The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-29
HOBO CHICKEN.
Hops on Train and Rides Brake Beam
 Across Continent.

From the Seattle Times
 Hem Probably akin to Latin canere, to
 sing, and originally meaning a singer tZool) The female of a domestic fowl Vagabond; One who wanders from
 place to place. having no fixed dwelling.
 or not abiding In 1t. and usually without the means of honest lipelhood va grant; tramp; henee worthless per son; q rascal-Extracts from MT. Noah
 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary When Is a hen?
 This is the papitatlng question that Is agitating the employees of the Great
 Northern railroad and to which there is apparently no answer. The question arose l through the peculiar action of Maud Maud, according To Noah Webster. he i dictionary man, Is q hen. According to | the same authority she is a vagabond, q worthless person-a rascal The career l of Maud. short as 1t has been. has been l filled with excitement Maud is no unusual 1 hen. She is hen of distinction, a trav- 1 eled hen hobo. She rides brake beams | on limited trains and her caclNe has been l heard in many states. Here Is Maud's 1 latter-day history:
 Several days ago in Minneapolis some l men were loading chickens on board a l train. One of the chickens got away and l made q wild dash for liberty. There was l some excitement attached to the escape l of the chicken. Nobody knew that 1t was l Maud-then. All they saw was q specked l chicken of the female sex chasing her l self around d right-of-way with a howl 1 ing mob of humans in pursuit. Then the 1 chicken disappeared.
 This ends the first chapter of the story. 1 The second chapter is follows: Oriental Limited No. l on the Great 1 Northern sped on its way across prairiss l and mountains. The golden wheat fields 1 of North Dakota thrilled with the shrll
 whistle of the locomotive. Coyotes on
 the plains of Montana loped fearfuily
 away from the tracks, appalled, at the l glarlng headlight they saw through the
 dark watches of the night. The dread
 defies of the kingly Rockies gave back | thunderous echoes as the train sped l through cuts and across trestles. At worth, which is in the state l of Washington, the yardmaster was on l hand when the wearied coaches came to
 rest for a few moments His duty was
 to see that there was no tramps con
 cealed under cars. So he looked uncar 1 them all. He found no hoboes, but he did | find one lone. wearied hen. The hen was | covered with dust. Her feathers were l filled with gravel. Her craw was empty | of food. IL was Maud
 l People on the train recognized Maud. 1 They recognized in the hobo chicken that | was riding the brake beams the fear
 less hen that at Minneapolis had eluded | all pursuers and disappeared. Maud was l hailed with acclamations. Thencefortf | Maud need no longer ride on braas i beams It was Maud to the baggage car. c. II. Burke, who lives at 40S Wall
 street Is brakeman on Oriental Lini-
 tied No 1. He admired the heroism of
 Maud. de took possession of her, and
 when the train reached Seattle he LOOK
 Maud home. She Is still at Burke's home
 unless she has broken away over night l and IS on her way to San Francisco or l the Orient.
 Maud is well fed at the residence of l Burke Her empty craw is now full 70 | bursting. Her ruffled feathers are again | smooth for the Oriental Limited came
 fin late Friday night and Maud had near l ly 4S hours to recover from the effects of l her pourney.
 Burke vouchsafes no theories as to why
 Maud got on the brake beams of tram
 that was coming to Seattle. He says she
 did 1t on purpose. for he is certain that
 she is a hen that doesn't do anything | blindly.
 Burke himself named the wandering | hen Maud. He did because, he says. she
 Is just like the mule in the Sunday com | ic supplement, She kicked him in the
 eye when he was trying to get acqualnt-
 ed with her.