ONE MAN’S COURAGE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue XXI, 13 November 1897, Page 670

ONE MAN’S COURAGE.

All Paris was stirred one day in August, 1869, by a deed o f courage, which recalled the old legend of Horatius and his two comrades holding Lars Porsena’s army at bay until the bridge across the Tiber hail been cut down. At a performance in the Hippodrome, Lucas, the lion-tamer, entered the cage where were two lions and two lionesses. Scarcely had he closed the door when one of the lions sprang upon him and seized him by the back of the neck. The sight of blood maddened the other beasts, anil they, too, fell on their tamer. Women screamed and fainted, men grew pale or shouted out impossible orders. The employes of the Hippodrome lost their heads, all save Lucas’s attendant, Jose Mendez, a Spaniard. Arming himself with an iron weapon, he entered the cage, smote the lions hip ami thigh, and nearly killed them all. Then he dragged out his mangled master, who was immediately bandaged by a doctor.