The Opelousas courier., 1897-06-19
An Animal Keepers Nerve.

"There was o man travelling with
us some twenty years ago, an English
man named Wilcox, who came to this
country when quite q boy and grew
up Il pretty good American. He was
a helper around the animals, and
somehow he went to England and got
q job with the old Wombwell Menag-
erie, long before it was sold to Man
ders. When the split occurred he
went to the big Bellevue Garden at
Manchester with some of the animals
the proprietors had bought. He soon
rose to be head man over the lions,
tigers, &C., and had q house in e
pretty little garden just within the
great wall, near the entrance gates.
Five nights before Christmas the lion.
ess, a new purchase recently imported
from Africa, gave birth to a litter
of four cubs, and the cage front was
boarded up and every care was taken
of her. Well, Wilcox went on Christ
mas Eve to q party with his wife,
leaving his helper to feed the animals
and close mp. Toward midnight he
returned, entered the gardens, and
went to sleep in his house. An hour
later his wife woke him, saying there
was a noise outside in the garden, and
he got up and looked out Of the win
dow. Right in front of his house, ct
the big gate, was that lioness with
one of her cubs, and NE was biting at
the door and scratching for dear life
to get under it, her Yea being to get
out in the open. @sShat open, withI'
a circuit Of five miles, were more tn3n
a million people. Some n Vust
have fastened her cas>adoor ~insehgrely
or something had gone Wy.
"Wilcox slipped on his trousers and
shoes, and, despite all his wife could
do, he slipped out Of the front door
of his cottage, hurried around by the
private hedge, and in the moonlight
went running down through the lines
of forcing houses for plants, keeping
them between him and the gate as
.kpuch as possible, and SO vanished
from his wife's sight, in the direction
of the lions house. In q short time
he reappeared right in the centre ave-
nue. with a cub in his arms, and his
wife saw him come boldly right down
the walk until he was within twenty
yards or SO of the lioness. Then ne
picked up a stone and threw it at her
as she lay biting st the door. The
brute looked round, saw the man, and
jumped up with an angry growl.
The man bit one of the cubs ears and
made it cry ont just as the lioness was
about crouching tor @ spring. At
that sound she rose, her tail moved
softly instead of lashing her sides,
and she walked straight to the
keeper. Wilcox held the cub out to
her and said, Hello, Queenie,' as if it
was tie most natural meeting in the
world. and, letting her take the cub
from his hand, he passed her and
picked up the other one. She dropped
the one she held came to take the n
he picked up, getting more friendly
every minute. So, picking up the
cubs and giving them to her, stepping
backward all the time, he slowly led
the brute to her cage, and then mount
ing the narrow platform, pushed the
iron gate open and threw a cub inside
to the furthest corner. The lioness
bounded in after it. he threw the other
cub in also, banged the gate to, shot
the bolts, and fell unconscious from
the platform to the ground.
"Not seeing him return his wife
sounded the alarm and brought all the
helpers to the cottage, and they eau
tiously went to look for him, and there
they found him with o third cub
curled up by his side. Well, the mat
ter was of course kept quiet, the I'M
Ger keeper was severely scolded for
csrelessly shooting the bolt past the
so31eh instead of into it, and as for
Wilcox they gave him a present OF
$4,000, and his place was solid for
keeps. It was a piece of good old
fashioned American-raised grit just the
same.-New York Sun.