A Burglar Caught by a Skeleton & Other Singular Tales from the Victorian Press (5 page)

An Elephant’s Revenge

Some time ago, Mr Sanger, the proprietor of a circus, dismissed an attendant upon his elephants, a man named Baker, for cruelty to the animals. Last week Baker obtained a fresh engagement from Mr Sanger as labourer.

On Sunday evening, Baker went to the stables to fetch a man, named Tottenham, to his tea, when the elephant Charlie, hearing his voice, rushed at him and pierced his skull with his tusk. The unfortunate man died shortly after he was removed from the stable.

The Western Gazette
, Yeovil, January 15, 1897

A Queer Importation.

180,000 Mummified Cats

A Liverpool firm has just received a consignment of nineteen tons of embalmed cats, which are to be used as manure.

The cargo contains no less than 180,000 of the feline species, supposed to have been buried two thousand years before Christ in a subterranean cemetery about two hundred miles from Cairo, into which an Egyptian fellah was accidentally precipitated.

The cats were found laid out in rows, one on the top of the other, and carefully embalmed as though Egyptian mummies. They were bought for consignment in Egypt at 78s 9d per ton.

The Dundee Courier and Argus
, February 4, 1890

A Cat Walking Seventy Miles

Some weeks a family named Shaker lived at Dawley, in the County of Salop, but had occasion to leave and come to Nottingham. They of course removed all their ‘household goods,’ including a fine cat, which had been in the family for years.

Arriving at Nottingham the cat showed signs of dissatisfaction with her new abode, and after a few days disappeared, to return to her old home at Dawley, to the great surprise of the neighbours. As might be expected she was very footsore and lame, but otherwise all right.

The distance travelled on foot by the cat, from Nottingham to Dawley, is over seventy miles. Hundreds have flocked to see the four-footed pedestrian, and large sums have been refused by the owners for their favourite.

The Grantham Journal
, April 20, 1878

An Escaped Python at Middlesbrough.

Stoned To Death By Boys.

About nine o’clock this morning considerable consternation was created at the lower end of Gladstone Street, near the bridge at the foot of Boundary Road, Middlesbrough, by the appearance of a snake measuring 12 feet in length.

A large number of boys collected and began stoning the escaped reptile, and succeeded in beating its head to a pulp. When PC Dixon arrived on the scene at half-past nine the python was still alive, and no one dare approach it.

Ultimately the injuries which the reptile had suffered to its head caused its death, and it was taken to Dr Veitch, the hon. Curator of the Middlesbrough Museum, who identified it as an Indian Rock Snake (python malurus), a live example of which species he had killed in order to be stuffed and placed in the Museum.

It is not known how the reptile came to be in the town, but during the past few weeks a sensational performance by Cleopatra, the snake charmer, has been given at the Exhibition in Victoria Square, and it is conjectured that this specimen is one of the snakes used in the performance, as it is of the same size, marking, and description.

Some nine hundredweights of snakes were used by Cleopatra, as the snakes could not be used at every performance, and needed rest. The place where the snake was found is considerably over a quarter of a mile from where the exhibition was held.

The snake’s skin is in a good state of preservation, and Mr G.W. Duncan of the Gladstone Hotel, has secured it for £5, which amount goes to the infirmary, and will have it stuffed.

The North-Eastern Daily Gazette
, Middlesbrough, November 3, 1898

Strange Birth

A boy in the district of Kirkcaldy who has a passion for chicken-hatching, got a large egg some time ago from some sailors just come from Alexandria, and placed it under a favourite hen, expecting to get a large Egyptian fowl but his surprise and amazement may be better conceived than described when he found one morning a live crocodile!

The Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle
, August 25, 1849

Wrecking of a Circus

Alligators and Deadly Snakes at Large

An accident near Altoona, Penn., reported on Friday proves to have been very serious. A special train of 14 cars, containing Main’s Circus, while descending a steep grade on a branch of the Pennsylvania Railway was totally wrecked by the breaking of an axle on the front car.

The entire train was thrown down a 35ft slope. Seven men and 49 trained horses were instantly killed. Many of the animals were wounded and had to be shot.

A man-slaying ape – a most dangerous creature – escaped, but was caught, as well as one lion. Another lion escaped; a third was lassoed and tied to a tree. A bear, a hyena, a tiger, and others were confined in a similar manner. Another tiger leaped into a farmyard where a woman was milking and killed the cow; it was shot while eating its victim.

The alligators and some valuable and deadly snakes are scattered about the vicinity.

The Manchester Weekly Times
, June 9, 1893

Extraordinary Escape of a Tiger in Ratcliff Highway.

Frightful Attack of the Animal on a Boy

Yesterday, between twelve and one o’clock at noon, the inhabitants of St George’s-in-the-East (alias Ratcliff Highway), were suddenly thrown into a state of the utmost alarm in consequence of the escape of a large tiger from the warehouse of Mr Jamrach, the extensive importer of wild beasts, &c., of No. 180, Ratcliff Highway, whereby a boy, named John Wade, aged five years, was very seriously injured, and other parties’ lives were placed in great jeopardy.

It appears that yesterday morning Mr Jamrach received several boxes, containing two tigers, a lion, and other animals, from the steam ship Germany, lying off Hambro’ Wharf, near the Custom House, Lower Thames Street, City. The packages were safely placed in a van, and conveyed to the warehouse in Betts Street, St George’s-in-the-East, followed by a crowd of men, women, and children, where a number of labourers adopted means to unload the vehicle.

They had removed several boxes into the premises in safety, and had just lowered a large iron-bound cage on to the pavement in front of the gateway when Police Constable Stewart requested the persons standing round to keep back in case of an accident.

The next moment the occupant (a fine full-sized tiger) became restless, and forced out one end of the cage, when the spectators rushed in every direction from the spot in a state of extreme terror. The tiger appeared to be in a state of madness, and ran along the pavement in the direction of Ratcliff Highway, where it seized the little boy, John Wade, by the upper part of the right arm.

The enraged animal was followed by Mr Jamrach and his men several yards, when the former obtained possession of a crowbar and struck the tiger upon the head and nose, which caused it to relinquish its hold. In the meanwhile ropes were procured, and the savage beast was secured and dragged into the premises, where it was firmly fastened up by the keepers.