Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1915 — BAGG’S HENS ELOPE WITH BINN’S GEESE [ARTICLE]

BAGG’S HENS ELOPE WITH BINN’S GEESE

Padlocks and Burglar Alarm Proving of No Avail, He Goes on a Still Hunt. Rome, N. Y. —Mystery surrounded the disappearance of about fifty of the choicest fowls on the poultry farm of Geo. Bagg, at Brewerton, on Oneida Lake. Twenty hens were taken a few weeks ago; soon afterward about twenty more joined the missing. The poultry house was double padlocked, a home-made burglar alarm was used, and still the poultry seemed to melt away. There were no traces of predatory animals, and the superstitious wagged their heads, while Mr. Bagg was in despair. A few days ago he put in the day hiding in some bushes midway between his poultry yard and the nearby banks of the river which flow’s into Oneida Lake. As he watched, the mystery was solved. Four unusually large geese from the farm of Frank Binn, across the river, had been fraternizing with the Bagg hens all summer and been enticing them to leave their home and go over to the other farm. These geese were seen solemnly waddling down to the water, followed by several hens. When the geese stepped into the river a hen would flutter a few feet up and down the bank and then with a squawk would fly or hop onto the back of a goose. Then, squatting contentedly, the fowls were carried over to the Binns farm. There Mr. Bagg found his missing hens, the geese having carried them all over on their backs.