediately called, declared that the young woman must have been killed instantly. The manager of the theatre says that he can only explain it by a deliberate attempt to commit suicide. The couple, he said, had had words in the morning. The stage manager and the actor who tried to rescue the young woman had both the impression, that she did not wish to be saved from ' certain" death,"arid that sha was doing-"all she could to push herself into" thej jaws "ofthe lioness. On the other hand, the manager says that great precautions had been taken against a possible accident. The cage of the lions' \yas placed high up on a;' platform, and it was necessary to go up three steps to approach the bars. The young woman, he explains, must have gone up these three steps purposely, lashed the lioness into a fury with a whip which she held in her hand, and then pushed herself in between the bars to be devoured. So terrible has the impression been at the theatre that the play " Papa la Vertu" is taken off the boards, and the lions have been sent back to" the menagerie. .J;... * .v.--,. «v -v. ... ... - ** '-»• At'l

r _ . 'EYE-WITNESS! STORY. : M. -Pezon's assistant *is completely : upset by this shocking affair.' He said, with tears in his eyes, when talking the tragedy, over, to-day: " I have done' with it all. After what has occurred "I-bid- farewell" to the wild beasts. Another' will f take my place. Yet I had nothing to complain of, as' I had become the associate M.„Pezan. I feel, however, that it will be impossible 'for me to forget the horrible vision of that unhappy young woman, with her head and arms in the cage- being crunched by those savage" animals.. At the moment when the tragedy occurred ' I..was.. in an adjoining room giving. Adolphe:his,pav, as lie. is going to join his regiment. Hearing shrieks, •we both ran in, - and you can guess my emotion when I saw. what was happening, and when Adolphe recognised. his friend in the victim who was being torn by the wild beasts. •£*. ? />. '•

"I do "not know exactly how it began, but it is certain that the poor' woman might have freed herself at first if she had chosen, and it is this that makes me believe that she wered" herself of- Tier own free will to the wild beasts. She was seen to caress the lion a few moments before the drama occurred. At any rate, if I had not arrived on the scene in time she would have been completely devoured, as the lion had caught hold of her and would have drawn her into the cage. Look at this bar of tHe cage. It is twisted and. severed at the top. 1 :-' Well, if it had been . quite separated from* the cage the victim would have been drawn into it. .. The animals were even more excited by the cries of'the spectators and ,by the blows which were raining on them. As for pie, I went yesterday into a cage for the last time. . I am going to sell my animals. It is not that I am more afraid to-day than I was yesterday, but I shall always have that, horribly mutilated body before my eyes. I had to watch it for three-quarters of an hour before it was removed to the mortuary depot. Really, it was awful."