Candy Bar the Lioness, and a Tall Tale

Candy Bar the lioness with Byrd High School football players and coach.
"The Shreveport Journal, 03 Nov.1960.

While researching old newspapers, one will find some interesting stories from the past. For example, while researching Bossier Parish wildlife on Newspapers.com, I came across the following article titled “Wild Lions Running Loose in Bossier Parish?” The article appeared in the “Bossier Press” on Jan. 30, 1963. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

“A Shreveporter has pointed an accusing lacerated finger at Bossier Parish wildlife, claiming that a lion bit him somewhere in Bossier. The Bossier Press, in trying to run down background material on lions in Bossier Parish has turned up some startling information.

Herschel W. Cobb walking 3-month old lioness Blondie, 1974.

“Wayne Hicks, 27, of 214 Marshall Street, was treated at Confederate Memorial Hospital for a lacerated finger Thursday morning, and told Shreveport police that he was bitten by a lioness named “Candy Bar” at some place “across the river in Bossier.” A pet she-lion answering to the name of Candy Bar is owned by Herschel Cobb, brother of Bossier City’s Joe Cobb. Herschel says his pet cat was locked in her cage in Shreveport at the time, and that he doesn’t even know Hicks.

“All of which caused the Bossier Press to seach [sic] for answers to these questions:

“(1) Has a real lion ever attacked anyone in Shreveport or Bossier?

“(2) Has anyone ever shot a lion in Bossier Parish?

“(3) Are there any wild lions loose in Bossier Parish, or elsewhere in Louisiana?

“The answers to all three questions—believe it or not—happen to be “yes.”

“A Shreveport man actually had his britches ripped (nearly) off by a lioness on Texas Street back in the 1930’s. Bob Mahoney, genial administrator for the Citizens Council of Louisiana, and former news director for KWKH, tells his true story this way:

“'While working for the radio station, I often dropped in at a downtown store where they had a pet lion. I liked to pet the lion, but one night the lion tore my pants to shreds. I looked like a very surprised he-hula dancer, and had to go home with a coat wrapped around me.'

"An African lion was shot in Bossier Parish on Dec. 7, 1941, by Sam Touchstone, local huntsman and taxidermist. But he was in a cage at the time, and had to be killed because he was too fierce to try to keep in captivity. Hundreds of Bossier and Barksdale people gathered at Touchstone's place of business that Sunday afternoon to watch him execute the lion. The date is firm in their memories because they were watching the killing when the first news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor came over their car radios.

"'Of course, it's absurd to think that any African lions are on the loose in Bossier Parish,' says Touchstone, 'but there are some native lions here, and I plan to organize some hunts soon to track them down.'

"Touchstone doesn't drink.

"'I’ve seen their tracks around Fifi Bayou, east of Red Chute. There are plenty of these lions at various places in Louisiana, and a few loose in Bossier. People don’t hunt them here because very few know they exist, and even fewer would know how to make a successful hunt.’

“‘The mountain lion that I killed in Utah is the same animal that runs loose in Bossier Parish and other parts of Louisiana. It has a half-dozen different names including catamount, puma, panther, and wampus-cat. But I’ve never heard one of them called Candy Bar.’

“Shreveport police said Hicks told them he was discharged recently from the Army at Ft. Polk and took a room in Shreveport. He showed up at the Trailways Bus Station about 2 p.m. Thursday morning, and told attendants that he had been bitten by a lion. He asked them to call police and to take him to a hospital.

“Hicks couldn’t tell exactly where he had been bitten, but thought it was in Bossier.

“The Bossier Press discounts, any thought that the lion was a member of the Bossier City Lions Club. Most of those fellows are pretty tame and don’t bite.” Maybe you would like to search old newspapers. If so, visit your nearest Bossier Parish Library branch for free access to Newspapers.com. To access non-digitized newspapers on microfilm, visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center. We are at 2206 Beckett Street, Bossier City, 318-746-7717, history-center@bossierlibrary.org.

By: Amy Robertson