The Policeman and the Neighbor's Chickens
A Seattle patrolman faced bizarre, whimsical charges of luring neighbors' hens onto his property to 'tax' their egg production.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Charges were preferred against 'Long John' Kelly, a patrolman, which provided the crowd at the police commission meeting considerable amusement. Mary Weix, wife of the proprietor of the Westminster restaurant on Front Street, swore that Kelly had repeatedly slandered their business. More notably, she alleged that while on duty, Kelly boasted of his method for obtaining fresh eggs. He claimed that he owned a lot on or near Yesler Avenue where the sidewalk was raised above his property. By scattering feed and building nests on his lot, he successfully tolled his neighbors' chickens into his yard, boasting that he could obtain as many as thirteen eggs a day from these borrowed hens. The commissioners dismissed the charges without investigation.
“He had obtained as many as thirteen eggs a day from those hens, and he had a nice time eating those fresh eggs.”
This odd tale from 1892 paints a vivid picture of early Seattle's 'frontier-style' bureaucracy, where neighbors' complaints about theft often centered on the livestock that roamed the city's regraded streets. It reflects an era when Seattle was transitioning from a chaotic boomtown to a more regulated city, yet local grievances still retained a charming, if litigious, flavor.
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