Man Versus Lion (Kind Of)

Writer and health scholar Natalia Petrzela sent out a tweet yesterday mentioning turn of the 20th century strongman and showman Eugen Sandow's book, Strength and How to Obtain It. I was instantly struck by Sandow's account of fighting a lion, Commodore, bare-handed. The lion was muzzled and wore big cat mittens. Sandow was clearly a character. He was involved in a lawsuit revolving around who was the first person to carry a horse in England, and he apparently tried to get those horses declared to be non-taxable work implements. If you compare the two accounts of the fight, I think you will find some discrepancies.

Here's the account as the story appeared in San Francisco's The Morning Call on 23 May 1894:

Source: Chronicling America