Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-08-18
ANIMALS BECOME EXCITED
WHEN BIG SNAKE ESCAPES

NEW YORK. - Schilling's Pet
hours by a police detail from the
Mercer street station to prevent the
escape of an eighteen-foot boa con-
strictor which emerged from it's
cage in the store and threw fifteen
hundred birds and beasts into a chat
tering panic that kept the neighbro-
hood in an uproar. Despite the Wig
lance of the patrolmen the snake
crawled through a cellar grating and
is now at large.
Ernest Loest, manager of the
store, told Lieutenant O'Brien, of
Mercer street, that when he closed
the store and went home the snake
appeared to be securely inclosed in
which arrived several weeks ago
from the Amazon country, had been
fed eight rabbits on March 4 in Rio
de Janeiro and that normally this
meal ought to have lasted him until
September 1. Recent hot weather
had fastened the boa's digestive
functioning, Mr.. Loest thought.
The huge reptile had become so
thin that when it woke up hungry in
mails it experienced no difficulty in
emerging from the cage by crawling
through the bars.
Monkeys Pound for Police
Patrolman King passed the store
soon after 8 o'clock. His attention
was attracted by the raucous screams
and terrified antics Of two ring-tail-
ed monkeys which were flattened
against the plate glass window, ges-
ticulating and chattering in an ap-
parent effort to attract the patrol
mans attention. From scores of
cages containing all sorts of birds,
from red and yellow cockatoos to
vivid green Mexican parokeets with
red heads. proceeded a discordant din
that could be heard more than a
block.
Near the window stood a big cage
in which was an enormous Australian
cockatoo, its eyes distended and it's
crest erect. Coiled about the cage
was the boa constructor. It's folds in
closed the wire structure and were
exerting pressure on it's bars, which
had already become bent and twisted
The head Of the boat was poised over
the top Of the cage, weaving about in
a rhythmic movement, while the
cockatoo shrieked. Every time the
snakes tongue shot through the bars
Of the cage, Patrolman King said,
the cockatoo made a dive for it and
the snake withdrew only to try the
same method again and again.
SiIian Fusilade Fruit1ess
The monkeys had thrown every
thing loose in the store at the boa
and were still tossing canary cages
occupied by little yellow songsters
all over the place when the patrol
man sent in a call for aid. When
the detectives arrived they forced the
door and discovered the interior OF
the pet shop to be Uttered with
feathers, suggesting that the snake
had already consumed more than one
Of his fellow boarders. Orders were
issued by Lieutenant O'Brien to
guard all exits. that the snake might
be prevented from leaving the
premises. When the police entered
the boa unwound itself from the
cockatoo cage and made for a cellar
stairway, down which it disappear-
ed.
Manager Loest arrived within half
an hour of the alarm sent in by Pa
trolman King, but after a search of
the premises was unable to find the
boa. He said big snakes managed to
hide themselves in small spaces and
perhaps the reptile was somewhere
down celler. He explained that even
II 1t had managed to get through q,
hole in the cellar and was at large
the Eoa would Immediately make for
the nearest subway entrance and hide
itself in the darkest possible corner.
The boa is thousand dollar snake.
1t was being held for the manage
ment Of a circus.