The Chicken Yard Brawl
A trespassing dispute in the Walla Walla addition escalates from fence-line bickering to a public wrestling match.
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.
C. K. Lukoski, who lives in the Walla Walla addition, yesterday swore out warrants before Justice Humphrey for the arrest of Perry Thompson and Mrs. Philip Neary, two neighbors, on a charge of committing assault and battery on his wife. His story is that Mrs. Neary's chickens had been trespassing on his premises and became so annoying that sticks and stones had to be brought into use to remind them of the fact that they were intruders. This angered Mrs. Neary and on Saturday when Mrs. Lukoski stepped out on the street to buy some meat from a market wagon, Mrs. Neary flew at her. A rough and tumble fight ensued, in which Mrs. Lukoski was getting decidedly the worst of it, Mrs. Neary pulling her hair and battering her about in the dust. Lukoski came to the rescue, with the result that Thompson jumped onto him and gave him a thumping.
“Mrs. Neary flew at her. A rough and tumble fight ensued, in which Mrs. Lukoski was getting decidedly the worst of it.”
Fences, pets, and property lines remain the fundamental cause of neighborly strife in Seattle. This 1891 incident serves as a reminder that before high-density urban living, suburban neighborhood boundary disputes could turn into physical altercations just as quickly as they might today involve a heated Nextdoor thread.
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