The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-12-23
A Leopard Loose.


over the escape of a leopard. This is the
story as told by the Press:
The leopard is an animal not much
larger than a bleating lamb, but rather
more spirited in nature. 1t does not love
to be fondled, and hates to be boxed up
and knocked about from pillar to post.
One of these pretty little animals, the same
spotted individual mentioned in yester-
days Press as having got loose on the
barge Chesapeake, lying at Arch street
wharf, is still saunteriLg about in the hold
of that fated vessel and amusing himself
examining the precious cargo consigned
to Philadelphians, who find patient wait
ing for their freight no little loss, and
springing at the eye-balls of those who
dare to glance at his Oriental majesty
through convenient knot-holes in the
matches.
A thousand plans for capturing the
beast have been suggested, but none of
them carried into effect, except the setting
Of a trap, which up to the present writing
has not secured him. The wharves around
Arch street were crowded all the morn
ing by people who stood on the docks
watching the vessel and movements on it.
Although for a time the barge was sutfi-
GENTLY close to the wharf to be boarded,
and the men on board sufficiently idle to be
bored, not a single life insurance agent
made his appearance.
This can only be accounted for on the
theory that life on the Chesapeake is
at a ruinOus discount. \ strange part of
this accident is the alleged fact that the
animal was boxed up like any other
freight, and placed on board by stevedorcs
without the knowledge of the Captain or
his men. The animals escape was the
result of a rot IN one of the timbers of
which his box was constructed. The ami
NAL had sufficient instinct to know that
the rotten portion of the box would offer
very little resistance to his claws, and he
paved at it constantly until the iron bars
fell out and freedom was his.
Yesterday afternoon he was inveigied
into the forward portion of tween decks,
and then was barricaded in. By this
move the unlading of the Chesapeake
was rendered possible the barge was towed
to land, and a gang of stevedores went to
work with a will. H~eadkeeper Nash, of
the Zoo, thought over the situation, and,
having heard of fighting the devil with
fire, concluded to tackle this devil with
water, and, after arranging Il "shifting-
box" in such a manner that the leopard
could walk into it if so disposed, a gentle
persuadcr was brought to bear upon him
in the shape OF a stream of water an inch
and a half in diameter from a tug-boat
hose. But the leopard was not that kind
Of a leopard, and instead of being driven
into the box he valiantly charged his
hydraulic enemies, and the way those
men dropped that hose and shut that
hatch was really astonishing.
At one o'clock this morning, when the
Press reporter left the Chesapeake, the
leopard still had things pretty much his
W way, and seemed happy over it.
Headkeeper Nash was rather down-heart
ed, but not utterly respondent, and was
making ready for a flank movement,
| which, he believed, would lead to the re-
ductiOn of the enemy. A hole was to be
knocked through the bulkhead, behind
which the leopard lay, and the "shifting-
boX'-arranged with a falling side door
at one end-was to be brought to bear
| upon the opening. Then a lever was to
be rugged to hold up the door, and a piece
OF meat was to be tied to the lever, and a
fond hope was cherished that the leopard
the poor beggar has had nothing to eat
since last Monday would bite at the meat
that jerked the lever that held the door
hat shut the box that Headkecper Nash
built. Absolute quiet was necessary to
the success of this plan, and so about 1 80
this morning the Chesapeake, having
been unladen, saw the useful cotton bales
| which served for the barricade above
mentioned, swung out from her dock and
anchored in mid-stream, and there at this
writing 1.-TWO a. n.y. she lies. Across the
pale moons face fit ghostly clouds;
| against the vessels sides swash softly the
dark waters of the river, and no other
sound breaks the dense stiffness. Yet
Headkeeper Nash has both eyes open and
the trap is set. Will the leopard enter it?
Who, all! who can tell?
LATER.-Ihey'oe got him! At 2:45 a.
m. the trap was finally set and at 3:15 the
LEOPARD WAS CAUGHT!!! So ends our