CIRCUS PERFORMER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 20932, 11 January 1938, Page 2

CIRCUS PERFORMER

NARROW ESCAPES LONDON, December 11 One of the most thrilling circus acts in London this Christmas is provided by Mr Alfred Court and his tigers. Three times has he been nearly killed by his animals. Often he has saved the lives of his apprentices, but two have been killed, one dying in his arms. “The great thing with wild animals is never to let them know you are afraid of them,” Court said this week. “Had I tried to run when I was attacked by a tiger two years ago I shouldn’t be alive to-day. I felt the animal’s fangs grip my knee and heard the bone crack. But my reaction was one of fury rather than panic “Who Did This?” “Tn moments like that one is not immediately conscious of pain, and one is sometimes able to make an effort which afterwards seems superhuman.

“I remember afterwards turning indignantly, saying, ‘Which is the one that did this to me?’ and before he could make another move he got such a whack on the nose from the heavy stick I carried that he fell back. “By hrlding my ground and assuming the utmost authority, I was able to hold the tiger in check and prevent the others from following up the attack until help arrived. They never could explain how I managed to keep my feet, as my leg was broken —it must have been sheer will-power.

“The tiger soon got over its sudden madness, and is still In my act.”