St. Louis has a long history of dramatic animal escapes

In spring 2017, the St. Louis Six—Chico, Spirit, Eddie, Houdini, Roo, and Johnny Cash—busted out of Star Packing Co., leading police on an hours-long chase. The footage made national news. But we have a long history of dramatic animal escapes, including these pigs, who lounged on a street in 1903. There was also Murphy, a monkey who leaped into the arms of a policeman while fleeing dogs,  and an “immunized goat” used for medical purposes who fled Bethesda Hospital. And there are several accounts of spirited red steers—like Chico—making their escapes. One sought safety inside the Skinner & Kennedy Stationery Company store. After the clerks shooed him out, “a shepherd dog, on the trail of the animal, arrived on the scene. Two cowboys on galloping, perspiring horses were also near at hand.” The trio wrangled the poor fellow back to the Bremen Stockyards, from whence he came. As for the Six (who are now Five…Spirit’s passed on into the, uh, spirit realm)? They’re alive and well, living at The Gentle Barn in Dittmer. As a man who watched Chico run down North Florissant that day told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “He needs to go down in history.”