SNAKES GET LOOSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19169, 7 November 1925, Page 2 (Supplement)

SNAKES GET LOOSE.

PANIC IN PARIS OFFICE. CHARM!']!) BACK BY MUSIC. A panic occurred in one of tlie Boulevard tourist agencies in Paris recently, owing to t!n* premises having been overrun hy a number of serpents. The rep tiles were container] in a, trunk which a Hindu snake-charmer had deposited on the floor of' the office while engaged in purchasing tickets. The trunk appears to have roused the curiosity of a small hoy who unfastened the lid. A moment later a serpent some ten feet long wriggled silently out of the trunk, causing the hoy, who had the key to the mystery, to dash for the door in terror. Followed by two smaller snakes, the. fugitive snake, unseen by the clerical staff, passed swiftly tip (he iron staircase to the manager's room on the floor above, where it took refuge in a wastepaper basket. The snake-charmer missed his snakes on [licking up his trunk, and for a time consternation reigned throughout the tourist. agency. • Eventually, as the reptiles could nowhere lie found. the snakecharmer sat down, on a divan, drew out his lluto, and began to discourse Irs charges' favourite melodies. Attracted by harmonies always irresistible to them, the three snakes soon emerged from their hiding places and were safely restored to their travelling quarters.