St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-22
ROARING LION LOOSE.
The Animal Leaps From His
Cage in a Museum.
AN AUDIENCE PAKIc-STRIcXEK.
The Roaring Beast Rushes Up
the Main Aisle,
SNARLiNG AT THE H0WLING MOB.
He Is Soon Captured by His
East Indian Trainer.
MOVIE OF THE PEOPLE INJURED.
SNARLiHG AT THE A0wLING MOB.
MOVIE OF THE PEOPLE INJURED.

CHICAGO, Feb. 21.-"Wallaee," the
| 500-pound lion which is on exhibition at
a dime museum, where he is advertised
as the terrible untamed wonder of the
world" escaped from his keeper about
$50 O'Clock this afternoon and bounded
among crowded audience in the rear
of the museum. Broncho Boccaclo, an
| East Indian, who is the lions keeper
i and trainer, was about to give an eXhi-
| bltlon in the big iron cage with the lion
when the animal leaped from the cage.
| The theateI was crowded from the stage
railing to the rear door, fully 500 people
being present. The performers ell
trance to the cage is always done
with considerable dramatic dash and
an assistant usually swings back the
iron door of the cage. .and the performer,
with wave of his hand to the audi
ence, generally bounds lightly into the
| cage, and the assistant quickly slams
the door behind the lion-tamer. This
| afternoon, however, the exact perform.
| ance was not carried out. The cage
| door was opened as usual and Boccacio
bounded in, but when Manager McDon-
(, aid attempted to slam the big iron door
of the cage there was hitch. 1t had
been swung back too far. and the
manager was unable to close it as soon
as the tanner entered the cage. The
| animal saw his chance and gave
mighty leap. He completely cleared
! the stage and Ian led on the floor.
| directly in front of the south aisle,
twenty feet from the
| CE NTER OF THE CAGE.
The brute gave vent to his feelings as
| soon as he struck the floor by sending
| up a mighty roar. The roar was hea rd
by people on the street. as we'll as those
on the upper floors of the museum, nd
| when the animal went trotting up the
aisle toward the rear of the theater,
whipping his tail from side to side,
swapping and roaring. there was the
! widest kind of a scramble among the
men. women and children of the audi :
ence. The anima4-is-a ferocous mon-
steri in appearance. and with his mouth
/ open and teeth exposed he presented
most formidable and fierce appearance,
and his snarls and roars added greatly
to the fear Of the people. The people
did not only seek place Of safety
| through the exits of the theater. They
| dashed up over the stage. and two men
leaped into the false boxes on either
side of the stage and pulled the lace
curtains in front of them to prevent the
| beast from doing them any harm.
Mothers threw their children up on the
stage, and, crowding up after them,
| dragged them by one arm down a mar
row stairway and hid themselves in bins
| and boxes in the basement, and behind
trunks in the dressing rooms of the per-
formers. One man appealingly offered
a stage hand big roll of bills if he
would only lead him to a place of
safety. He is coming down here"
yelled the man, whose face was as
pallid as that of corpse, ''and 1 know
he will tear me to pieces" Others were
SO frightened that they ran to the front
| of the basement and
| REACHED THE STREET
through the coal holes in the sidewalk.
| Immediately after the beast landed on
the floor he started on trot up the
south aisle, switching his graceful tail
and snarling and roaring. There was
no one III the aisle TO impede his prog
ress, and he found clear road before
| him, He trotted to the rear of the thea
| ter and was about to go through one of
the main exits, which leads to Clark
street, when Broucho Boccacio, the East
Indian, bounded in front of him. The
door to this exit was broken and open.
it having been knocked from its hinges
by some of the people in the audience
who had made dash for safety. Wal
lace was making for this opening when
Boccacio stopped him. The tanner un-