It was December of 1851, and a boy named Edmund Griffin was walking past a market on Columbia Street in Brooklyn, when he saw something that made him stop right there and make a bold action.There, outside the market, were three chickens - plucked clean of their feathers. And it was very cold, of course, since it was only a few days before Christmas.
Edmund felt sorry for the chickens and immediately thought: I will take these chickens home and dress them in some nice warm clothes. So he took the three chickens in his arms and set off for home.Unfortunately a police officer nearby misinterpreted Edmund's kind gesture, thinking that he "had meant to convert them into a Christmas pie." And thus, Edmund was arrested at once for stealing. Do you think Edmund was really stealing the chickens, or was he going to rescue them and put little wool coats and hats on them? I like to think the latter, but you never know.
I wonder if Justice King let Edmund go? And whatever happened to the chickens?
Story from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 22, 1851, p. 3. Rooster picture from NYPL Digital Gallery. The little girl and chicken is from a Christmas card, from NYPL Digital Gallery.
5 comments:
Oh, Lidian. You have left us "hanging." What did Justice King do with the kind-hearted well-intentioned Master Griffin?
vanilla - I am left hanging too! I checked the Eagle very carefully for a follow-up, I really wanted to know - but they never mentioned the story again.
I think the judge would have let him off with a little lecture or something :)
I hope he just wanted to give them sweaters, but you never know :)
If he'd been a little boy in Victorian London, I'm fairly sure I know what he was intending to do with the chickens. I wonder if Brooklyn kids from the same time were more honest. :)
Amanda - I hope so too :)
Richard - Well, they varied. There were good kids and rapscallions. Not sure where Edmund fell on the rapscallion scale.
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