Thomas Macarte

Thomas Macarte ( January3, 1872) was a one-armed lion tamer who as Massarti the Lion-Tamer was attacked and killed during a circus performance in Bolton in Lancashire.

Early career

Thomas Macarte was born in Cork in Ireland in about 1839. He was married but had no children. There are claims that he was a member of the famous Macarte family of circus and music hall entertainers that included the equestrienne Marie Macarte and the high-wire act Macarte Sisters, but this cannot be verified. He had worked in menageries for much of his adult life including with the circus of Messrs. Bell and Myers and the American Hippodrome Circus before joining Manders’ Menagerie as Massarti the Lion-Tamer after the death of the famous lion tamer Maccomo in January 1871. Perhaps as a result of this attack, Macarte did not always feel comfortable working with big cats and on occasion was known to imbibe hard spirits before a performance for a little "Dutch courage".

Death in the ring

On the evening of 3 January 1872 Macarte was due to perform before a crowd of about 500 people for Manders’ Menagerie in the marketplace at Bolton in Lancashire. After giving his usual talk about the big cats to the audience Macarte stepped into the cage, where he was attacked by the lions, which he attempted to fight off with his sword and a pistol loaded with blanks but they overcame him. A reporter for the Manchester Evening News described the attack: A very shocking affair took place last night in Bolton ... Part of the performance consists of a 'lion hunt,' during the course of which five large lions are put through a variety of movements by a man, dressed in a French uniform [sic], whose name is given in the bills as 'Massarti', but whose real name is Thomas Macarte... Last night, about half-past ten o’clock, the last representation in connection with the 'farewell visit' of the establishment was given, and during its progression Macarte slipped and fell to the floor while engaged in a large cage with the five full grown lions. One of the largest of the animals, a black Barbary lion, immediately sprang upon him with a terrific roar and was quickly followed by its companions. A horrible scene ensued. Within the den a frightful tragedy was enacted, the cries of the unhappy man struggling in the fangs of the savage brutes, being scarcely heard amid their roaring. Outside the cage a scene scarcely less appalling was witnessed. In the large assemblage of visitors, stalwart men shrieked, women tore their hair and fainted, and many were unable to seek their homes until a considerable time had elapsed. Macarte was rescued from the lions as quickly as possible but ere this could be done he was frightful torn by their teeth and claws, his legs, head, and hands being lacerated to such a degree that the flesh was completely torn away from the bones.

It was common practice to have heated irons ready to drive back the lions in case of just such an incident, but on this occasion this had been overlooked because it was an 'extra performance' not on the daily schedule and by the time they were heated it was too late.

Thomas Macarte was buried in the Roman Catholic section of Tonge Cemetery in Bolton on 6 January 1872. In July of that year Mrs Rosina Manders, the owner of the Manders’ Menagerie since the death of her husband in 1871, paid for a monument of a white marble cross nearly three feet high placed on a slab of white marble standing on two larger blocks of granite.

Macarte's Lion

After the fatal attack the Silver Mane or African lion, or the 'Macarte Lion', as it became known, became something of a cause célèbre. It died a natural death in January 1874 with the wounds still visible from the attack of two years earlier. It was stuffed and mounted by the noted taxidermist Rowland Ward as 'A Wounded Lion' and placed on display in the window of Ward and Co.'s in Piccadilly in London, where it attracted much interest from passersby. Illustrations of the lion were reproduced in The Illustrated London News and The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News in addition to a photograph in Ward's A Naturalist's Life Study in the Art of Taxidermy (1913).