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Mickey, beloved chimpanzee friend of hundreds of Liverpool children, escaped from his quarters at Liverpool Zoological Park, yesterday morning for the fourth and last time. Hunted down by a posse of armed and unarmed men after he had injured six people, he was wounded several times. Thirteen shots had been fired, before, wounded and at bay, he was eventually killed in a corner of a backyard where he had fallen from the roof of a house. Three adults, and three scholars at the Sudley Road School, Aigburth, were among those injured as a result of Mickey's escape. They were Mr. J. Wardle, manager of the zoo, lacerated forearm and thigh; Mrs. Wardle, his wife, claw wound on neck and sprained ankle; Mr. A. R. Gall, aged 24 of Cooper Avenue North, lacerated neck and thigh; Noel Davenport, aged 10, of 4 Michael Road, Aigburth, bitten on arm and leg. One other boy and a little girl at the Sudley Road School, who received superficial scratches in the rush for safety, did not necessitate hospital treatment. The little boy Davenport is in Smithdown Road Hospital, where his condition is stated to be not serious. Mr. Wardle and Mr. Gall are in bed at their homes, but Mrs. Wardle was able to go about as usual.
Broken Bar Of Cage
Mickey escaped by breaking an iron bar of his cage which was an inch thick. Mr H. Rogers proprietor of the park, said "Mickey signalised his escape by smashing in a door into the house. He went into a room where my daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wardle was. She is one of the few who can generally make him do what he wants. He meant business this time, and pushed her over." Mrs. Wardle had followed Mickey out of the house in an endeavour to prevent him from straying from the grounds, and she was pushed on to the lawn, sustaining a sprained ankle and a cut on the neck. Mr. Wardle, armed with a Service rifle, followed the chimpanzee. A number of keepers, also armed with guns, revolvers and ammunition, followed him. A shot was taken at Mickey before he had got out of the park, but, though wounded, he made his way to Sudley Road Council School, where boys were in the playground doing exercises under the supervision of Mr. A. R. Gall.
School Teacher's Story
"Hearing a yell, I turned round to see Mickey making for one of the boys," Mr. Gall told the Daily Post. "I ran towards them, with the idea of shielding the boy. At the same time I shouted to all the boys to go inside. In the meantime the ape had seized one boy by the ankle. I had more sense than to try to wrestle with him. I had had a little 'do' with him during one of his previous escapes, and I knew his strength. Last time he did not go for me, and I did not think he would this time, but he attacked me as soon as he saw me coming. I know very little of what followed. I must have been just picked up and thrown about, to judge from the scratches on my shoes and my torn clothes. I lost consciousness, and when I came to a little later I was lying on the asphalt and heard someone shouting to me to run indoors. The chimpanzee was still only a few yards away from me, but I managed to get indoors safely." Mickey had by this time made his way to Lugard Road, adjoining the school, and climbed on to a roof.
Neighbourhood Alarmed
As soon as Mickey appeared on the roof tops, for the moment out of harm's way, knots of people rushed to the school to make anxious enquiries. Meanwhile, Mickey, showing amazing dexterity in spite of his wound, ambled along the roof tops to a convenient chimney at 29 Lugard Road. There he paused to look at the pursuers, led by Mr. Wardle limping badly and with a bleeding hand, who were stalking him along the back entry. It was thought he might decide suddenly to descend, but Mickey appeared content to remain where he was. It was decided that the best course was to disable the "runaway" before attempting a recapture on the roof, and one of the zoo attendants, armed with a six-chambered revolver, fired a shot. Mickey was "winged." He uttered a brief yelp of pain and took cover behind the chimney. Policemen poured into the alley, some of them armed, and after a hurried conference it was agreed to kill the chimpanzee in order to prevent further injury.
The Final Scenes
The revolver rang out again, twice. But Mickey was still active. He lunged at all and sundry who attempted to enter through the half-open back door, and twice made as if to leap the wall. Finally, after the use of a shotgun had been declined, Major C. J. Bailey, of the 38th (Anti-Aircraft) Battalion, who had arrived from Aigburth with a Service rifle, was asked to administer the coup de grace. He took aim from a neighbouring garden, and after two shots were fired the end came. In a few minutes the body was removed and workmen were busy removing all traces of the exciting happening in the backyard. After Mickey had been shot Mr. Rogers said: "I am only thankful that he was killed before he killed someone else. He was not naturally ferocious, but was easily excited by crowds." Mr. Rogers, asked about Mickey's value, told the Daily Post that Mickey was priceless. "You cannot replace an animal like he was," he said. When asked what was to be done with Mickey's body, Mr. Rogers said he had decided to have him mounted and stuffed. "Mickey still belongs to the public, and I am sure thousands of them will still want to see him," he said. "
A sad end indeed.
REFERENCES
http://www.zoohistory.co.uk/projects/closed_collections
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...oological-Park
http://web.archive.org/web/200805011...16/IZN-316.htm
Freddy O'Connor: A pub on Every Corner Vol. 3 (Bluecoat Press, 1998)
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...ll=1#post21615 (transcription of Liverpool Daily Post article dated 14th October 1938)
http://www.fairground-heritage.org.u...enageries.html
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...ll=1#post21612 (transcription of Liverpool Daily Post article dated 25th March 1938)
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...l=1#post103174
With huge thanks to
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/member.php?483-Tony-Mo for posting the newspaper transcriptions here on Yo Liverpool back in the mists of time, and to
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/member.php?736-Ged for the Freddy O'Connor info.
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