The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1880-04-15
YANKEE INGENUITY.
How Mr.. Dodge Raised Poultry Way
Down South.

low MI, Dooge halS7o FouIIry way
Down South.
The New York Times publishes
the following interesting story: A
MIR. Dodge, who emigrated from
Natick. Mass /, to Laurelville, Ala,
and bought a farm, was told by
every body that he could not get
any colored help and that he could
not raise chickens there. Mr.. Dodge
was a stubborn man, and, withal,
an ingenious one. He determined to
prove to the Laurelvilleans that he
could do precisely what they said
he could not do. Accordingly, he
offered to bet with Judge Slemons
that he would cultivate his new farm
with colored labor, and that he
would raise chickens without losing
single one by colored larceny.
The bet was taken, and Mr.. Dodge
went to his farm and began opera
tions. With the aid of the Laurel
vile carpenter, Mr.. Dodge built a
magnificent chicken house, with &C
commodations for 500 feathered
guests. The windows were made
so small that not even a consump
tive colored boy could pass through
them, and the door was of unprece-
denied thickness and strength. In
one side of. the chicken house Mr..
Dodge required the carpenters to
leave a round hole of about two
feet in diameter, for a purpose
which be declined to explain. Much
pity was felt for him by his neigh
bors, on the ground that he was
wasting his money in vain attempt
to struggle against the chicken
stealing genius of the colored PEG
pie; but Mr.. Dodge guessed" he
was all right, and ''calc'lated" that
his chickens wouldn't be stolen 10
any great extent. When the car
penters had finished their work and
had gone home, Mr.. Dodge IN
packed large bundle which he had
received from the north, and, after
dark, he filled his chicken house
with 300 chickens, and, locking it
securely, went to bed. About IL
O'Clock that night leading colored
citizen of chicken proclivities made
his way into the chicken-house
through the hole which had oeen
left open. He chuckled quietly at
the folly of MIR. Dodge in locking
the door, and at the same time for
getting to close the hole in the side
of the chicken house. When he
had selected dozen of the largest
he undertook to creep
stealthily out of the hole, but found
his egress impeded by a series OF
sharp and projecting spikes. He
then realized that he had been
caught in trap of the same gen
eral nature as that pleasing variety
of mouse trap into which the mouse
enters through a wire-lined
passage, the pointed ends of which
prevent him from escaping. The
leading colored citizens estimate OF
white intellect underwent a sudden
change, and he sat down gloomily
in the corner of the chicken house
to invent some plausible tale which
would account for his presence
when the inevitable moment of dis
should come. Halt an hour
later the minister of the colored
church entered the chicken-house,
and was warmly greeted by his pre-
decessor, who was beginning to
feel very lonesome. From mid
night until dawn, the arrivals were
almost incessant. The fact that
300 chickens were in Mr.. DOdge's |
chicken-house was known in every |
colored cabin within a radius of |
two miles, ard the oppressed race
had risen as one man and resolved |
to have those chickens. At $3.50 |
there was standing room only in
the chicken house, and gentlemen
after that hour were COM
PEELED to return home disappointed.
After q comfortable breakfast /, Mr.. |
Dodge took his shotgun and the
key of the chicken house, and pro-
ceeded to ascertain what luck his |
trap had brought him during the |
night. To his great pleasure he
found thirty-four able bodied men |
in the chicken-house, and after the |
most careful investigation, he as
certained that not a chicken was
missing. He put no unpleasant
questions to the colored men whom |
he had caught as to why they had |
crowded into his chicken-house sc, but |
be merely informed them that he
supposed they had come to assist
him in planting, and that he was
greatly obliged to them for their
kind assistance. AT noon Judge |
Slemons and a dozen white Laurel |
arrived at the farm, and |
gazed with amazement at the spec
5acle of thirty-four colored men
working energetically in the field. |
When the judge was convinced tina,
40 chickens had been stolen during
The night, he frankly admitted that
le had lost his bet, and, borrowing
,he money from Mr.. Dodge, paid it
On the spot. Since that day Mr.. |
Dodge has never lost a chicken.
He has, however, only caught few
sporadic colored men, and has been |
obliged to hire most of his labor.
Nevertheless, he has successfully |
-eGuted the assertion that no white
nan can keep chickens in Alabama,
and has, on at least one occasion,
thirty-four colored men to |
work for him without pay. Whether
ais plan would be permanently sue
if tried in other parts of
he south is, of course, uncertain.
put there is certainly good reason
% suppose that it would greatly
Increase the security of chicken
property.