BENSONHURST BOY EATEN BY LIONS (1914)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Most people who hear about lions attacking, mauling, and killing human beings envision these violent scenes taking place in the natural habitat of these beasts where they roamed and hunted prey. But the country was mystified by a story that came out a little more than 100 years ago about just such a lion assault – taking place in Chicago. DAREDEVIL DIETRICH AND THE SIX LIONS The son of a wealthy Bensonhurst architect, Emerson D. Dietrich was a graduate of Erasmus High School. He had lived with his parents and his three brothers at 8642 Bay Parkway until he had joined the circus just six months prior to his death. Dietrich, it was learned, had wanted to be near the lions, of which he was fond, and so he had become the manager of Madame Adgie Castillo, the lion trainer. Dietrich, 24, had lived a daredevil’s life, according to his father, who spoke to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle the day after the attack. “He won medals of every sort, but he joined no society,” the elder Dietrich said, “for he was a society in himself. “He had hundreds of friends who came to see him. He didn’t need a society. Then in 1909, he graduated and, for the first time we, […]
