"All citizens, except members of the National Guard, are enjoined to keep within their houses or residences until the wild animals now at large are captured or killed. Notice of the release from this order will be spread by the firing of cannon in City Hall Park, Tompkins square, Madison square, The Round and at Macomb's Dam Bridge. Obedience to this order will secure a speedy end to the state of siege occasioned by the calamity of this evening."
Perhaps one of the most extraordinary antecdotes of the Central Park Zoo's history is the one that never actually happened. I should probably explain that a bit. On November 9th, 1874, the New York Herald posted a sensational story describing how the animals of the zoo escaped en masse and wreaked havoc in New York. A rhinoceros gored a keeper to death. Tigers chased after society ladies. Tapirs, anacondas, and hyenas ran amok. It was the most horrifying spectacled the city ever saw until the September 11th attacks over 120 years later.
Only at the end of the article did the paper finally own up to the fact that “Of course, the entire story given above is a pure fabrication. Not one word of it is true.” It was written by the paper after one of its editors witnessed the near-escape of a leopard at the zoo, and was meant to be a critique of the zoo's safety practices. Still, how many people read to the end of a long newspaper article? The Herald was criticized for inciting panic.
All citizens, except members of the National Guard, are enjoined to keep within their houses or residences until the wild animals now at large are captured or killed. Notice of the release from this order will be spread by the firing of cannon in City Hall Park, Tompkins square, Madison square, The Round and at Macomb's Dam Bridge. Obedience to this order will secure a speedy end to the state of siege occasioned by the calamity of this evening.
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