Cheshire Chicken Returned to Roost

By Justin Saldo
iBerkshires Intern
09:00PM / Monday, August 04, 2008

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CHESHIRE — The beloved Cheshire Chicken that was stolen last week was returned Monday after the owners were tipped off that the abducted fowl was being held somewhere off Fisk Road in Adams.

"I got a phone call around 8:30 a.m. and from there I contacted the police," said owner Elaine Daniels. The anonymous tipster apparently overheard someone talking about the 8-foot fiberglass chicken in a local bar.

By noontime, the police had pinpointed the location of the flightless bird and informed the Daniels family that they had found it. The perpetrator drove to the rooster's home at Rolling Acres Farm and confessed the deed at 5 p.m.

By 6, the guilty party had returned the landmark chicken in one piece but with scrapes, cracks and a dozen arrow holes dotting its body.

The Cheshire Chicken shows signs of damage after being used for target practice.

Elaine and John Daniels and Officer Gene Pierce pose with the purloined poultry.

"The chicken has been taken many times throughout its 40-year lifespan," said John Daniels. "Most of the time it was just for harmless pranks and was returned shortly after undamaged but this seemed to be a different story."  

Daniels' father, the late Harvey Daniels, had purchased the rooster back in the late 1960s to advertise his Chicken Stop restaurant on Route 8. The big white rooster remained there for decades, first on a concrete pedestal and later on the roof of the Chicken Stop's successor, the County Charm Restaurant.

The restaurant closed several years ago and was sold at auction last week. The Daniels family bought the rooster back from the restaurant's current owner, patched it up and painted. It made its debut in a place of honor, bolted to the pavement next to the farm's massive red barn, for a birthday party more than a week ago.

The rooster was taken at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday; no one in the main farmhouse or the rental properties nearby heard anything. The chicken thief claimed that the arrow holes were not of his doing and had occurred sometime within the course of the chicken's five-day ordeal without his knowledge.

Initially, the Daniels intended to press charges for the "malicious act of vandalism" but agreed not to pursue the issue further because the culprit was a minor and had agreed to make reparations for the damages.  

"I understand what it is to be to be that age and to have all that pent up energy," said Daniels. "I did some crazy things; stealing was never one them. Still, I wouldn't want to have a record at that age." 

The young man was also made to apologize to Bernice "Bennie" Madigan, a relative of the Daniels family and resident of the farm who recently turned 109. 

"I was relieved that it's back," said Madigan. "I'm glad that he was brave enough to admit to the crime because the incident did scare me."

The Danielses expected to work out an agreement with the teenager on compensation for the damages. 

"If the culprit does not make restitution, it is fully within the Danielses' right to press charges," said Police Officer Gene Pierce, who was on scene when the chicken was returned.

For now, the Cheshire Chicken will be tucked away someplace safe, said Elaine Daniels. "We're just glad to have him back."

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