The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-07
The Lion Escapes from Its Cage. and
for Over an Hour ROams Under
Grand Opera House.
MR.. zIEGLER AS A T0READOR
HE WOULD HAVE USED HIS ULSTER
LIKE BULL FIGHTER.


When the curtain was lowered on the La
fayette show al the Grand Opera House
yesterday afternoon Majestic, the big lion
used in the production, was roaring TO the
approval of the audience and showing what
might have happened had Miss Lame De-
faye not been rescued by Hashim Ne Bari,
her Persian lover. who happens to be La
fayette. After the curtain was lowered
Majestic was quoted, the red curtain in
front of his cage lowered and the stage
hands and opera house employees started TO
supper, leaving Lafayette and his stage as
sstants in the theater.
When Levi P. Hatton, the colored man
who allows himself to be stabbed in order
that Lafayette may rescue the Lions
Bride, and who also is the keeper of the
lion, with Fred McWethy, assistant stage
manager of the troupe, tried to let Majestic
from his larger cage to the smaller one in
which he is transported, they had to open
a small grating in the cage, and when the
lion saw the opening he stuck his head out
and looked around. Hatton called excited
ly to McWethy to lower the door, and Nc
Wethy became excited and instead of low
ering 1t loosened the rope that controlled
it and allowed Majestic to get his shaggy
name through the opening. When Nc
Wethy saw this he ran, but Hatton. the
colored man, tried to stop the beast and
stepped in front of him. The lion snapped
viciously at him and darted between his
legs to liberty.
ALARM RAISED.
Hatton yelled an alarm and the lion
walked deliberately across the stage and
rod no T.afa
dog Beauty, and made rush for it. La
fayette from his dressing room at the left
of the stage heard the yell and rushed on
to the stage in time to see the lion after his
dog and ran quickly forward. and, snatch
ing the dog up, darted back and handed it
to one of his assistants. He then started
for the lion, which was amusing itself in
excursions around the wings and stage
shifting at the trunks and scenery Uttered
back of the stage setting. McWethy and
Hatton had recovered from their surprise
and scare and were in pursuit of the lion,
/ while Lafayette was busy warning the
members of the troupe below stairs. who
were busy taking off their ''make-ups" in
the dressing rooms Several of the stage
hands who happened to be near the door
ready to leave saw the animal. With a wild
shout and a scurrying of feet they were
off the stage and had effectually closed and
barred the door to prevent the animal from
| getting out on Wabash street ana after
| them.
One of the stage hands ran down stairs
| and through the corridors to a door leading
| to the front of the theater, where in voice
filled with excitement he told Manager
| Shafer Ziegler of the escape of the lion.
| Ziegler went into the basement TO the music
| room and opened the door. He thrust the
! door wide open and started out of it, his
| ulster overcoat in front of him. ready, he
| afterward said, to fight the lion in the same
manner that tOreador fights bull. His
| steps were not so noiseless as TO prevent
| his being heard. and one of the stage hands
| from vantage point inside a small room
| yelled to him to look out. Ziegler did. He
closed the door just in time to see huge
yellow mass of fur bound by: When he
McWethy and Hatton coming down the
| stairs in pursuit of the lion. Hatton armed
| with two revolvers. Lafayette with a sword
| hastily told him of the circumstances and
| relied his knowledge of the house for
| points of strategy in the coming lion hunt.
| The four hunters followed the lion in the
direction he had gone and finally lost track
| of him.
His course was clearly marked, however.
! by softly opened dressing room doors and
fearful requests for Information as to
Where is he?" from the women perform
! ers. who peered out anxiously and tremu-
| Sybil O'Neal, was the bravest of them ALL
| She saw the lion in the passageway. and.
not caring to meet him lodged into her
|
she locked 1t and dragged a trunk in front
1 of 1t, sat down on the trunk and began to
| cry. When she finally got her nerve up to
| the pitch that would permit her to open the
| door again she came out and said she
wasn't the least bit frightened"
RESUMED THE SEARCH.
With the reinforcement of several stage
hands and assistants who reappeared when
| the lion disappeared, the search was re-
| sumed. Finally the lion was found under
the bench in the carpenters shop and he
| made his presence known by long, loud
and continuous roars. He showed no in
| clination to come out of his hiding place,
| however, until the lion hunters had barri-
caded every possible passage but one. This
| opening led to dressing room No. II, which
had been opened and arranged for his re-
| ception. rope had been fastened to the
doorknob and stretched sixty feet down
| the passageWdy, where three or four men
| held Ii. Then Hatton and Lafayette
mounted a table and fired blank cartridges
at the lion, shouted at him and thr ew
specially prepared firecrackers, calculated
| to scare lions, at his head until he snorted
in anger, got up, shook his name and in
about four bounds cleared the space be-
| tween the carpenter bench and the open
dressing room. When he had dashed
through the door the men on the end of
the rope pulled it and closed the door.
| Then stage hands were sent after the
| small cage and 1t was placed at the OPEN
ing and Majestic angered until he walked
into IL and was securely fastened. after
an hour and "A half lion hunt in the Grand
| Opera House.
Then Manager Ziegler and Lafayette
! breathed signs of relief and the other
| members of the troupe and stage hands
! who had been treasured echoed the sigh
and helped to carry Majestic back upstairs
for the evenings performance.
Majestic is said to have a bad record.
He is seven years old and was secured for
| $500 by Lafayette after he was brought
from Africa TO Liverpool. England. In a
| brief tour of England he * said to have
killed five men, and in October, in Hart
| ford, Conn, he killed a man named Len
| non. one of the stage hands. Later he at
tackled a keeper and nearly tore his arm
| off. Joe Glennon, the snare drum player
with the show. leaned against his cage one
| day and now wears a scar his shoulder.
| The lion is beautiful specimen and weighs
| $40 pounds. Last night he very vicious
| and extraordinary precautions were taken
| To prevent a recurrence of the incident
| that ended so fortunately.