A LION AT LARGE IN BIR. MINGHAM.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 423, 27 November 1889, Page 3

A LION AT LARGE IN BIR. MINGHAM.

. , Exciting Soi-.NEh , XjATI'jLY. Taih eastern.subvub of Birmingham was the sceiie of a protracted and excited lion-hunt, which resulted. -happily without' serious casualty in the .recapture of the runaway animal! In- connection with the local celobialion-'of the Michaelmas fair, Messrs. Wombwell had established their wellknown menage.rie?,on 'a piece of waste ground 'known as'che Old Peck, at Aston, where the caravans were drawn' up in a, hollow square. One of the cages contained a .young black r maned Nubian lion about four years old, which arrived * in Birmingham from Liverpool only that morning about midday. The keeper entered the den to clean it outjjand whilst engaged in this duty his attention was momentarily diverted' by a tight' between an ostrich and a deer. When he looked round he found the cage empty, the 1 lion apparently having slipped out through an opening in the side of the den caused .by the displacement" of a movoable wooden shutter. The fastening of the latter, it seems, had been withdrawn by an elephant' in the adjoiuing den. ' The lion, having passed unobserved under the caravans,. presently found itself on the fair ground. At iirst the animal seemed quite bewildered with the noise of the people, thro blare of the steam trumpets, the clashing of the cynibais, and the bellowing of the ovganfc, 'and it remained for come time rooted to the spot. The peoplewere too busy to observe it until the alarm was given by Wombwcll's men, who hurried to the spot armed with ropes and iron bars, when a scene of wild confusion ensued. Men, Avomen, and -children scampered off in all directions as the lion dashed across the ground, hotly pursued by the men from Wombwell's/ A group of children were in its path, but it cleared them at a bound and made straight- for the neighbouring brook. After wading up the stream for about iifty yards the panicstricken animal, seeing its pursuers close at hand, appears to have crept into an open sewor,. where it temporarily -disappeared from view.

The {.Chask. The drains to the riglib of the brook had been explored for several hundred yarda in every direction without any success, when Marcus Oren'/.0, the chief lion tamer, heard the fugitive lion roar, fje braced the sound with difficulty to the channel leading from the manhole at the junction 1 of the road to the outlet in the brook wlVere the lion just entered, afld^herat once arranged to crawl through the drain irj. pursuit of the beast. A transfer cage.was'obtajned and taken to ' the brook, where the drop 'door was lifted and the mouth of the cage placed against the opening of the drain. By this time Orenzo hnd changed his clothes, and armed with a heavy revolver and accompanied by a boar-hound, he descended through the manhola into "the sewer! Twice in quick succession revolver shots echoed through the underground passages, and to the daring explorer the animal's roar showed that he was on the right track.

,Thk Capture. Crawling along, Orenzo at length caught sight of the animal, which at first turned to bay, but quickly lied at the discharge of the revolver and made towards the cage at the other end of the sewer. The liontamer crawled after it with all haste, and the faithful boarhound kept close at- hand. When the mouth of the* cage came in view the dog was sent to the front, and at the word of command gave vent to a deafening bark ; almost simultaneously there 1 was a scrambling noise in ; the underground channels, and in another instant the lion bounded into the trap set for him and was promptly caged and carted' back to the »menagerie. l

Mrs'FJager; ," John,there's a lonj? red hair on your shoulder. . Ati'd your sleeve is ripped, too." -Mr Flagg : 4t Yes, I pub the hair on myself ko you'd notice the lipped place."