Sunday, January 24, 2010

From 1935: Jailed for Chicken Theft

This article is from exactly 75 years ago today, published in the January 24, 1935 Hartford Courant. I try to limit myself to one article per day for the 'this date in history' pieces, but there was no way for January 24th. I couldn't help myself, so you must endure both checkers and chicken today.
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Chicken thievery was a remarkably common topic for newspaper stories in the first 50 years of this century. Considering that today we can purchase a large chicken (live or dressed out) for about $5, I find the 3 and 6 month jail sentences remarkable. It speaks to the value of chickens in the depression.

I am curious what level of thievery would today net such a sentence.

1 comment:

  1. and with "urban chicken movement" bringing us back to our agrarian roots as backyard chicken keeping gets ever more popular, i also am curious - to see how that may play out.

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