Evening star., 1932-10-18
GUN ENDS.
STAGED LION HUNT
Officer Kills Liberated Circus
Animals as Owner Allows
Beasts 4-HOur Start.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
COMMERCE, Mo-. October 18.-The
long cherished desire of Denver Wright.
st. Louis leather goods dealer. to par
ticipate in a lion hunt was frustrated
yesterday when Deputy Sheriff Tom
Hotchkiss killed two circus lionesses
which Wright had liberated on small
Mississippi River island for hunt
An hour and a half after the lions
had been released from their cages they
were killed by Hotchkiss, who declared
he regarded them as "a menace to the
peace and safety Of the live stock and
people of Southeast Missouri"
Hotchkiss. armed with a submachine
gun. did his work quickly and without
ostentation. None of the hunting party
saw him land on the island. which is
about 800 feet wide at its broadest part.
Hotchkiss took the carcasSes to Thebes,
Ill. across the river, and returned here
at midafternoon.
Beat Brush in Vain.
The hunt was then in full blast, with
Wright's party beating the willows and
tramping across the islands SAND mats
in search of the animals. Unaware that
Hotchkiss had designs on the beasts,
Wright had ruled it was only fair to
give the animals four hour start.
Finding no trace of lions, the hunters
finally returned to Commerce, where
they learned their quarry had been
killed several hours before
Thus inauspiciously ended the idea
that Wright conceived two weeks ago.
when he got the lUmOnthS old animals
from a broken down circus, paying only
q SIS carriage bill from East st. Louis
to his home. The party Set out Friday
night and travelled 453 miles before
putting up Saturday night at Benton.
Mo, l80 miles south of st. Louis. Once
en- route Wright had almost been per-
suaded to abandon the project and give
the animals to ZOO at Springfield. Mo-,
but within 20 miles of Springfield he
decided to go ahead with the hunt.
When Wright learned that Deputy
Sheriff Hotchkiss had put sudden end
to the long planned lion hunt by killing
the quarry, he returned to Commerce
and protested angrily, but Hotchkiss
paid little attention He was busy dis
playing the trophies.
Fired Only Four Shots.
"Shucks" the deputy said. 1T wasn't
any trouble at all to shoot 'em. No
more than pottn' squirrel out on the
limb of a cottonwood. If this is lion
huntin then I'll stick to 'pcssums and
coons. where a man can have some ex-
citement."
Hotchkiss related that, after going
secretly to the island in a motor boat.
he located the two bewildered lions in
a willow thicket. Four shots from the
submachine gun-tWo fired at each OF
the animals-and the hunt was over.
While Wright and his party were
waiting to give the lions time to shake
off their circus complexeS" and per-
haps resume some of their native jungle
ferocity by Sinking through the willow
thickets a crowd of about 800 persons
lined the shore of the Mississippi River
three quarters of mile away hoping
to get a glimpse of the chase. Teachers
in the Commerce school, despairing OF
holding their students attention in the
school room with a lion hunt being
staged nearby. dismissed their classes
and the excited students Joined other
spectators on the Mississippi shore.