LION TAMER CLEARED
Boy in Danger at Circus ACCIDENTALLY STRUCK BY WHIP FEARING that a lion which savagely mauled a man three weeks ago was about to paw a small boy, Hugo Smith, a lion-tamer, aged 52, cracked his whip and struck the bov at Wirths' Circus on Saturday afternoon. The sequel was an assault charge heard at the Police Court to-day.
gMITH, represented by Mr. Allan Moody, pleaded not guilty to a I charge of assaulting Phillip Zainey. aged nine. The boy said he was standing outside the tent watching the -elephant ■ draw the lions’ cage. He was about four feet from the cage when Smith struck him on the forehead with the whip. Russell F. Graham, an adult observer of the incident, said that Smith made a deliberate stroke at the boy.
who was not near enough to the cage ] to cause annoyance or be in danger. BOY IN DANGER Smith, who has been a lion-tamer for 18 years, said that the animal wm ferocious, and one man was now in hospital as the result of a mauling. The child was close to the cage, and . the lion was about to strike him. Witness, seeing the danger, struck at the lion, but accidentally hit the i boy. The magistrate, Mr. W. R. McKean, said there was a doubt, and accused j was entitled to it. The charge was dismissed.
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Bibliographic details
Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 302, 13 March 1928, Page 1
Word Count
231LION TAMER CLEARED Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 302, 13 March 1928, Page 1
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