The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-03-16
CHICKENS CHLOROFORMED
THIEVES WHO HAVE STOLE 5O,-
900 THUS KEEP THEM QUIET.
Reward of $1,000 BY Farmers For
Arrests and Convictions. Mount
ed Force Organized.

KANSAS CITY, Kan.-One thou
sand farmers and suburban home
owners in Wyandotte county, Kan
sas, have banded together to form
powerful anti-chicken thief society,
and a reward of $4,000 has been Of
fered for the arrest and conviction of
members of an organized gang of
chicken thieves who have in the last
few months robbed 1000 chicken
houses in the county and stolen So
coo chickens
If $4,000, which is offered as a re-
ward, is not enough more money will
be secured to pay for the prosecution
of the henhOuse marauders. Every
member of the newly organized So
ciety has pledged So, with the prom
Use of more if necessary, to be given
TO officers or citizens who capture
those who are stealing the chickens
There are many farmers in Wyan-
dotte county who make a speciality
of raising fine chickens and selling
settings of eggs. There are also in
the county men who moved outside
the city limits and bought small plots
Of ground where they could raise
their own chickens and avoid paying
the almost prohibitive prices which
the fowls are now bringing on the
market.
Almost every day the sheriff's office
had received reports of these men
finding their chicken houses empty
in the morning. Members of the
sheriff's force have stayed up all
night, securing roads in all parts of
the county, searching for the thieves,
but their efforts have been unre-
warded.
Country Police Force.
So the. farmers have organized and
resolved to make of themselves a
great country police force.
Every man who has a horse hangs
his saddle at the side of the manger
when he, retires for the night. If
chicken house near him is robbed
other members of the society in the
vicinity will be Immediately notified
by telephone. With the alacrity of
a member of a city fire department
p
from his bed, hastily don his clothing,
go to his stable, quickly saddle his
horse and, with a shotgun, ride at
a gallOp to the place which has been
robbed
Detailed plans have been made for
the guarding of every road in the
county by this rural mounted police
force after the news of a robbery has
been telephoned, and members of the
hot
thefts of chickens the thieves will be
caught,
Well Organized Band.
THAT the chicken stealing is being
carried on by we'll organized band
of men is apparent from the methods
they use and the care in which their
plans are carried out. The chickens
are chlorof0rmed while they are at
roOst, SO no noise will be made, and
then are placed in sacks and hauled
away in wagons. 1t is believed that
one gang of the thieves, with one
wagon, rObs many places in one
Right. There are several wagons OPP
Grating, however, it is thought, be-
cause robberies have occurred in all
parts of the county the same night,
and in every case the attendant cir
eumstances were the same.
Frank Rholencoe, farmer a mile
west of the city, was awakened at
night by noise at the rear of his
house. He hurriedly dressed and
went out, just in time to see a wagon
in which three men were riding run
ming across a field toward the road.
Eighty Plymouth Rocks Gone.
Rholencoe went to his chicken
house, and the building that six hours
before had contained so fine Ply
mouth Rocks was found to be empty
The farmer noticed a peculiar odor
about the place, and, securing a Ian
tern, investigated. He found a large
cloth on the floor of the chicken
house. The cloth was damp and
smelled strongly of chloroform. The
thieves had evidently thrown the
elo1h, saturated with chloroform, in