282 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



not a gauge of the eflSeiency of a police force. The open 

 selling of deceptive imitation butter has been suppressed, 

 but as the illegal traffic in this imitation product is crowded 

 into more limited quarters, the amount of detective work 

 necessary to secure evidence of a violated law is largely 

 increased. We have this year convicted some persistent 

 violators of the law, in some cases driving them out of the 

 Commonwealth. To bring this about necessitated in some 

 cases weeks of careful work. One case in particular was of 

 more than ordinary interest, and illustrates the difficulties 

 attending the work and the chances that the greed of gain 

 will lead unscrupulous persons to take. 



Complaint came to us early in the year from a town in 

 Middlesex County that a peddler had been through the town 

 selling what purported to be Vermont creamery butter at a 

 low price. Samples were secured, analyses made, and the 

 article was found to be oleomargarine, which had been sold 

 as butter from tubs labelled creamery butter, the United States 

 revenue stamps and brands having been removed. We had 

 no knowledge of the name of the party, his residence or his 

 routes, and a number of months' work was necessary in order 

 to supply this information. We found he had several teams 

 and men, and was doing a large business. Then it was 

 necessary to locate him somewhere, and get legal evidence 

 of violation of law from samples whose identity could be 

 positively traced. Then came warrants for his arrest, and, 

 having obtained these, it was again necessary to find where 

 he was to be at some particular time, and to have officers 

 there to serve the papers upon him. We had learned that he 

 was an athletic fellow, given to boasting of his strength, and 

 as a matter of precaution six officers were detailed to sur- 

 round the house in which he lived, and arrest him. He gave 

 two of the officers a rough-and-tumble chase, but they se- 

 cured him. Taken into court, he was found guilty, and paid 

 two hundred dollars, other cases being held against him for 

 good behavior. It was not long, however, before he was 

 heard of at his old tricks, and after a number of weeks' work 

 was located and re-arrested. This time he gave two officers 

 a long chase, and was not taken until shots had been fired. 

 Detained in the lockup at South Framingham, he managed to 



