The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 13, 1903
A Little Chicken Corner
Caught Youthful Chicken Thieves
Great Western section Men Capture Boys who have Despoiled East End Poultry Yards
Had Stolen a Dinner Bucket
When Arrested had Stolen Bucket Well Filled with Eggs – Were Locked in Box Car
Two youth of tender age, who are suspected of having made a systematic practice of robbing poultry yards in East Fort Dodge of their store of eggs, were caught by Great Western section men on Saturday afternoon. The boys stole a dinner pail belonging to one of the section men, who saw the deed and followed the youthful sinners until they had filled the stolen pail with stolen eggs, and then bore down upon them. The youths were locked in a box car, and a policeman was summoned to take them to the city hall for punishment. On the way, the boys begged so piteously to be let off and promised so earnestly to let the eggs alone hereafter that the officer decided the scare was enough punishment, and let them go.
For several weeks past, the east end hen yards have felt the hand of the despoiler. The work was cleverly done, and despite all the vigilance done and despite all the vigilance of the irate householders who lad all sorts of traps to catch the egg thieves, not a subject was coralled (sic) until Saturday when the vigilant section men caught the two youngsters in the act.
The thieves have not been at all particular with regard to what they took. They were after eggs, and it made no difference whether they were setting eggs or fresh ones; they took them indiscriminately. It is believed Saturday will put a damper on the egg stealing industry, if not permanently, for some little time at least. |
The Chickens Over The Border
Cooper Township Poultry Menace Wahkonsa township Garden Patches is Farce
Wage War on the Vegetables
Succulent Plants are not Safe From Their Ruthless Talons – The Law is Invoked
G.F. Draper and other residents of the city on the border line of Cooper and Wahkonsa townships, are in a quandary. The riddle which confronts them is this: What is it best to do, when Cooper township chickens come over and despoil Wahkonsa township garden patches? Mr. Draper came to the city hall this morning and laid the matter before Marshal Welch. Mr. Welch could do nothing, inasmuch as the offending chickens were owned outside of the city limits. The best that he could do was to advise Mr. Draper to consult a justice of the peace with a view to arbitrating the difficulty and it is probably that his advice will be followed.
The thoughts of the denizens of the suburbs turned to garden planting as the warm weather of the past few days gave warning that spring was really coming. Tender plants were set out, and were flourishing nicely when the Cooper township chickens looked across the boundaries and saw what was going on. According to Mr. Draper’s story, the chickens descended like the Assyrians, who have attained a safe niche in the world’s best literature, and by the time they were thru there wasn’t much left of the carefully nurtured Wahkonsa township gardens.
“Just as fast as the plants are set out,” said Mr. Draper “those chickens come along and scratch them up.”
It is expected that measures will be taken by the Wahkonsa township residents desirous of practicing horticulture, to keep their neighbor’s chickens at home. |
Tags: 1903, chickens, Draper
The Fort Dodge Messenger: April 7, 1904
Chickens Must Stay at Home
Police to See That Owner Keeps Them on Property.
A Ban Is Also Placed on the Practice of Bicycle Riders Using the Sidewalks.
Many complaints have been made to the police to the effect that the productiveness of newly made gardens is enhanced by the intrusions of neighboring chickens. The number of complaints have been such that it is now ordered that all persons who are the owners of fowls must keep them in enclosures or at least take some means by which they will remain on the owner’s premises and if there is any scratching or garden destroying to be done that only the owner of the chickens shall suffer.
Police records in cities the size of Fort Dodge, where the advantages of the country can be enjoyed in so far as it is possible to raise one’s own chickens and lose no sleep when the grocer asks sky scrapinging (sic) prices for eggs, show that many cases which the mayor is called upon to settle often arise from such a little thing as one neighbor’s chickens paying a visit to another neighbor’s garden and digging up the young plants from which neighbor No. 2 expected to reap a harvest. To eliminate the number of such disturbances and because of the further fact that a person owning chickens by law is obliged to keep them on his own premises, owners of the feathery property of all kinds are warned to keep the same on their own domain.
With spring comes the bicycle and with it comes another mandate from the police. Every street in Fort Dodge is not paved with asphalt and it must be admitted that there are some at certain periods of the year, of which spring is one, when they are not at all unlike country roads. For these reasons riders of bicycles on many of the resident streets resort to the sidewalks, where they find peddling much better than on the muddy street. There is an ordinance against riding on the sidewalks and it is to be enforced. Bicycle riders apprehended riding on the walks will be arrested and fined.
(Editor’s note: My last bicycle-riding experience was about three or four years ago in Fort Dodge. I had gone to pick up a bike from a friend, who was giving it to me. I tried out the bike and decided to ride it home, a few blocks away. While waiting for the light to change at Sixth Avenue North and 15th Street, I was chastised and cursed at by a guy in a car for riding my bike on the street. It is still the law in Iowa that bicycle riders must ride on the street, and vehicle drivers must allow it.)
Tags: 1904, bicycles, chickens
The Fort Dodge Messenger: March 18, 1904
Chicken Thieves Make Raid
C.L. Peterson Suffers the Loss of Many Fowls
Resident in Southeastern Part of the City Loses Large Number of Chickens and Geese.
Chicken thieves made a raid on the chicken coop of C.L. Peterson, living near the Plymouth gypsum mill, on Thursday night, and today Mr. Peterson is mourning the loss of nearly three dozen choice fowls. chickens to the number of thirty or more were taken, while the thieves helped themselves to three fat geese in addition to the big Plymouth Rocks.
The theft was discovered at an early hour this morning, when Mr. Peterson found a glove in the yard near his chicken coop. Blood found near the building in which the fowls were housed led to an investigation and the discovery of the fact that he had been relieved of the greater part of his feathery wealth. The glove is the only clue to the identity of the thief, or thieves. No disturbance was heard Thursday night, although it is evident from the generous spilling of blood about the premises, that at least one chicken was killed.
Mr. Peterson is a foreman employed by the Plymouth Gypsum company, and lives near the mill in the southeastern part of the city.
Tags: chickens
