Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-24
WHY CHICKENS ROOsr HIGH.


How Expert Chicken Thieves Steal and
Avoid Detection.
HEN BOOSTS AND THE WAY THEY ARE DEsponED-
ALL MEANS OF IDENTIFICATION EASILY AND
QUICKLY DEsTRoYED-THE WAYS OF some
FOXY OLD MARAUDERs
seVEs, THIS Is IA GOOD SEASON Of the
Il year for chicken thieves" echoed De-
tectiye Block the other day, when STAR re-
porter spoke to him about that class of crimi-
nails. "But," he added, ''there hasn't been SO
many cases of chicken stealing lately there
used to be. Reports of that particular sort of
stealing are few and far between. Now and then,
however. three or four jobs are done in as many
nights and then nothing is heard from the
chicken man for long time. This is Just the
time Of the year for them to operate, but
this year there seems to be q scarcity of such
thieves or else chickens are not 30 plentiful
Those who are called chicken thieves do not
confine themselves to robbing chicken houses,
but they steal all sorts of fowls, turkeys, ducks
or chickens. And, strange to say, this class
of offenders confine their stealing chiefly to
fowls. Seldom do they steal other articles, and
very few OF them, indeed. are all-round thieves.
sLENcING THE FOWLS.
"How do they manage to rob house of all
it's fowls without making noise enough to
arouse the owner of the fowls?" the reporter
inquired.
easy enough" was his reply. "To use their
language, they charm the fowls before they
attempt to leave the premises with them, even
II their heads have to be taken off. The thieves
who are classed among the good ones, or those
who thoroughly understand their business,
seldom take away live chicken unless the
number captured is very small. Sometimes"
continued the detective, 1.-THE thieves use sui
phur to strangle the fowls with, and it acts like
charm. They use a box of blue-head matches,
which they dampen and rub against their hand
so that the fumes OF sulphur that arise get into
the lungs Of the fowls and prevent them from
Growing or cackling or giving any alarm what
ever. Then the burglar stretches in his arm
and collects the fowls one by one.
TRICKS OF THE CALLING.
Everybody" said the detective. ''can't steal
chickens. There seem to be some peculiar
qualifications necessary to make man an ex-
pert at the business. An expert thief knows
well the necessity Of always keeping pot of
scaldlng water on the stove at home, so that
when he returns with his plumber he can get
the feathers off them and prepare them for
market as soon as possible. Then he knows
that the means of identification have been de-
strOyed. Often when such q robbery is COM
mitted early in the morning the chickens are
MANY q night on my tours through the city
have smelled smoke from burning feathers
and been satisfied that the feathers were picked
from stolen fowls and were being burned to de-
stroy their value as evidence.
DIFFICULT TO CONVICT.
''In order to convict chicken thief it is
necessary to catch him almos. in the act or else
catch him few minutes after he has committed
the theft He has an advantage over all other
old <f L.. Ill
evidence against himself in very few minutes
And they are harder to catch. When they start
out to make haul they always locate the Off
Ger on the bea. and the sergeant on duty before
going and they can pretty well judge of the
officers whereabouts when their job is finished.
AN OLD FOX.
''There was a noted chicken thief here once
who operated long time before he was caught,
and he did his stealing in such a systematic
manner that it's wonder he ever did get
caught. But he was often suspected and
watched. He kept clear of the officers for a
long time. but job was finally put up on him
ald he was captured. After locating the place
he intended to rob he would remain in some
secluded place until he heard the sergeant OIL
the beat blow and the officer answer. In that
way he could easily locate both men and then
he would make break for the place where the
chickens were. After getting them in his bag
he would remain there until the hour of mid
night, when he knew the officers were changing
at the station, and then he would run home.
CAUGHT At LAST.
''But one night we had his house watched
and he came running along. Over the fence
into his yard he threw a large bundle and then
he went in the house. When one of the officers
questioned him as to what he threw into the
yard he declared that he had not been out of
the house and that he had been working all the
evening. He was q shoemaker by trade and
was hammering away az pair of shoes when we
entered. The bundle he had thrown over the
fence was examined and it proved to be a bag
of chickens.
There vas another old colored man who was
fond of chickens. He always carried bag
with him and it was often remarked that if he
put down the bag chickens would walk into it,
GREAT RISKS FOR SMALL GAINS.
sits singular" concluded the officer, ''that
people will take such desperate chances for
small amount of plumber and with the posi-
bility Of long term of imprisonment. That
sort OF stealing in the night time is covered by
the housebreaking law, and the maximum pen
al Nv is sayan