BIG GAME HUNT

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 109, 9 May 1923, Page 6

BIG GAME HUNT

IN SYDNEY RAILWAY YARD

CHASE AFTER ESCAPED LION.

(PBOB OUR OWN CORRESPOSDENT.I

SYDNEY, 2nd May.

A sensational incident which occurred at the Sydney railway yards on Friday showed that a big game hunt can bo just as exciting in the centre of a great city as it can be in the midst of the jungle— more so, in fact, because more people participated in it.

Shortly after 12 o'clock, when many men were lounging about smoking and others were just settling down into sheltered spots for their lunch, some attendants from Wirths' Circus, who were being assisted by some railway employees, decided to finish their very ticklish task of transferring a number of wild animals from a railway truck to large cages mounted on lorries before knocking off for their lunch. They had nearly done, and were getting a large tawny lion out of a truck, when, with a terrifying roar, he bounded from the men and dashed amongst the stationary railway trucks into freedom.

The loungers were galvanised into extraordinary activity, and one man who found himself in the path of the lion performed the amazing feat of taking a running leap which carried him right over the aide and into the body of an empty wheat truck. ' A dozen or two comrades with somewhat less agility, because in less imminent danger, followed his example by clambering up into trucks as quickly as they possibly could, and from these vantage points scared faces peered down like the onlookers in a Roman amphitheatre. With the thrill of its first bound into freedom over, the lion took things more coolly and turned majestically round, and lashing his tail, from side to side and with menacing eyes surveyed his quondam masters triumphantly. In a weak moment, however, he allowed his attention to be diverted by a quantity of sandwiches with which some of the railway men had been about to regale themselves, but which, in their hurry, they had scattered indiscriminately together with billy-cans, apples, tuckerboxes, and other incidentals of tjhe midday snack. Seeing his opportunity, Professor Stevenson, who had been directing operations, made a bold rush, and in an instant, just as the animal mads off again, ihad hold of the end of a rope which was tied in a noose around its head and had remained trailing on the ground. In the breathless moment the onlookers expected to see the brute turn and rend his captor, but apparently usage proved stronger than instinct, and the lion, instead of attempting a trial of strength with one whom he had long known as his master, kept on his way with increasing speed, the circus man holding on to the end of the rope like grim death. The onlookers, from the railway trucks, found their tongues and were free with all sorts of advice, which the man at the rope's end had no opportunity of testing, as he simply had to follow the rapidly pacing beast. The other attendants, however, did something more practical, and, with equal daring to that of their chief, rushed to his assistance, some assisting at the rope's end and others hanging on to the tail. All, however, were unable to stay the progress of the powerful beast, who took them quite a distance round the railway yard, spreading consternation in all directions, until by a fortunate circumstance the long rope became caught on a heavy post and brought the lion to a sudden standstill. The ropa was quickly secured, and in a short time other ropes had been procured from the trucks, and the beast was lassooed and conducted to his cage to the accompaniment oj cheers from the intensely relieved onlookers.