TIGERS BREAK FREE

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20887, 19 August 1939, Page 10

TIGERS BREAK FREE

LITTLE GIRL MEETS ONE BRUTE PAWS AT WINDOW (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON, July 23 Inhabitants of Tranmere, Cheshire, endured nerve-racking suspense for i over two hours following the escape j of Lwo tigers from a local circus. 1 The animals broke free just before t the last act in a programme attended | by 2000 people, mostly children, given j at Prenton Park', alongside Tranmere : Rovers’ football ground, j The circus manager, Mr G. Clarke, hurriedly brought the show to a close. J The National Anthem was played before the final turn, and the audience left unaware that the animals had escaped. One tiger, named Bengal, ran over fields and lay down in ia ditch, from which it was coaxed into a cage after an hour and a-half. t The other, Romeo, was hunted by 50 animal trainers, clowns still in their make-up, and keepers with brooms and crowbars. A ten-year-old girl, Nancy Shimmin, of Wellington Terrace, Tranmere, while walking home at the height of the search, met the tiger. In fear site rjan up the garden path at, Ihe home of Mr and Mrs Wallace Miller in Borough Road, and hanged at Ihe door, exclaiming: “Please let .me come in. There’s a tiger in the j stroct.” j Mr Miller opened the door a few j seconds before the tiger jumped the i fence into the garden. Wire Tunnel Used I He sliammcd the door and then ! heard the tiger's paws on the 1 window. Mrs Miller and the little j girl ran upstairs. i “I nearly fainted when I saw it j springing at the window,” said Mrs ; Miller. “I felt sure it would break in, and was ready to barricade the bedroom door.” j The tiger, however, moved away j and leaped a fence giving access to i the garden of Mr Joseph Rogers. ; Mr and Mrs Rogers were at tea i when they heard the crash. They ran to the window, and from ! a safe place upstairs saw the tiger j sniff around the flower beds, over- ; turn and smash a perambulator, land . then walk into the garage. . Keepers soon arrived and closed the ! 1 A wire tunnel, 20 to 30 yards long, | was Lustily constructed, and was i pushed up to the tiger as it crouched, cornered. Its cage was placed at the other ; end of the tunnel and the beast was chased along the tunnel into the cage. |