The Great Chicken Scandal of 1877
A wave of missing poultry in early Seattle highlights the city's growing anxiety over poverty, xenophobia, and the 'vagabond' population of the waterfront.
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.
There have been many complaints of late from persons whose fowls are mysteriously disappearing. Last Saturday night quite a haul was made by the purloiners, and at different times this week. The chicken owners had thought some persons lacking these necessary helps for celebrating Thanksgiving were only providing for a proper observance of that holiday; but when one of our citizens awoke this morning to find a pair of his choice fowls gone, he concluded that Chinamen, who had no regard for the 'Melican' custom of observing Thanksgiving, were the abstractors. Now all will agree that Chinamen are natural born thieves, but as the most of these losses occur near the vagabond portion of our city, it may be that some of our white population without visible means of support are living on chickens these days.
“The chicken owners had thought some persons lacking these necessary helps for celebrating Thanksgiving were only providing for a proper observance of that holiday.”
The tone of this 1877 report captures the raw, prejudiced displacement of economic frustration onto marginalized groups—a recurring theme in Seattle's history. Just as current debates regarding homelessness and theft often scapegoat visible 'vagabonds' to avoid addressing structural poverty, this piece highlights how 19th-century residents used racism and class-based bias to explain away their neighborhood grievances.
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