The Lion in the Boiler Room
When a traveling circus lion escaped into a Seattle industrial district, two workers found themselves trapped in a boiler-house, staring down a predator while attempting a quiet rescue.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
During a local fair, a lion escaped from a traveling menagerie on a wet night, wandering into the industrial area of Seattle. It eventually found refuge in a large boiler-house at a mill, where two workers, Tom Fitton and Dick Rogers, were busy scaling the interior of a boiler. The top of the boiler was covered with thick felt, masking the sound of the lion’s entrance. When Fitton climbed out of the man-hole, he was greeted by a growl. The two men, joined by a woman named Jenny who had come to meet Rogers, found themselves imprisoned inside the boiler while the lion crouched defiantly on top. The men realized they could not simply fight the animal, so they remained in the dark, silent and terrified, as the lion stood guard. At dawn, having waited for the beast to sleep, Rogers climbed out, crept over the felt, and descended to the yard. He sprinted through the streets to the menagerie to alert the lion-tamer. Upon returning with a rescue party, they found that Fitton had already managed to dangle a rope noose over the sleeping animal’s head from the rafters. The lion was secured, and the workers were saved. Fitton later famously recounted, 'I just tied it up wi' a little bit of bant.'
“There was no need nor time to dispute the matter, so Fitton descended and Rogers followed. The lantern being still on the valve, it was as dark as pitch inside.”
While a loose lion in an industrial park is an extreme anomaly, the setting of this story—the bustling, gritty mix of mills, ironworks, and working-class housing—remains a core part of Seattle’s historical identity. Today, as those same industrial districts (like the industrial corridor near the waterfront) face intense pressure from luxury development, the story serves as a reminder of a time when the 'dirty' work of the city was done in the heart of the neighborhood.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.