102 Years Ago
The November 23, 1922 Colorado Transcript reported that Andrew Anderson, a Jefferson County farmer, had been acquitted of murder.
Anderson had been losing chickens lately, so he set up an alarm system that would ring a bell when anyone entered his yard. The bell rang one night, so Anderson got out of bed and armed himself with a shotgun. He went out and saw a man emerging from his poultry house with a bag full of chickens. He ordered the man to stop. The man ran instead, so Anderson shot him. He died within hours.
Four months later, Anderson stood trial for murder. He represented himself, and apparently did an effective job. The jury debated for only 10 minutes before declaring him not guilty. It was a bad time and place to be a chicken thief.
Thank you to Wendy Weiman for sponsoring Golden History Moments for the month of November.
