Wyandot County Republican

Torn to Death.

A Savage Lion Mangles His Tamer.

[From the Philadelphia Inquirer, April 5.]

On Tuesday last a young man named Joseph Whittle, employed in the capacity of a lion tamer with O'Brien's menagerie and circus, now in winter quarters at Frankford, met with a terrible accident. One of the cages containing a large lion was wheeled into the yard, and Whittle entered it for the purpose of practicing the animal. On arriving at that portion of the performance which requires the tamer to put his head within the mouth of the beast, he grasped the lion by the jaws with either hand, and, stretching them asunder, attempted the usual dangerous feat. No sooner had his head fairly entered the lion's jaws, than he closed upon it, his lower teeth entering the chin and neck of the unfortunate man, producing gaping wounds, from which the blood gushed in streams.

Some attendants who were in the yard seized iron bars and other heavy instruments and drove off the brute, whose savage nature becoming aroused at the sight and taste of warm blood made him doubly dangerous. Whittle made an attempt to leave the cage, but before he could do so the lion sprang upon him, wounding him in the breast and felling him to the floor. The beast then seized the prostrate man by the thigh, his teeth crushing thigh, flesh, and bone, horribly mangling the tamer. Boards were then run into the cage, and the lion made to leave his victim and driven into one corner. Whittle was then taken out in an exhausted state, and fainting from the loss of blood. He was taken to the Episcopal Hospital, where his injuries were pronounced of a dangerous character; indeed, so much so that it was considered doubtful if he would recover. He lingered amid great suffering until yesterday afternoon when his death ensued.