New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-07-28
PANTHER FREE In BRONX
YOUNG BEAST LEAPS OVER
HEADS OF PICNICKERS.
FRIGHTENED THRONGS HURRY FROM
PARK AFTER HE GNAWS HIS WAY
OUT OF WOODEN CAGE
THE SEARCH.

young panther. sent from Mexico to the
New-York Geological Park. gnawed his way out
of the wooden box he had been shipped in yes
terday morning in the park. walked up to a
picnic party of women and children. and as
tonished by their wild efforts to escape jumped
over their heads into a tree. Then all day he
led keepers and many other hunters mighty
chase through The Bronx Park jungle. He ex-
cited the Borough OF The Bronx greatly and
broke up nearly all the Sunday picnic parties
In that part Of the city. He still at large
at an early hour this morning the hunt for him
having been given up after dark No one was
hurt by him.
The panther is young male seven months
old. He is fine specimen. being eighteen inches
high at the shoulders. five feet long and weigh
| Ing forty-ive pounds. Folks who spied him at
times yesterday after his escape saw the most
surprising leaps they had ever Witnessed they
| said They could hardly believe an animal could
be active
The panther was shipped from the Mexican
Geological Society to Director Hornaday OF the
geological Park The handsome brownish gray
| beast was put in a pine box with Stats Like
| his fellows. he had evinced a desire for free
| dom at times. but had never made any wild
breaks. and no unusual effort was thought
| necessary to keep him in bounds.
There had been no thought Of the panther,s
teeth in the building Of the prison in which he
was to be shipped and he was 10 be taken
out as soon as he arrived here the pine plank
ing was believed to be sufficiently strong to hold
him. 1t was found impossible to let the panther
out and put him in the regular cage Saturday
night and the box put behind the puma
house. to be opened the first thing in tho r,o-v
ing.
The crowds at the park yesterday were "a
large as usual Many had gone up early. Glad
cries. shouts of laughter. joking merriuent and
carelessness suddenly changed into fear and
dread when, about II a m. the news was spread
that panther had escaped The panther had
gnawed two planks and jumped out free at 1910
a. m No one him do it, but in q few min
utes the box was found empty The keepers at
once got ropes. chains and collars. and the hunt
started.
THE PANTHERS LONG LEAP
The panther must have been surprised at his
easy escape. as he did not go far for half an
hour. When he walked up TO a picnic party not
great many yards from where he had been in
the box. a child spied him and screamed ''Oor'
Then woman saw him and yelled "Owr' Then
man saw him. jumped to his feet and scresr,e|s
My GOdr'
The whole party got up from the tablecloth
on the ground and made OFF in different direc-
tions- But before they had scattered the pan
ther had got excited He thought something
made magnificent leap right over the heads
of the women and children into a chestnut tree.
He reached the lowest limb. said TO be twenty
feet above the ground. safely. He turned de-
family TO look at the terrified people, and then
he made another leap into the tree next him
and lost in the foliage.
Mr. HOrnaday Immediately ordered his men
70 go out with chains, collars and ropes. but
not with guns. He told them 10 inform people
hot
panther was a young fellow. not wild. and not
one which would attack
The men did this. but a number OF persons
caught sight of the panther and got excited
about it, and those who didn't see him, in a
number of instances got more excited
Picnic parties broke UP to make Cor places OF
safety 'Panthers looser' was the cry and few
stayed to see him. Those in che middle OF the
woods In favorIte spots for picnicking. put their
edibIes in baskets again and hurried away
Girls and their escorts made for the outside
of the park Mothers gathered heir children
about them and hastily sought 20 Join the crowd
to get TO some hotel or inn. The more fear
less men looked about for sight Of the panther
The news spread rapidly that there was a PAN
ther loose. but reports got mixed. as usual and
after time the report made 1t a bear, a snake,
and even eagle.
GOT OCCASIONAL GLIMPSES OF HIM
The keepers kept after the panther He
seemed not to know what to do with his free
dom. which was so strange 10 MIN. He roarned
about but not far.
This gave the keepers several glirnpses Of him
The first time he when he wan
dered up TO a tablecloth with food on IT. which
some terrified party had left behind. The young
beast being ravenousy hungry fell to- He made
meal in a few seconds OF what was TO be a
luncheon for eight healthy children and
women. He downed sandwiches at a gulp and
finished a ham in half a dozen bites He was
tasting pie which appeared strange to him as
he did not eat it readily. when shout warned
him and a leap carried him into a tree out of
sight.
Twelve men with a cage on a little wagon
after chase of an hour were convinced that the
panther had leaped the big iron fence around the
Geological Park and gone into the Botanical
Gardens a concert was going there TO which
two thousand persons listening II soon
got noised about that panther was loose. There
was at once a division of the concert listeners
and one part was making for the outside OF the
park Some people tried TO follow the keepers
in their hunt They became too eager and the
keepers wanting the field to themselves. called
on the police. The latter drove the people back,
warning them not to follow the keepers.
The park at the northern end is a Jungle, in
which the panther perfectly at home and
the hunters at every disadvantage. He could
leap from tree to tree or push through the
brush easily. while they had to thread their
way Half an hours hunt might bring them
near him. and jump would take him out OF
their sight a minutes run would put him rods
away.
Some men on the Bronx River side. where the
thicket is dense. say they saw a 1.-the figure
come out of tree at least twenty feet above
the water II splashed into the water. and then
,Frfc~ rxrh m