Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-02-02
A. w. BucHANAN's BILL MAKES
CHICKEN STEALING GRAND
LARCENY.
is NEEDED IN WAPELLO
Proposed Measure VIII Ease tho
Minds Of Both the Owners Of Fine
Poultry and the Peace Officers Who
Have Tried to Punish Thieves.
[BY LEON BROWN.I i.
Des Moines Bureau Of the Courier.
d Des Moines, Feb. 1,

Des Moines Bureau of the Courier.
Des Mones, Feb. 1.
4 The house today defeated the Cas-
sett resolution to adjourn on March 24.
Some time during this week it is
the intention of Representative Blu.
chanan to introd Ice a bill which will
define the theft IF fowls from within
enclosures in the night time as grand
larceny and punishable by a peniten-
tiary sentence. AT present chicken
stealing is petit larceny IL 1t can be
established, when. as a matter of fact,
the chickens are always stolen in the
night time and by going into the en-
closures where they are kept. But
owing to the insignificant offense pos
sible to be charged and the usual In
ability to prove that half a dozen
chickens are worth more than So or
$3 1t is impossible to discourage pre-
datory campaigns of this character.
Therefore the bill which Mr.. Buchan-
an will introduce. II did not, decide
to take the matter up until within the
last day or two," said Mr. Buchanan.
1T looks like a trivial matter, but IT..
Is not. by any means. You have no idea
the number of people who place de-
pendence in few of their chickens to
help them make a living. 1t is shame
ful that poor woman who owns a
dozen hens should often suffer their
loss through the invasion of her yard
or henhouse by some worthless thief,
and be unable to punish the scoundrel
properly.
1t often happens in legislation that
the trivial thing turns out to be the
most far reaching siEs ur Inst IS "a asgtoa5sa 4 toa
resentative Geneva plans the infrod,,r.
ton of bin which viii add cows II
| the list Of things exempted from as
sessment and taxation. Now that;
looks like a mighty insignificant bill.D
he said today, but actually 1t means
much to a great many people. The the
ory of the law of exemptions is that
the means of livelihood directly used
shall be exempted. For this reason
the workman's team is exempted etc.
But the law does not provide for the
exemption of cows on the same basis
and my bill provides that when
woman, for instance. has COW which
helps her in making meagre living.
it shall not be assessed Many people
would say at first thought, that it was
too small tax to make aly differ
ence. 1t occurs to me chat however
small the tax it is g great burdAnsetl
such a case as have mentioned.
therefore, my intention to introduce
the bill'
The Chicken Bill.
The Buchanan chicken bill" is as
follows:
BE it enacted by the general assem-
bly, of the state Of Iowa:
II any person steal, take and carry.
away from any building or enclosed
farm. lot or other enclosed prenises
In the night time. any domestic fowl
the property of another, he shall BIZ
deemed guilty of larceny and on cone
viction shall be punished by imprison.
! ment in the penitentiary for not mors
than two years"
This is bill which has long beer
needed in Iowa." said an Ottumwa at
torney today in speaking of the meas.
ure proposed by Mr. Buchanan. "Ths
farmers living near Ottumwa," he con.
tinued, have made almost innumera
Bile complaints during the last two or
three years on account of the frequent
thefts Of chickens from their farms.
There are several people in Wapello
county who go into the chicken bust
ness pretty heavily and these are alss
hit pretty hard by the chicken thfeves
whom it. seems almost impossible t.
catch. This new bill, If it becomes
law, will no doubt put quietus upoa.
several of the thieves"
The records at the local police sta
ton show that there have indeed been
many complaints of this kind, and it
lis stated on good authority that two
young men, supposed to be chicken
thieves sold over $1,000 worth Of
poultry to one house in Ottumwa In.
side of a year. 1t is known that these
two do not conduct chicken farms and
the people from whom they purchased
the chickens cannot be found. Every
thing points to, their guilt as thieves
but with the present law the police
feel backward about putting in their
time to capture and convict the cul-
lprits when the hardest punishment
they can be given is only a Jail term
| The thefts of fowls became so fre-
quent and the losses so heavy that
| several farmers living north and west
of Ottumwa recently organized vigi-
| lance committee the avowed object Of
| which was to stop chicken and horse
| stealing. For time the scheme
worked we'll and the thefts were al.s
most stopped. SO nearly SO that the
members of the organization lost in.
terest in the matter Those who lost
most heavily. however, cannot forget
very easily and they have been among
the ones who most strongly demanded
a change in the state laws so that it
Twill be possible to punish the chicken