Evening star., 1947-08-19
Police Finally Capture Elusive Pig After Game
Of Tag on Crowded Washington Street

A 30O-pOund blue" boar dis
turbed the peace in Southwest
Washington for one glorious half
hour today before he was arrested
by police and hauled away in the
Black Maria.
Nobody seemed to know how the
bristly. slate-colored pig got there.
One minute, shortly before $3.50 am,
a crowd of people was quietly walk
ing to work in the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing Annex, at
Thirteenth and D streets. The next
minute the pig was in their midst
and everybody was running.
It was not quite clear why people
were running, or where. Some ran
toward the pig. Some ran away.
Sometimes the pig retreated and
sometimes he chased his pursuers.
Mrs. Gertrude johnson, an en-
ploye of the Treasury Departments
Division of Loans and Currency,
watched the performance from the
safety of nearby window. Long
after, she was still breathless.
( Woman Really Sailing"
"a white-haired woman who
weighed about 200 pounds came
tearing down the street." she said,
with the pig right behind her. And
I mean, she was really sailing"
Somebody called the police, and a
scout car from No. precinct re-
sponded. The three officers in 1t
joined the chase for few minutes,
then summoned reinforcements. BY
8:45 three No. scout cars and q
patrol wagon were on the scene. All
traffic was halted in the block.
The pig, at this point, really be-
gan to run. He sprinted up Thir-
teenth to D, took the corner on two
legs, headed down D toward Twelfth.
Backed up against wall, he paused
briefly to tear up about so square
feet of lawn. Then he headed back
toward Thirteenth street.
The crowd grew as the pig did
another lap over this course. BY 8
o'clock-the beginning of the end
there were an estimated $50 persons
in the chase.
Grabbed by Tail.
When the pig tried to cut across
D street, Pvt. Henry r. Kershner
saw his opening. He grabbed the
animal by the tail.
Pvt. LIE Roy N. Perry, former
track star at Eastern High School,
was not far behind. He was cha
grlned at being beaten out in the
catch.
There would have been nothing
to it If that pig had run in q
straight nne," he explained later.
In the next few seconds, in rapid
succession, the following members of
the Washington police force landed
on the pig:
Corpl. Ferdinand p. Martin, Pvts.
J. C. Duffy, M. E. Washington, w. B.
Piper and E. j. Clements. They are
all of No. precinct.
So is w. j. Noonan, 6 foot ~ inch
former center of the George WASH
ington University basketball team.
He built up speed from about q
half block away" and flung him
self on top Of the pile.
Spectators, about 200 by that
time, pressed close as the police
men sought to tie up the animal
with q life line from enc OF the
squad cars.
Advice IL Plentiful.
"They must have all been farra-
ers," said Pvt. Perry. II never
heard 50 much advice. One man
kept yelling Don't choke him |!
Don't choke him!' We were just
trying to hold him-we weren't aim
ing at doing an artistic job"
In the patrol wagon, the pig was
taken to the District Pound. No
body knew what to do with him
there. Nobody wanted him. The
men at the pound said they weren't
equipped to take care of pigs. For
more than an hour they argued
about what to do. while the animal
lay painting in the back of the wagon.
You could hear him painting 40
feet away.
He came to life again, though,
when they tried to transfer him
from the patrol wagon to half-ton
truck. They wanted to back him
from one vehicle to another, and he
almost got away all over again.
The boys at No. precinct were
a little disappointed when 1t finally
was decided to take the pig to the
farm of Mike Shapiro, near Chew
erly, Md.
They had sort Of an idea they
might have a little barbecue.