The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-05-24
TWO LIONS ATE A MONKEY.
The Cry That They Had Tasted ''Hot
De-lood' Crowded the Circus,
WHILE AN ARMY OF BOYS CHASED
TWO OTHER SIMIANS.

Concluding With Grand Monkey
Hunt in Mrs. Bowen's Bed Room-They
Got the Monkey But "a Policeman
Pocketed the Reward.
New York, May 23.-The escape of three
monkeys from circus caused great excite
ment Monday night and early yesterday
morning in Harrison just across the river
from Newark. The show opened yesterday
on lot in Harrison avenue. While the
keeper Perine was feeding the monkeys at
o'clock, three of them-Rocxs' Sponge and
Charlie Mitchell-escaped. The two former
ran from the tent to a clump of trees not
far away. Mitchell leaped to the front of
the lions cage. In the cage were two
Nubian beasts. The female grabbed at
Mitchell, but he escaped and hung to the
bars with his tail. Half a dozen of the
keepers with pitchforks tried to save the
money from the fate they saw awaited him
if he did not move quickly. They were too
late. The Goness made second attempt
and got hold of the unfortunate monkey.
He was torn into pieces in few minutes.
The taste of blood excited the animals and
they tried to break out of the cage.
During the excitement the other two
monk eys had made good their escape into
the ne1ghboring trees, where they were
chattering and shivering in the cold rain,
says the Sun, much to the elation of host
of boys, among whom were Soup Hennessy,
Ginger Magee, and Red Ok Thompson.
The news of the monkeys death was
quickly taken up by the boys, and by the
time it reached East Newark, half dozen
blocks down the avenue, the report was
that the untamed Nubian lioness had
killed and eaten her keeper, and that three
enormous apes from Borneo had escaped
and were at large in Harrison and hungry.
The people thronged to the circus, and
the dimes jingled over the counter at the
ticket office, while the plethoric 'barker"
stood on a soap box in front of fiaring
gasoline lamp and addressed the populace.
''Notwithsta nding, ladies and gents, that a
fierce Nubian loness from the wilds OF
South Africa has just tasted hot be-lood and
all the wild emotions of her nature are ex-
cited to dangerous degree, the intrepid
lion tanner, Milly Beatrice, will now enter
her cage and cover her, This announce
ment called forth another stream of dimes,
and soon the tent was packed. Mile.
Beatrice is a comely young woman, and she
appeared in tights and high boots, holding
whip in one hand and a revolver in the
other. Nero and Victoria were pacing rest
lessly in their cage. The girl approached
and, after poking the beasts, she opened the
gate and entered. The lions growled a
little, but Mile. Beatrice fired off her re-
volver several times and cracked her whip,
and the beasts of the jungle were cowed.
In the meanwhile the boys outside, under
the able leadership of Ginger Magee and his
1ieutenants, were frightening the two
escaped monkeys out of their wi is by throw
ing sticks and stones at them. They
captured one, but the third hid in the trees.
Soup Hennessy, Ginger Magee and Red Ok
Thompson, remained on guard all night.
Then in the early morning, they found the
monkey s hiding place and chased him over
fences and bitches until he came to Mrs. H.
W. Bowen's house, 3 Harrison avenue, and
there he saw an open window, and jumped
through it into Mrs. Bowen's bedroom, but
as Mrs. Bowen was cooking breakfast in the
kitchen she was unaware of the animals
presence until Soup Hennessy and his fol-
lowers burst into her apartments and told
her. Regardless of her protests they rushed
into the bedroom, closed the window, and
gave the monkey his MONEYS worth in
chase around the room. They knock over
chairs and trampled on the bed with their
muddy shoes, but finally secured their
prize.
They then paused to explain the situation
to Mrs. Bowen. who was exceedingly indig-
nant. The boys took the monkey to a
neighboring saloon and notified the circus
men that they were holding it for ransom
Ferrari, the owner, refused to pay. and the
boys hid the monkey. Later in the day
Ferrari invoked the aid of the police, and
toward five o'clock a policeman brought
back the monkey in box. He got ST.. Soup
Hennessy, Ginger Magee and Red Ok
Thompson got nothing but a sleepless night
and Mrs. Bowen's maledictions.