The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-28

CHICAGO, Feb. 21.-"Wallace," the
Acknowledgment lion which is on ex-
hibition at a dime museum, where he is
advertised as the terrible untamed
wonder Of the world. escaped from his
keeper about $50 this afternoon and
bounded among the crowded audience.
Broncho Boccacio. an East Indian, who
is the lions keeper and trainer, was
about to give an exhibition in the big
iron cage with the lion when the animal
leaped from the cage.
The theater was crowded, fully 800
people being present.
The performers entrance to the cage
is always made 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 audience generally bounds
lightly into the cage and the assistant
instantly slams the door behind the lion
tanner.
This afternoon, however, the exact
performance was not carried out Inc
cage door was opened as usual, and
Boccacio bounded in. but when Manager
Mcdonald attempted TO slam the big
iron door of the cage there was hitch.
IT had been swung back too far, and
the manager was unable to close IL as
soon as the tanner entered the cage. The
animal saw his chance and gave
mighty leap. He completely cleared the
stage and landed on the floor directly
in front of the south aisle fully twenty
feet from the center 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 heard on
the street and 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 81 a scramble. The
animal is a ferocious monster in appear
ance and with his mouth open and teeth
exposed, he presented most formidable
and fierce appearance and his snaTls
and roars added greatly TO the fear OF
the people.
PcopIc in Panic.
The people did not only seek place of
safety through the exits of the theater,
but dashed up over the stage, and two
men leaped into the false boxes on either
side of the stage and pulled the lace cur
tains i'm front of them TO prevent the
beast from doing them any harm. Moth
ers threw their children upon the stage,
and. crowding after them dragged them
by an arm down a narrow stairway and
hid themselves i'm bins and boxes i'm the
basement and behind the trunks in the
dressing-rooms of the performers. one
man appealingly offered stage hand
big roll of bills If he would only lead
him to place of safety.
He is coming down here" yelled the
man whose face was as pallid as that of
a corpse. land know he will tear me
to pieces
Others were so frightened that they
ran to the front of the basement and
4, l,..Io
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 in the aisle to impede
his progress and he found clear road
before him. He trotted to the rear of
the theater, and was about to go through
one of the main exits which leads to
Clark-st., when Broncho Boccacio, the
East Indian, bounded in front of him.
The door to this exit was broken and
open. it having been knocked from it's
hinges by some Of the people in the audi
ence who had made a dash for safety.
stopped by His Tanner.
Wallace was making for this opening
when Boccacio stopped him. The tanner
unhesitatingly gave the savage brute
slash across the face with heavy raw
hide whip, which he carried. The blow
was a severe one and the lion gave
vent to a savage cry of pain. AS he
reared up on his hind legs, Boccacio
still showing no fear, grabbed the beast
by the long hair on its neck and pulled
it to one side and attempted to turn his
head toward the stage. where he hoped
to get him to return to his cage. The
lion, however, for a moment appeared
stubborn and refused to move. and the
fearless East Indian again applied the
xr~l,fr, me arlac
quered the beast, who, with mouth open,
and swapping and roaring, turned and
started to return toward the stage, close
ly followed by Boccacio. When the
stage was reached he submitted being
driven into a corner under the south
stage box, where he, trembling with eX-
element crouched on the floor while
the keeper stood over him with uplifted
whip. BronchO Boccacio then, without
removing his glance from the covering
brute, called to Mcdonald and directed
him to have the iron cage removed from
the stage to the spaceway on the floor
in front Of the parquet seats. This, aft
er some delay, was done and the daring
keeper, with force and whip persuasion,
induced the roaring lion to slowly crawl
back into his cage.
The beast was free from his iron sur
roundings fully twenty minutes. For
tunately nobody was injured in the mad
rush for liberty. but the museum people
are tonight possessed of about twenty
hats of all sizes and belonging to both
sexes. They are also long on overcoats,
muffs, gloves, neckties and other articles
Of apparel to an extent that will warrant
their starting store.
Wallace Has a Record.
Wallace. the unframed lion, has a rec
ord which speaks well for his ferocious-
ness. and his manager and keeper are
congratulating themselves that he did
not repeat his conduct of former occa-
sions when he gained his liberty. In
London eight years ago he escaped from
his cage and killed a moose and a valu-
able horse and created for twelve hours
the widest kind of a commotion in
menagerie In New York, Oct. 20, 1893,
he escaped from his cage when In barn
and made short work of horse which
was in the stable, literally tearing it to
pieces, and during the two days he was
at liberty in the stable he ate half the
remains of the horse he had killed. On
that occasion red hot irons and sharp
iron rods were used without success in
the efforts to get the animal back into
his cage and it became necessary to call
a fire engine into use. The strong
streams of water that were finally turned
in OH him were too much for him and