The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-26
STORY OF A HEN
 OLD ROPE HALTER
 AND A QUARREL

That borrowing dulls the edge of hus- bandry was exemplfied by the impris- onment of a man in the county jail early yesterday morning. A hen, halter. disagreement and then a fight was the combination which brought about the in- carnation of Tom Smith, residing near Ensley The hen and the halter were innocent factors in the case.
 From the information received from MT. Smith, upon his commitment to jail, it would appear that the affair between him and man named Duke Johnson in- wolves as many intricate points as Chinese puzzle. It all grew out of neigh bors borrowing from each other and now Smith stands charged with an assault with knife. He was committed to jail shortly after midnight yesterday morning but made bond readily.
 As nearly as MT. Smith could make the reporter understand, the mix-up was this:
 Johnson had an outfit of harness. Whether this harness was new or old IS not specified, but 1t is said that he had a set of harness-horse harness-and 1t seems that he sold the said set of horse harness to Smith. Smith took the har- ness, 1t seems. and apparently the deal was perfectly satisfactory to all involved in the transaction. But it is understood that Johnson decided to move one day and that he went over to his neighbor Smiths house and borrowed his horse and wagon, which was very neighborly loaned to him. Here the trouble began, 1,,t it,.ra 3iot
 Now it seems that Smith had some hen eggs which he wantedhatched but he had no hen to hatch them. Accordinguly he went over to Johnson's place and bor- rowed an old setting hen and set her on the incest bunch of eggs ever heard of. In the meantime Johnson had returned Smiths horse and wagon, delivering over all of the harness he had sold Smith with the exception. 1t is claimed of the halter.
 This failure of Johnson did not precipi- tate trouble until later, however.
 "Old Spec" or whatever the sitting hens name was, went to work a-stting and it is said she matched out the finest sort of a brood of little chickens. It is said that the shame of the whole matter
 
 chickens should figure even indirectly in the affair. But in any event the chickens were matched out and it Is understood that every last one of them Is getting along splendidly.
 Now it was soon claimed that John son had Smiths old hen and Smith had Johnson's halter There was the rub and it later grew to be quite serious one.
 It seems that Saturday Johnson went to Smith and asked him for "Old Spec" and MT Smith states that conversation to this effect followed:
 "Tm not going to give you your old hen until you give me my halter Smith said.
 "Its not your halter" Johnson is said to have replied.
 why isn't 1t mine? Didn't I buy the harness from you?"
 "Yes" replied Johnson, "but the halter was not included in the trade
 MT. Smith states that Johnson insisted on having his chicken and 1t seems that MT. Smith insisted on having his halter before surrendering the setting hen, and the whole matter came to a head right then and there.
 From all that could be learned 1t seems that the dispute about hen and halter oc- cured in a store conducted by MT. Smitb, and MT Smith says that Johnson got raw and he ordered him out. This evi- dently made Johnson sore and Smith