By Paul Angel
Here’s a story for you. On Nov. 9, 1874, the influential New York Herald newspaper—whose claim to fame was its amazing reporting on Henry Stanley’s quest to find Dr. Harold Livingstone in Africa—published a front-page article headlined “A Shocking Sabbath Carnival of Death.” Currently, the event is remembered as the “Central Park Zoo Escape” or the “Menagerie Scare of 1874.”
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According to the article, a keeper, last name Hyland, at the Central Park Zoo had rudely poked a rhinoceros with a cane, setting the beast into a frenzy. Angered, it then smashed into the bars of its cage and escaped. The rhino then proceeded to rampage through the zoo, ramming its massive bulk into other animal cages, allowing an elephant, an African male lion, a Bengal tiger, a giraffe, a panther, and various and sundry other frightening, formerly caged animals loose on the streets of the Big Apple.
Sadly, reported the Herald, 49 people were killed—some gruesomely torn to shreds—by the rampaging lion and tiger, in particular. More than 200 innocent New Yorkers were injured by the critters running amok.
The list of known casualties included men, women, and children of all ages. Family members are alleged to have fainted when they read the names of their deceased loved ones in the paper, a list of whom was published at the end of the article.
As news of the ongoing massacre spread, panic ensued. Mothers hurried to pick their children up from school before they became an afternoon snack for the wild felidae.
In addition, children and adults who had been trampled to death by the riotous animals were said to have been mauled beyond recognition.
When police officers tried to shoot the tiger, it only made the ferocious feline more irate, resulting in even worse injuries to those unfortunate enough to be on the streets at the time. Blood literally covered the streets around Central Park.
The Herald then offered some horrifying details:
Backing down from the zookeeper’s mangled body with a swiftness almost incredible from his bulk, the rhinoceros plunged his horrid horn into the keeper.
The panther was crouched over his body, gnawing horribly at his head. I recognized his body by the striped shirt which I could just see hanging tattered from the arm. …
Men and women rushed in all directions away from the beast, who sprang upon the shoulders of an aged lady, burying his fangs into her neck and carrying her to the ground.
The National Guard was called out. Men were firing rifles at the fearsome creatures from their apartment building windows. The lion had made its way inside a church. The frightened rhinoceros had fallen into a sewer. Gangs of armed men roamed the streets looking to end, in particular, the tiger’s smorgasbord of death.
Several of the escaped zoo animals lept aboard a ferry, causing passengers to drown after jumping into the cold November waters of the Hudson.
When hospitals started overflowing with victims, Mayor William F. Havemeyer issued a proclamation ordering all citizens to hunker down in their homes, schools or businesses until all the maneaters were caught or killed. Schools were locked up tight, and deadbolts set on apartment building doors.
Finally, New York Gov. John Dix was able to shoot the Bengal tiger himself in an act of unfathomable bravery. As the tiger rushed him, Dix fired, hitting the tiger in the vitals, killing it in its tracks.
And then it was over—a disaster some say was almost as bad as the 2025 election of Zohran Mamdani.
That being said, the Herald sold more newspapers that day than in any other day in its long history. (The Herald ceased independent publication, closing its doors in 1924. It soon merged with the New York Tribune in the same year, creating the New York Herald Tribune, which remained in print until 1966.)
There was only one very big problem: Very few readers made it to the last paragraph of the 11-column article. It stated:
Of course the entire story given above is a pure fabrication. Not one word of it is true. Not a single act or incident described has taken place. It is a huge hoax, a wild romance, or whatever other epithet of utter untrustworthiness our readers may choose to apply to it. It is simply a fancy picture which crowded upon the mind of the writer a few days ago while he was gazing through the iron bars of the cages of the wild animals in the menagerie at Central Park.
The Herald was then roundly criticized around the world for publishing the fakery which, the paper’s editor said, was to call attention to lax security at the zoo. In response, the zoo did improve its security so, in that respect, the article was a success.
But did the Herald’s circulation drop after the uproar-causing fake news story? Quite the opposite. Its circulation increased by thousands!
We are here reminded of several great quotes about newspapers.
George Orwell said, “Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.”
Thomas Jefferson commented, “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. … The advertisements are the most truthful part of a newspaper.”
And finally, Lord Acton is alleged to have said, “The purpose of a newspaper is not to give you the news [truth] but to make a profit.”
Perhaps that is why AFP has to send out fundraisers. It seems there is little profit in telling the truth—but we keep on doing it, and will do so as long as we can.
Paul Angel is the managing editor of American Free Press. He can be reached at Paul@AmericanFreePress.net.
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