After a chicken thief helped himself to the flock of Edward John Watson, a 61-year-old watchmaker who ran a large acreage on Hopkins Avenue in Johnston, Edward became determined to catch the culprit before he successfully struck again.

The week prior, someone had broken into his poultry houses and removed 50 of Edward’s hens. He thereby decided to set-up a booby trap which would ensnare any future or returning thief. The farmer attached a wire to the door of the hen roost and connected the wire to a self-cocking revolver which would go off in the event someone opened the door, thereby awakening Edward from his sleep so that he could run out and confront the intruder.

Shortly after darkness fell on May 23, 1899, Edward and his 57-year-old wife, Lydia Ann (Dolbey), retired for the evening. Their 21-year-old son Albert and a live-in farmhand, 15-year-old Elmer Wade, also went to bed. The clock had not yet struck 11:00 when Edward was awakened by a noise outside. He quickly crawled out of bed and made his way through the darkness to his son’s room.

“I think I just heard the pistol go off at the coop!” he said.

Alfred sprang from bed as Edward roused his young farmhand.

The three men ran out of the house into the shadowed night. The poultry houses were located some distance away which required venturing down the hill on the other side of the road, past the pond, to the wire-enclosed area behind the barn. There, the poultry yard and its houses were apparently in the process of being tampered with.

Being younger and spryer, and knowing there was no time to waste if they wanted to catch a thief, Albert and Elmer ran ahead of Edward. Elmer was carrying a double-barreled shotgun.

Edward made no attempt to follow the boys. While they ran across the road and toward the right side of the property, Edward kept a straight path, climbing over the stone wall across the road. The older man ran across the cornfield and came out right next to the barn. He stealthily made his way around to the back of the barn. From there, he heard what sounded like someone moving around inside one of the poultry houses. Standing as near to the poultry yard as possible while keeping out of sight, he silently waited for the intruder to emerge.

Coming up around the side of the barn, Elmer and Albert saw the shadowy figure of a man lurking there.

“There he is!” Albert called out. “Shoot!”

Elmer raised his gun, aimed it at the figure and fired both barrels at close range, sending four charges of shot into his employer.

Edward felt the charge rip through his right eye and graze his left. His left arm, between the elbow and wrist, was then checkered with wounds just before another charge entered his chest. The fourth charge entered and exited the areas of his abdomen and hip.

The mistake, though horrific, couldn’t be undone. The boys had mistaken Edward for the chicken thief. As they at-tempted to overcome the shock from the act they had just committed, Edward staggered to and fro, the blood from his wounds spattering upon the bare ground. They lifted the suffering man into their arms and carried him back to the farmhouse.

Although the vision in his right eye had been permanently destroyed and his intestines had been seriously injured, Edward survived the terrifying assault. He lived for twelve more years, until Sept. 20, 1911, when he succumbed to rectal cancer. He and his wife are buried in Pocasset Cemetery in Cranston.

Kelly Sullivan is a Rhode Island columnist, lecturer and author.