When a Tiger caused a stir in George Street

By Clem Lack Jr.

At noon 64 yrs ago to-day a screaming, terrified man dashed out of a Turbot St gateway followed by a huge Bengal tiger.

Brisbane citizens going about their lawful business on that sultry November day in dusty George St were horrified when the animal pounced on the man already bleeding from several deep scratches, knocked him into the gutter and mauled his head.
In the words of a Brisbane Courier reporter on Nov.22 1888, “the passers-by hurriedly left the vicinity.”
Mr Charles Higgins, proprietor of Higgins’ Menagerie on the corner of George and Turbot St, raced out with a small whip, while a courageous Rosalie resident Valentine E Spendeler caught the man in his arms. But the beast again pinned him down.
Mouthful
Stout-hearted citizens keeping a very respectable distance in nearby doorways, saw Mr Higgins trying to get the animal’s jaws away from his odd-job man’s head, put his left forearm into the tiger’s mouth. He suffered a bite through to the bone.

Spendeler then pulled the wounded man from beneath the bloodstained animal, while Higgins belaboured it with his whip back into the menagerie cage containing another tiger.
Meanwhile the wounded man had been taken to hospital critically ill. 
He was Peter Bertram, aged 27 who had migrated from Austria in 1880  and had been employed for some time by Higgins. He was teasing the tiger when it jumped out. He survived the ordeal.

On Nov 27, Brisbane’s Mayor (Mr Richard Southall), in response to a petition by 46 residents ordered Higgins to remove the tigers beyond the city limits within 12 hrs. 

The news columns that day, reported that the police had taken charge of the menagerie until Higgins was well enough to supervise its removal from the City precincts.
Meanwhile, people living in the vicinity were “in a state

From Letter to the editor Courier Mail Wed Nov.26 1952 p 2

George Street Tiger

The man who helped in the rescue “When a tiger caused a stir in George St” (C-M 21/11/52 was Valentine Edward Spendelove (not Spendler), or Rosalie, my eldest brother.
My youngest brother William Spendelove was in a bus passing down George St. at the time not knowing that his brother was the rescuer.
The Royal Humane Society offered to get a medal for my brother’s bravery but he would have nothing of it,  “you couldn’t see a man being torn to pieces without trying to help him,”.

I later saw the tiger at Lytton   …. an immense animal named “Jimmie”,

Signed (Miss) C. Spendelove, Southport.

The following is the original
1888 Brisbane Courier Nov 22 .  p3  :

A TIGER AT LARGE

AN ATTENDANT DANGEROUSLY MAULED.

At noon yesterday persons passing along George St. in the vicinity of Higgin’s Menagerie, were startled  by seeing an enormous Bengal tiger chasing a man through the menagerie gate in Turbot St., where he knocked him down and seized him with his teeth. The passers-by hurriedly left the vicinity. Mr. Higgins who rushed out after the ferocious beast, seized it by the neck and belaboured it with a small whip which he generally used. The tiger let go its hold but soon seized the man again. And it was with the greatest difficulty that Mr Higgins succeeded in getting it away. It is said that a young man whose name we were unable to ascertain, pluckily rushed to the injured man’s assistance while Mr Higgins was driving the tiger back into the menagerie yard, the gate of which Mr Higgins closed as soon as he got the animal inside. Sub-inspector Durham and two or three Constables were quickly on the spot, as the man who is known by the name of “Peter,” was terribly lacerated about the head and was smothered with blood. He was wrapped in a blanket and conveyed in a cab to the hospital. By this time an enormous crowd had collected around the menagerie, and the excitement was intense. As soon as Mr Higgins had got the tiger in the yard he obtained a chain and succeeded in getting it around its neck. He then led it into the tent and opened the door of the cage, which is fixed on a light lorry. He entered and made the tiger jump in. While this was going on, Sub–inspector Durham, Constable Shanahan, Inspector O’Carroll, a representative of this journal obtained admission to this yard through Mr. Jarvis’ Venetian Blind factory, and stood anxiously waiting until Mr. Higgins succeeded in caging the tiger. As soon as they were informed by Mr Higgins that all was safe they entered the tent and found Mr. Higgins in his shirtsleeves with a deep gash on his left forearm, several patches of blood on his clothes and his hands one mass of blood. After exchanging a few words with those present he opened the door of the cage and notwithstanding that he was smothered with blood and that the tiger’s jaws and chest were also stained, entered with his whip and thrashed the two tigers in order to stop them fighting. Considerable alarm was experienced by those present, least the tigers excited by the taste and smell of the blood should seize him, but Mr. Higgins was perfectly cool and collected, and soon had he animals under control. He afterwards washed the blood off his arms and expressed his intention of re-entering the cage to wash blood off the tigers, for the second tiger in fighting with the one that had seized the man had come in contact with the blood. He states that the injured man is a German known by the name of “Peter” and he had employed him to do odd jobs about the place. At noon he (Mr. Higgins) had entered the cage to clean it and while doing so Peter opened the door notwithstanding that he had been ordered to keep away from the cage. One of the tigers named Jimmie sprang to the ground before Mr Higgins had time to take in the situation, and Peter, becoming alarmed ran towards the tent door followed by the tiger, which seized him just as he reached it. Peter struggled into the yard and outside the gate at Turbot St., and during the struggle the tiger seized him several times, scratching and biting him terribly. Mr Higgins hastened to his assistance with only his whip in hand, as in his hurry he had not time to secure an iron bar. On making inquiries at the hospital we learn that Peter is in a most critical condition, he having been fearfully scratched and torn from head to feet. The scalp had been torn away, and a hole made through the skull to the brain. Dr. Hare, who examined the injured man cannot of course say definitely how the accident will end but it is his opinion that the brain has not been injured.