The Press., 1886-10-21
New York Tribune. CAPTURING A PYTHON.
PoLIoEMEN WHO THOUGHT THE sFA.s REPENT
 HAD BEEN FOUND.

POLICEMEN WHO THOUGHT THE sFAss- REPENT
 HAD BEEN FOUND.
 ssCsreat Heavensl sergeant the sea-serpentf has got away and is laying outside in the square" shouted grey headed Officer Pat rick Lynch, of the City Hall Squad, as he | rushed into the station yesterday morning, his helmet lifted two clear inches from his | head and the service stripes on his sleeve sharing his excitement.
 Sergeant Stewart looked up at the ex- cited officer and thought seriously of hav- ing him sent to Bellevue or the Tombs to be examined as to hls sanity. Soon were heard shouts of delight from the boot blacks and newsboys who congre8ate around the park and a rapidly collecting l crowd darkened the windows of the station. The sergeant ran from behind the. desk and out of the station. When he had pushed his way throngh the crowd he saw in the center of dlthfrty foot ring of people k a sight which is seldom permitted police sergeant to see in the neighborhood of the City Hall. A big twenty-seven-foot African python lay comfortably curled up in the middle \ of the side walk sleeping as peacefully as though he had just eaten black baby m his native Nubian wilds. A broken box and an overturned hand cart stood close by and two stalwart sun-burnt Germans l looked hopelessly first at the snake and l then at the cart A crowd of several hun dred people forming a circle thirty feet in I diameter completed the picture. Sergeant E Stewart at once called out his reserves and Il placed them on the inside of the circle. H The police had no trouble ill keeping the ! crowd back. After short nap the snake Eawoke, stretched his head several feet in ,I the air, glanced around at the crowd. caus- ! ing the circle to widen at least five feet. At last his gaze seemed to settle on big policeman, who, he evidently thought, would make a nice meal for serpent ot his size, and he began to crawl with great agility toward the officers. The crowd in that direction melted away and the circle I was broken. The end of blue coat-tail and a nightstick disappeared rapidly through the station doors, which closed with bang.
 g A rnddysfbced young man, accompanled by half Aas utzt5n big AGerInans, pushed through the crowd and went boldly up to the snake. A cloth was thrown over his !, head and was quickly thrown off, snakes head about the size of Sullivan's hand went three feet in the air, long forked tongue was darted out and there was g sound ass of escaping steam. A. bigger cloth was thrown over the head and the | SCGaIu WuH SnuUOA dS lu0 SGEOBS AduuS VI
 the ruddy faced yonng man closed on the snakes neck. Another man caught the snake by the tail, his companions strung
 themselves along his body, and he was carried yonf their shoulders in triumph te
 the store of Charles Reiche < Brother, the
 animal importers, of No. 95 Park Row
 where he was soon safely slowed away il
 another box. #yItafsEE Sts94s r
 Hermann Reiche was the young mar
 who caught the snake. He said that il
 was an African python and was wortt
 $1, ,000.z It had been received here by tho
 steamer Fulda from Brennan on Tuesday .l As it had had nothing to eat for montl
 1t was decided to send it to the HobokeI
 place to be washed and fed on doze1
 rabbits. It was boxed up securely, an6 ,, Edward Thiele, an experienced man, load
 ed 1t on hand cart and started for Ho \ boken. In running off the curb in ACity Z Hall Park the cart upset, the box wa
 broken and the snake crawled out and af forded the City Hall lonngers a free show