TERRIBLE SCENE AT A MENAGERIE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2409, 18 November 1907, Page 5

TERRIBLE SCENE AT A MENAGERIE.

KILLED BY A LION Mrs Anna Hucke was attacked at Pittsburgh recently by a large Numidian lion from a travelling menagerie, and died the next day. The lady’s lung was penetrated by the tooth of the lion, and several of her ribs were broken. The beast had been in captivity only a short time and was very savage. An attempt had been made to tame him but was abandoned, and the lion was used as a free attraction in front of the show.

The animal exhibited (writes the New York correspondent of the ‘Daily Telegraph') is next to the music pavilion, and almost everyone in Pittsburgh Park was listening to an orchestral concert. A lecturer was telling about the untamed Hon when the animal threw his weight against the iron bars of his cage and they gave way. The brute sprang towards the crowd, Mrs Hucke being at the front, and the lion alighted beside her, brushing against her with sufficient force to throw her to the ground. Then with one blow of his paw’ he crushed every rib of the woman’s right side, and before anyone could interfere sank his teeth into her hip. tearing out a piece of flesh. Park Policeman Downey was the first to come to the rescue. He fired a revolver shot at the lion, hitting him on the side. The brute then turned on Downey, who fired more shots and also used his club vigorously. The lion finally abandoned Downey, cleared a path, through the horror-stricken crowd, and proceeded, roaring horridly, up a longflight of stairs to the music pavilion. Meanwhile other policemen, armed (as is customary in America) with big revolvers and clubs appeared. A dozen of them shoulder to shoulder advanced bravely to the attack, emptied their revolvers, and made way for others, who also pumped lead into the lion. But the bullets were of small calibre, and had little effect, and it was not until 100 shots had been fired and plans for getting the local militia into action had been discussed that the lion, riddled with bullets, toppled over dead. While the fight was in progress the people were in a state of panic, and many women fainted.