Animals: Merrimack’s Hunt

Deer, partridges and even rabbits are out of season now, yet one day last week saw a host of hunters march forth from Merrimack, N. H., with guns loaded, triggers oiled. Through woods and fields near the farm of Thomas H. Braden they prowled. Before long Police Chief Frank R. Flanders was seen taking aim and— ker-blam—down came the quarry: a full-grown (60-lb.) male baboon. The hunt continued. Toward nightfall Dr. Paul Denicola fired into a copse near an open field and another baboon breathed its last. That was the end of Merrimack’s great May hunting day. The baboons, lately bought by Mr. Braden from the Benson Animal Farm, had escaped while being transferred from one cage to another, had rooted up some of Dr. Denicola’s rhubarb. Merrimackers were afraid they might bite.