LION BREAKS LOOSE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 102, 27 October 1934, Page 5

LION BREAKS LOOSE

EXCITEMENT IN AMERICAN

TOWN

A circus lion broke from a cage during a street parade at Eichmond, Virginia, in the United States, a few weeks ago, and spread panic among a crowd of 15,000 men, women, and children. The beast drove spectators before it for half a block, then turnedaside to claw a horse to death and to injure another before it was cornered and killed, says an overseas paper. The parade of the Hagenback-Wallace Circus, which featured a trained lion act by Clyde Beatty, had just left the fair grounds and come into the main thoroughfare, when tho lion bounded out of its cage. The gala_ scene was transformed into one of fright.

Thousands of bystanders fled. MotHers herded children into doors, vestibules, and the nearest buildings. Hundreds, finding no immediate haven, ran in all directions.

Police along the route o£ tho parade assembled quickly. A policeman ,in the vanguard, rushed tho infuriated; beast and emptied'Ms service revolver. None of his shots was.fatal, but a petrol 6tation worker was wounded slightly in the arm by one of the bullets. Apparently frightened by its freedom, and possibly wounded, the lion was be-. coming more dangerous. Its deep roar scattered the crowd still further. Circus attendants and guards armed with rifles soon reinforced the polico cordon. The beast slowly gave ground.but the armed men withheld fire, fearing their bullets, might find a mark in the crowds. The lion was herded into the sheetmetal plant of a locomotive factory a few moments later. The ■ doora were closed, and the beast was brought to bay. A guard opened fire, and after several rounds the lion rolled ovei. and died.