Mademoiselle Paula, The Famous Reptile Conqueror

1890s

Mademoiselle Paula, The Famous Reptile Conqueror, was a Bavarian-born entertainer who travelled around Europe with trunks full of snakes and crocodiles, daringly proclaiming—according to a news report—that she could “subdue, unaided and unarmed, any serpent, irrespective of size, and any man-eating alligator not exceeding 15ft in length.” That her letterhead was such a spectacle is less surprising than the tiny space left for an actual letter. Then again, she probably had her hands full.

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Source: Natural History Museum