Mr. Herman Montgomery’s Hen Coop

Jan 1941

Arrested in Almonte Saturday night for being drunk and later, charged with stealing a chicken from Mr. Herman Montgomery’s hen coop, a local man appeared before the District Magistrate in Perth on Tuesday to answer these accusations. He was fined $10 and $7.50 costs when he pleaded guilty to being intoxicated in public and elected the alternative of ten days in the county jail.

On the charge of stealing the chicken sentence was suspended, the Magistrate taking the view that the man was scarcely responsible for his actions in his condition. It is said that Chief Norman Green pinned the theft charge on the guilty one when he found that he had only one rubber and that it corresponded with a similar article of footwear left behind in the hen coop as a calling card.

The hen, which was alive when recovered, was deposited in a local butcher shop until returned to its owner. While there it laid an egg which showed it was not unduly perturbed over its experience. The guilty one professed to be suffering from temporary amnesia as he could not remember visiting the chicken pen.