The daily gazette., 1875-06-18
The Torpedo Chicken.

A COMPANION TO THE SHEET IRON CAT,
AND SWEET BOON TO THE OWNERS
OF POULTRY YARDS.
No city in the country has suffered
more from the class OF vagabond chick
en- thieves than Memphis. but. thanks to
French ingenuity, panacea tor the
growing evil has been discovered, and
its name is the Torpedo Chicken"
This little machine Is us near chicken
us human skill can make it. 1t is cov-
cred with feathers, with perfect head,
legs and wings. 1t il soIt to tue touch,
and the legs and wing are flexible, and
can be moved AMI placed in positions
similar to those of "a genuine chicken.
and when set upon p.rch the decep-
tion cannot be discovered i even by an ex-
pert. Like Ill other chickens. too, il Ii
bur4ing match Is placed near its nose it
topples off the perch, when it does it
fails with the weigut auu destructive
lie 5 of bombshell. Inside of the am
tomaton Is placed torpedo, which ex-
p o les If II Is taken b, le | "a or struck
With any force. Hearing Of this insen;.
oui maenine, Front street Ii erchaut
recently ordeIed Il nuuIlr-r of them with
wnica to experiment. Some half-,tozal
or them were seer, tly distributed Friday
10 persons who cJtn | sin, d of pnloyanoe
from chicken thi.v, ;, and ahou, IT,. iiue
| otner chickens seek the roost tl cy W re
placed conspicuous in tue h, Il. oase-,
and the persons setting them rr,iriny to
eed to await tie result. A widow LAZY
named Mrs. 4. Summons, living in Fort
keiing, who has h.e en- much ANNOYED,
r'u ""'7e watch log WIS poisoned only
lew nights since, was SO an1io IL to
Ow l4e result Of the experiment that
50 sat up to await the c. ming of th
v.,ltors. About one o'clock she h, ard
ne subdued voices outside the nee
W ich surrounded her house. and soon
af ,er the scranbling noise made by o
pssson elm ning over the fence. Soon
there was HutterinH in the hen-hcuse.
s1bdued caokle, and then n lss like
tie discharge of heavily loaded pun.
An agonized shrek Of pain and retreat
ing tootsteps told of the suceess o. the
machine. The lady who before was all.
ed with anger ana thought oAIy ot y-u-
geance on the thieves who had so FIRE.
ouently taken her chickens, was now
nlled with alarm. and half way regretted
having used the torpedo chicken. She
dio not nave ehe courage to go out doors
alone. but called to u neighbor who haG
been aroused by the report. He accom-.
panied her to the hen-house, where @
great noise was being made by the sur.
viving chickens. Several had been kill
ed and others manned by the explosion
A search was then made for the TORPEDO
chicken, which was finally found amons
the wreck OF poultry. The body of the
machine was blown to atoms, but its two
legs were found intact, tightly graspec
by hug" black hand, which had beer
literally torn from the arm. Death nev
er held tighter to dead nigger than die
this negro's dead hand grasp those tive
chicken legs. As before stated, the ne
gro ran away as fast as it was possible il
MS wounded condition, and if any on,
hnds negro with hand freshly sho
, off, let him inform Chief Athy of the fact
Another negro was brought to grief th
same night by one of the same instru
4 ments, IN the eastern suburbs Trace
OF blood were discovered leading from
the chicken roost, and it is believed h.
will be arrested. This is, indeed, grea
invention, and vastly superior to q trap
gun. Its general Use will soon rid ou
city of the large number of chickel
( thieves who infest it. The inventor
when he dies. should be canonized.-
Memphis Avalanshe. June 9th.