The Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves
Encyclopedia
The Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves is "the oldest continually existing horse thief
apprehending organization in the United States
, and one of Dedham
’s most venerable social organizations." The club claims that since its founding there have been more than 10,000 members including Mikhail Gorbachev
, Pope
s, George Armstrong Custer
, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
and every recent president of the United States
save for Jimmy Carter
. The membership has been described as "the pillars of society" and includes the "very flower and pick of the vigor, manhood and rising youth of the vicinity." It has also been said that "for sheer whimsy, the Society... is without peer."
Applications for membership in the Society must be approved by a majority vote by current members and a "controversial nomination years ago of Ayatollah Khamenei
of Iran
was not seconded." Today it is a tax exempt non profit organization.
came together to combat the rash of horse thievery that was afflicting their community. Thirteen men first met on June 4, 1810, at Marsh’s Tavern on Court Street and opened a subscription list, noting that
In 1832 the Society opened a bank account at the Dedham Institution for Savings and the account remains open today, and the bank claims that the account "may be the oldest continuously active account in the United States."
is a member, though when a reporter asked him he said he had never heard of the Society.
Membership was originally limited to residents of Dedham but restrictions were loosened over the years to limit membership to residents of Norfolk County
; or to residents of Norfolk and Suffolk
Counties; or to persons resident within a 20-mile radius of the Norfolk County Courthouse; or to residents of Dedham, Norwood
, Westwood
, or Dover
. Eventually all residency restrictions were lifted. The club's website claims that Robert Ripley
of Ripley's Believe It or Not!
fame had applied for membership before this restriction was eliminated, and the clerk-treasurer returned his application with a note rejecting his application.
was the keynote speakers at the annual dinner in 1908. He spoke on the poetry of Robert Browning
and said "a more refined and intelligent audience I never saw." He reported that the membership was limited to 350 men and that there was a perpetual waiting list to join with "the slighest fleck on your social record" being cause to be rejected.
Eventually the meetings moved to the old high school around the time of the First World War and then to the current high school when it was constructed in the 1960s. For at least one year, in 1956, it met at Memorial Hall, where the Police Station now stands. While alcohol was forbidden in the schools it was a convenient set up with both a cafeteria and an auditorium and surprise was expressed yearly at the variety of colors of "water" in glasses. Attendance steadily increased at the annual meeting and beginning in the 1970s the organization met at Moseley’s on the Charles.
The last time a horse was stolen in Dedham was in 1909, though a number of pranks between members set off false alarms after that. In 1906 another animal was stolen, the alarm was raised, fliers were distributed, and members set off in motor cars, but they failed to find the stolen horse. The clerk of the society reported at the annual meeting that though the animal was not recovered, it was not for a lack of trying:
The Society has spawned imitators, with The Society in Hampton Beach for the Apprehension of Those Falsely Accusing Eunice (Goody) Cole of Having Familiarity with the Devil having been formed in 1936 in direct response to learning about the Society in Dedham.
Horse thief
-United States:The term horse thief came into great popularity in the U.S. during the 19th century. During that time the Great Plains states, Texas, and other western states were sparsely populated and negligibly policed. As farmers tilled the land and migrants headed west through the Great...
apprehending organization in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and one of Dedham
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...
’s most venerable social organizations." The club claims that since its founding there have been more than 10,000 members including Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
s, George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
Louis Brandeis
Louis Dembitz Brandeis ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents who raised him in a secular mode...
and every recent president of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
save for Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. The membership has been described as "the pillars of society" and includes the "very flower and pick of the vigor, manhood and rising youth of the vicinity." It has also been said that "for sheer whimsy, the Society... is without peer."
Applications for membership in the Society must be approved by a majority vote by current members and a "controversial nomination years ago of Ayatollah Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
was not seconded." Today it is a tax exempt non profit organization.
Early years
At the turn of the 19th century the citizens of Dedham, MassachusettsDedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...
came together to combat the rash of horse thievery that was afflicting their community. Thirteen men first met on June 4, 1810, at Marsh’s Tavern on Court Street and opened a subscription list, noting that
The great number of horses stolen from amongst us and in our vicinity is truly alarming, and calls for the attention of every well-disposed Citizen. It is evident that there has been, and probably will continue, a combination of Villains through the northern states to carry into effect this malignant design, and their frequent escape from the hand of justice stimulates them to that atrocious practice. And as that kind of property is most liable to be carried out of our knowledge, it requires the utmost exertion of every good member of society, to baffle and suppress depredations of this kind...
In 1832 the Society opened a bank account at the Dedham Institution for Savings and the account remains open today, and the bank claims that the account "may be the oldest continuously active account in the United States."
Membership
Anyone may be nominated for membership so long as the $10 membership fee is paid. The person receiving honor of the membership in the society need not even know that they had been nominated. Robert Hanson, who has followed in the steps of his father and grandfather as clerk-treasurer of the Society, has said "I've always wondered what the reaction in the Vatican mail room is when they open the envelope and see the certificate." Former Massachusetts governor Michael DukakisMichael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...
is a member, though when a reporter asked him he said he had never heard of the Society.
Membership was originally limited to residents of Dedham but restrictions were loosened over the years to limit membership to residents of Norfolk County
Norfolk County, Massachusetts
-National protected areas:* Adams National Historical Park* Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area * Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site* John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site-Demographics:...
; or to residents of Norfolk and Suffolk
Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Suffolk County has no land border with Plymouth County to its southeast, but the two counties share a water boundary in the middle of Massachusetts Bay.-National protected areas:*Boston African American National Historic Site...
Counties; or to persons resident within a 20-mile radius of the Norfolk County Courthouse; or to residents of Dedham, Norwood
Norwood, Massachusetts
Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,602. The community was named after Norwood, England...
, Westwood
Westwood, Massachusetts
Westwood is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 14,618 at the 2010 census. In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Westwood 13th on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States. Boston Magazine listed Gay Street in Westwood on its...
, or Dover
Dover, Massachusetts
Dover is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,589 at the 2010 census.Located about southwest of downtown Boston, Dover is a residential town nestled on the south banks of the Charles River. Almost all of the residential zoning requires or larger...
. Eventually all residency restrictions were lifted. The club's website claims that Robert Ripley
Robert Ripley
Robert LeRoy Ripley was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur and amateur anthropologist, who created the world famous Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, radio show, and television show which feature odd 'facts' from around the world.Subjects covered in Ripley's cartoons and text...
of Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Ripley's Believe It or Not! is a franchise, founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims...
fame had applied for membership before this restriction was eliminated, and the clerk-treasurer returned his application with a note rejecting his application.
Dear Mr. Ripley:
Since you are not a resident of Dedham (or Norwood, or Westwood, or Dover, or Norfolk County, of Suffolk County), you cannot join our Society.
Believe it or not,
Charles M. Gibson.
20th century
The organization met in a variety of taverns around town throughout the years, and in 1899, under the guidance of its new president, Dr. Edward Knobel, its annual meeting became a social event with dinner, drink and entertainment. Elbert HubbardElbert Hubbard
Elbert Green Hubbard was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he met early success as a traveling salesman with the Larkin soap company. Today Hubbard is mostly known as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, New York, an...
was the keynote speakers at the annual dinner in 1908. He spoke on the poetry of Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
and said "a more refined and intelligent audience I never saw." He reported that the membership was limited to 350 men and that there was a perpetual waiting list to join with "the slighest fleck on your social record" being cause to be rejected.
Eventually the meetings moved to the old high school around the time of the First World War and then to the current high school when it was constructed in the 1960s. For at least one year, in 1956, it met at Memorial Hall, where the Police Station now stands. While alcohol was forbidden in the schools it was a convenient set up with both a cafeteria and an auditorium and surprise was expressed yearly at the variety of colors of "water" in glasses. Attendance steadily increased at the annual meeting and beginning in the 1970s the organization met at Moseley’s on the Charles.
The last time a horse was stolen in Dedham was in 1909, though a number of pranks between members set off false alarms after that. In 1906 another animal was stolen, the alarm was raised, fliers were distributed, and members set off in motor cars, but they failed to find the stolen horse. The clerk of the society reported at the annual meeting that though the animal was not recovered, it was not for a lack of trying:
"It is only fair to the Riders of this Society to state that the owner of the horse even consulted mediums in his efforts to find the horse. This only proves that our Riders did their full duty, as the horse could not be found."
The Society has spawned imitators, with The Society in Hampton Beach for the Apprehension of Those Falsely Accusing Eunice (Goody) Cole of Having Familiarity with the Devil having been formed in 1936 in direct response to learning about the Society in Dedham.
21st century
The annual meeting of the Society takes place on the first Tuesday of December each year. At the 192nd annual meeting in 2002 "more than 200 proud members... toasted their success last night at their annual meeting, a bacchanalian affair featuring bad jokes, old-time music, a generous amount of both spirit and spirits and a virtual who's who of political and business life." In 2007 members came from as far away as California, just to attend the dinner.