The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-18
CHICKEN THIEF
 IS 4 PHILOSOPHER Uncle Ed Wallace Don't Steal
 from White Folks THEY READ THE PAPERS
Says He Takes Chickens From Nc. groes Because They Don't Know When He Is Arrested and
 Can't Identify the Fowls.

The annual spring cleaning time has arrived, and the negroes are taking ad- vantage of it to clean chicken roosts. In the past few days the annual spring reports of chicken thieves have been re- ceived in punches by the police depart ment
 Year by year the same chicken thieves are arrested and for the same old story They are convicted of petty larceny, for they are too smart to get convicted of grand larceny, and Judge Feagn sen tences them for one year. They work on the streets for the year. and finish serv- ing their time just in the nick of time to get at the earliest. and best spring chickens.
 | One of the noted old chicken thieves, Ed Wallace. was once asked by Judge Feagin if he stole chickens for profits. or , because he just naturally loved them. His reply was. tapping his hands on his breast
 Judge dis nigger's stomach is chick ems graveyard" Old Ed was also ar raigned for stealing chickens claimed by a white man, and identified positively. After hearing all the evidence offered by the white man, which tended to iden- tify the chicken as his, old Ed remarked:
 Tells the Truth.
 Judge, if you'se be's light on dis old nigger dis time. he'll tell you de hold trufe bout dem chickens. Dem chickens don't b'long to dat white man, kase dis nigger am quit stealing chickens from white folks Kase white folks read de papers when policemen catch old Ed wid de chickens, and de come up here and identify dem. But see de niggers don't read de papers and de don't know wher old Ed steals dey chickens. kase he don't knpw when old Ed is caught by the po- licemens. Dat am de reson dat dis nigger steals chickens from nigger and not from de white folks. Kase he aint a gwine to get caught when he steals from a nigger dat don't read de paper. Now dem chickens, what dat white man swears to- am nigger's chickens. and if yous gwine to be light on me, say so Judge, and I'll tell you de very roost dat old Ed got dem chickens from.
 The judge. thinking that probably the old negro was lying, or that he V oud test the truth of what he said by giving him a chance to prove that they belonged to a negro and not to the claimant then in court, he appointed a police officer to take old Ed in charge and go to the house of the negro woman from whom he claimed to have stolen the chickens.
 Sure enough. on the old negro womans appearance in court, she described ac- curately the chickens which Ed had and stated the tree, as described by old Ed in which they were wont to roost After the old negro woman had made clear her claims to the chickens to the satisfac- tion of the white man, who had lost some of pretty much the same descrip- tion, old Ed triumphantly remarked:
 Steals From Negroes Only.
 You see Judge. dis old nigger tells de trufe. Dat white man had me scused of 'bugly,' (breaking into his hen house in his back yard) See dat am a penitentry fense, and dis nigger been sent tc de penitentry for jest such case onct be- fore. Fiber since den, dis nigger been stealing chickens from de niggers, and he always gifts dem from de roosts. Judge l can put dis nggers ear against de tree and hear dem chickens breath if der is any on the limb"
 Yesterday Will Lewis alias Heart Trouble" was caught on Avenue and Thirtieth street by Policemen Dlsherov.I and Elledge with about a dozen chickens in boxes and he showed the policemen where he had sold dozen more There are still some others which have not been found Another negro was bound over yesterday for breaking into hen house and stealing chickens. and for the next three or four months the policemen will arrest from one to two cay for stealing 'yellar legs" More than dozen chicken thieves have just com pleted their sentence on the streets and it will not be many nights before they are operating again.