The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-09-03
FIERCE STRUGGLE
WITH BURLY THIEF
Desperate Fight for Possession of
a Shot Gun Between a Peckville
Man and a Chicken Thief.

H. L. Thompson of Peckville. had a
thrilling life and death struggle with
a thief on the roadway opposite his
home on South Main street at day
break yesterday morning.
Chicken stealing has grown quite
common in that neighborhood of late
and the residents have been on the
alert to trap the thieves. Yesterday
morning Mr.. Thompson was awakened
by noice that he thought came from
his chickery and hastily dressing and
arming himself with a double bar
relied shotgun, went out TO investigate.
He found everything serene around
his own premises /and came to the
conclusion that the disturbance was
in some neighbor's coop.
Advancing to the gate to survey the
street he espied a burly fellow skulk-
ing along with a large bag slung across
his shoulders.
Mr.. Thompson suddenly stepped out
in front of the man and called on him
to halt. The man halted but only for
an instant. simultaneously, he drop
ped the bag and sprang on Mr.. Thomp-
son, clutching the gun with one hand
and Thompson's throat with the other.
The latter quickly succeeded in loos-
ing the hold on his neck. but could
not wrest away the gun. Finally tug
ging fiercely for time. the men closed
in and then began a desperate strug-
gle for supremacy and probably life.
For fully ten minutes the two wres-
tied. throttled and pummeled each
other, without either gaining an ad-
vantage. Finally, they rolled down an
.1,.,,, l. h.
the gun between them. Mr. Thomp-
son landed on top and found that the
muZZle of the gun was against the
others leg. One hammer was cooked.
To save himself, he thought to wound
his assailant in the leg and pulled the
trigger. The cap hal fallen off the
nipple during the struggle and the
gun did not discharge.
Thompson's strength was rapidly
failing Him and he was fearful of COL
lapsing, when of a sudden the big
man with whom he grappled worked
himself from underneath Thompson,
broke the latter's hold, let loose Of
the gun and dashed up the embank-
ment and down the road.
Thompson quickly brought his gun
to his shoulder aimed low, and fired
at the fugitive. The latter gave a yell,
threw up his hands and staggered but
in an instant recovered himself, jumped
over fence and disappeared around
house. Mr.. Thompson was too much
exhausted to pursue h1n, and the fell
low made good his escape. He is a
Hungarian, Mr.. Thompson thinks, and
he will be positive in his Identification
of him, he says, If he ever sees him.
The bag which was left behind was
| found to contain eight chickens and
| two ducks. The gunshot had
| aroused many of the neighbors, and
when Mr. Thompsons calls for hclp
were heard, several men donned
| their clothes and came running
| 10 the scene, among them Moses
Jones, who identified the poultry as
| his. An attempt had been made to
| enter his coop during the early part of
the night, but the thief was scared
| away. Thinking he might return, Mr..
/ and Mrs. Jones sat up until $3.50 a. m,
watching the henneTy from the window
| of a darkened room. They were in bed
only a short time when they heard a
| commotion in the coop, and when Mr.
| Jones reached there he found ii empty
As Thompson and Jones were dis
| cussing the affair some time after the
others had left a man was seen skulk-
| ing along the roadway Thinking that
it might be the chicken thief, Thomp-
son walked over to where the man
was and, noticing that he had some
| thing concealed under his coat, asked
| him what he had. The sulker replied:
| "None of our business" Thompson
and Jones then grabbed the man and
took from him a large bundle of pa
pers, which provel to be transcripts
! and other valuable papers from the
office of Justice of the Peace Mason
of Blakely.
1t seems the fellow, who Is also a
Hungarian, is a resident of the Ridge
and had been arrested and given q