Editor’s note: Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers! And, while we acknowledge that everyone has their own way of celebrating, we doubt if too many of our readers will be kicking off Thanksgiving festivities as did these Vermonters precisely a century ago.

Scramble for Turkey

Brattleboro Merchant Releases Fowls in Street

Brattleboro, Nov. 26 — More than 500 men and boys crowded into the street tonight in spite of the hard rain to undertake to catch a turkey and two roosters released from the second story window of the Crosby block by the proprietor of the Brattleboro China store.

There was not much difficulty in catching these birds as they flew down to the crowd, but a dispute arose as to who caught the turkey, at least three getting hold of him. Finally, Chief of Police George Wilson intervened and after the dispute had narrowed down to two young men, he flipped a coin to determine the winner and Charles Wilder, employed at the Crosby Grain Elevator, marched off with the bird.

Originally published in The Bennington Evening Banner, November 28, 1919