The Sumner Chicken Thieves
A band of seven men accused of intimidating locals and raiding rural chicken coops in Sumner are hauled off to the county jail.
Sheriff Denholm and Deputy Doten returned last night from Sumner with seven men of doubtful occupation who had been arrested by Marshal Snell and sentenced to ten days in the county jail by Justice Thompson. It is said that the men had been hanging around Sumner for several days, sleeping in neighboring barns at night, and had kept the people in the outskirts of the town in a state of terror. Their entire possessions consisted of a frying pan and a can. To get food, they took the census of various chicken coops, leaving one inhabitant slum after each visit, and broke into cellars and winter gardens. Though none of them carried a gun, it is said that they would line up across the road on the approach of a stranger and intimidate him into giving them money. Not until they showed a disposition to do some bodily harm were they arrested. They gave the following names: John Van Horn, Ed Hwambo, J.C. Gain, Tom O'Brien, George Harris, C.P. Dwyer, and John Walden.
“To get food, they took the census of various chicken coops, leaving one inhabitant slum after each visit.”
This account reflects the historical criminalization of transient labor during economic downturns, framing men without work as a 'terror' to suburban life. The tension between local property owners and those forced to survive by wandering remains a recurring theme in Washington’s regional politics.
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