LIONESS LOOSE IN A THEATRE.

Mataura Ensign, 18 March 1913, Page 5

LIONESS LOOSE IN A THEATRE.

i j PANIC OF THE AUDIK.NCE. j Tho escape of a lioness led to a panic tliH other evening at the Theatre I'opulaire, Belleville (France), which was crowded with a working class audience. A spectacular play entitled "Dei vore. 1 ' was in progress. At the moment when the vilfian is condemned to be torn to pieces by wild beasts a fine lioness is brought on the stage. But on this evening, instead of leaving its cage by the back, the animal pushed open a side door and walked to the ! front, before tho footlights. | A cry of horror rose from the audi--1 ence. The conductor of tho orchestra, paralysed with fear, held ihis arms , aloft and the musicians suddenly stop- ; ped playing. A moment later the iron safety curtain descended with a loud | noise and the lioness, seeing her re- ' treat cut off, bounded from tho stage, j She landed in front of tho stalls. | Then she leaned into a box, which, hapj pily, was empty, and made her way along the corridor to the manager's ' office. The door was closed behind her | and sho was trapped. Meanwhile the spectators, seized with panic, fled from tho theatre. Women j and children fell and wero trampled on, and those who escaped from the i building sought refuge in tho adjoining cafe, shouting as they ran, "Flee for your lives, the lioness has escaped." | Several women fainted. ! When tho panic subsided and it was 1 known that tho lioness had been per- | suaded to re-enter her cage tho public I went back to the theatre, the floor lof which was strewn with hats, um- | brcllas, and handbags, and organised a I search for their property.