Police Crack Down on Melon Patch Marauders
Local authorities take action to stop the 'outrage' of systematic melon theft in Kennewick's farming district.
James Connelly and C. C. Hyford were arrested by Joe Holszeg and brought before Police Justice Richardson on the charge of stealing melons and were fined $5 and costs, which they paid. The stealing and destroying of melons in the patch east of town has been an outrage. It is hoped that this action of the court will check these depredations.
“The stealing and destroying of melons in the patch east of town has been an outrage.”
This reflects the tensions inherent in a booming agrarian town where the property rights of orchardists and farmers were strictly policed against 'depredations.' Such disputes over agricultural goods often marked the early civic boundaries of land ownership in the Columbia Basin.
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