MONKEYS AT LARGE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2409, 9 April 1927, Page 3

MONKEYS AT LARGE.

HIDE AND SEEK IN LONDON. LIBERTY FOR A WEEK. After a week of glorious liberty the hist of three little brown monkeys, wlicfi have been playing hide and seek among the trees and roof-tops of Hampstead, has been recaptured. The mischievous trio—Joe, Daphne, and Jacko —were part of the menagerie of the National Institute of Medical Research at Mount Vernon, Hampstead, where they are unconsciously paving the way for the conquest of Mount Everest by bein'! the subjects of atmospheric and climatic tests But they found this scientific work boring, and Joe, the ringleader of the hand, managed to unlatch a window and lead Daphne and Jacko to liberty. The little adventurers made their headquarters a tall evergreen tree on the estate of Lord Glen dyne, in Oak Hill Way, and from here they sallied forth on daring escapades, scaring housemaids and causing much amusement by their pranks. Imagine, for instance, the surprise of a cook at a nearby house when she found Jacko sitting on her bed trying on her nightcap. On seeing her the little fellow leapt on to the dressing table, grabbed an orange, and made off with it through the window. Picture the amazement of a maid from another house when she found all three monkeys sitting' on her bedroom window-sill, jabbering away to each other as they examined a number of ornaments which they had stolen from her room. During a storm the runaways clung to a branch of their tree with their arms round each, other for warmth. Tn the morning Daphne was so unwell that Joe. gallantly foraged food for her. Their final capture was by means of an ingenious trap'. A trail of oranges, bananas and nuts was laid to a cage, where there was prepared an even more tempting array of food. Hunger eventually lured all three runaways to sacrifice their liberty, and the animals were, safely locked up. Some alarm was felt in. the neighbourhood at first, as many people thought the animals had been inoculated and might spread disease.