Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on December 5, 1935.
WOMAN CHICK THIEF GETS 6 MONTHS TERM
Chicken stealing in Porter county was given a rude setback Wednesday with the conviction of two arch offenders, one in the Porter superior court, and the other in Jasper circuit court at Rensselaer.
Mrs. Marilyn Gaylord, […] twenty-three years, and styled “the queen of the chicken thieves,” was sentenced to six months in the Indiana Women’s prison at Indianapolis by Judge Mark B. Rockwell in Porter superior court on her plea of guilty.
She, with a male companion, who is still at large, is believed to have attempted a burglary of the Otto Jardine hennery in Jackson township on July 3 last.
Surprised in the act by Mr. Jardone, the couple pulled guns on Jardine, relieved him of his shotgun, and then locked him in the chicken coop, making their escape.
Mrs. Gaylord, who claims Seattle, Wash., as her home, was arrested in Lake county by Sheriff Neil Fry and Chief Deputy Sheriff Carl Herron, who had been working on the case.
Desco McBride, age 40, who admitted stealing chickens in Porter county, was sentenced to one to ten years in Michigan City prison by Judge Moses Leopold at Rensselaer.
McBride was apprehended in LaPorte county by authorities after officers had been tipped off by a Valparaiso dealer to whom he had sold chickens.
He was accused of stealing a quantity of chickens from a farmer living near Rensselaer. The farmer identified a number of fowls found on McBride’s farm on State Road 6, near the LaPorte-Porter county line, as those taken from his hennery.
McBride moved to his present location in April and last year was arrested at Troy, Mich., for grain thefts.
To Sheriff Fry he admitted having stolen some chicken in Porter county.
