New-York tribune., 1888-03-22
A BIG SEA LION EsOAPEs.la
PANIC IN A PARK ROW ANIMAL STORE.

u .rr,,,, syrys A MAN BADLY BEFORE
.r,,o rorcrp BACK INTO his CAGE
.o,a Ron Butler" lost his liberty several weeks
.go and Yesterday he lost his temper with ven
,earce The Pacific Ocean never roarcd around
. mora famous sea hon than Old Ben For
rears he had been the biggest sea lion on Seal
pocls. near San Francisco. where thousands Of
,eonle have seen him ruling over his little Salt
fake City" with majestic law and tremendous
sus,xs and big paws Agents for menageries by
,corcs tried in vain to capture the old fellow.
Enough money was sunk in attempting to snare
the old beast to Set up big menagerie Of ordi-
aary animals. But Ben" was sly; he had cut
his eve teeth and several tusks besides. Fur
thermore, he had the protection Of the inhabitants
of the coast Last year party of men went out
in q little boat to catch Ben,' but some men
EMPLOYED at the Surf House, which Is opposite
HE Seal Rocks, fred at them and they returned
without delay.
The Reiche Brothers, of the animal store at No.
pb Park row, made up their minds to get Ben"
Their agents succeeded in lassoing him several
weeks ago. after an interesting struggle. Ben's'
wrath was terrific and it took the united restraint
Of strong travelling box, in which he was con-
fined, and seven Of his wives to keep him In
check
when he arrived at Hoboken week ago last
Thursday he was cross enough to be responsible
for the blizzard lie was fed on fish, Hermann
Reiche says that Ben would open mouth that
TO him he would grab at them and shake them
ss bull dog does raw meat. one DAY ben"
was unusually hungry. The coacnman p George'
" Ben" had never seen negro before, and ne
stuck his tusls into Georges leg SO viciously
that he brought blood
LIVELY TIME IN THE STORE.
Yesterday morning =" Ben" was brought from
HobolSen to the store, at No. 95 Park row. He
was in his travelling box and he rested quietly
In it in the back room, until some Of the attend
ants tried to transfer him to cage Hermann
Reiche supposed that there would be no difficulty
in handling Ben," and he accordingly attended
to his Office duties. While he was sitting in his
Office he heard crash from the back ROOM ioi-
lowed by O terrific below and the shouts OF the
attendants. Then he saw German assistant
rush bleeding through the store, followed by the
terrified negro. George. After the two came old
Ben" thrashing around like a harpooned whale
sOwl owl owI5 beloved Ben," giving a
roar that sounded like baby's Group ten thou
sands times magnifed. George and the German
stretching out his ten feet Of length with remark
able rapidity. The uproar in the store was ter
rifio The chatteripg monkeys tied up their tails
around their necks and rushed about for places places
der storm were raging; the little anaconda that
lives in can full of milk thought that the bliz-
supply supp % Of milk had been cut off during the last
blizzard, he swallowed all the milk in the can
and tainted.
George and the German shut the door on
- Benz and fed up the street Ben" did not
know the difference between glass and wood and
made plunge for the window in the door. But
MIR. Dietzel and two attendants rushed toward
aBen," Mr. Rciche with q. big plank and Mr.
Dietzel with chair. !" Ben" made rush at hs the
chair and Mr.. Dictzel played tag with Ben
until Mr.. Reiche dropped the plank behind Ben
with flank movement Ben" could not handle
himself on the oor as readily as IN INC watee the
and when he turned to confront Mr. Reiche, tne
assistants reinforced by the German and George
headed him of with planks, driving him toward
the back room. eu :.
forcing Benz by degrees into his cage, where
he sanK down eXh4 isted from his efforts a1ter
letting out a few =" owS' that startled the ieop-
ard amazingly.
HOW THE BIG BRUTE ESCAPED.
Benz escaped in this way: While the attend
ants were trying to drive him from his box into
the cage, he got away from them. lie turned
on William Grave the German assistant, and blt
him savagely on the left thigh. The sea lions
tusks tore the mans flesh badly and the wouha hi
bled freely As soon as Ben" tasted 6iood, ne
Fortunately George was just far enough away 70
miss being bitten. Ben's' tusks penetrated
Georges coat sleeve, however The two men were
60 badly frightened that they made no attempt
to drive Ben" back but fed for their lives
Graves wound was cauterized by physician;
The noise Of the fight attracted pig ;c cfoTa tSa
street was stopped A policeman finally forced
his way into the store TO see what the troupie
was The report came OUT 'naS fast as George and
The German attendant. It was some time before
peace was restored. Benz is TO be sent 10
Rufeldt, in Germany, where the Reiches have an
sstablishment He was to sail yesterday morning
by German steamer but his Trip hao 10 oe p0''
poned.