116 REPORT OP THE PISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Cisco and Eaii Farnsworth for violation of section 626 ». Cisco and 

 Faruswortli resisted arrest and Rodolpli Avas shot in the back after 

 Farnsworth had been wounded by him. Rodolph died almost in- 

 stantly. Both Cisco and Farnsworth Avere charged with mni*der. 

 Cisco was discharged at the preliminary examination and Farnsworth 

 held for the murder. He was tried in Merced in June and was acquit- 

 ted by a jury. In our judgment the verdict was a gross miscarriage of 

 justice. Rodolph sacrificed his life in the service of tlie state and 

 should be enrolled among those to whom the state owes all honor. 



During the early summer of 1915, the H. N. Welch Company, a 

 corporation organized under the laws of the state of Utah, made 

 several shipments of trout from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Los Angeles, 

 that were not in accordance with the laws of the state of California. 

 These shipments were seized by deputies of the commission. The 

 Utah Company brought suit against the Fish and Game Commission 

 in the United States District Court at Los Angeles and asked for an 

 injunction restraining the commission from interfering in any way 

 with shipments of trout, contending that the act was unconstitutional, 

 citing numerous authorities in support of their contention. In June 

 their motion for a temporary injunction was argued and denied. Later 

 in the same month the whole action Avas dismissed. It was said that the 

 Welch companj^ would appeal to the Supreme Court, but this was never 

 done. 



This case was one of the most important that has come up in the 

 history of the commission. If the complainants had been upheld in 

 their contention, it would have been the most severe blow that could 

 have been given to the game interests of the state, as it would have 

 been necessary for the Fish and Game Commission to prove in every 

 instance that the game or fish possessed unlawfully was not brought 

 from without the state. 



A number of prosecutions have been begun against oil and gas com- 

 panies for polluting the public waters of the state and in almost all 

 instances the evil has been remedied by the companies. In cooperating 

 with the commission, companies have installed the latest devices to 

 prevent future pollution. 



This department has given many decisions interpreting the fish and 

 game laws of the state, and has written hundreds of letters answering 

 inquiries regarding the construction of the fish and game laws. 



During the two fiscal years just ended, the number of arrests was 

 2,087 and the number of convictions 1,747, or SS^V per cent con- 

 victions. The per centage of convictions for fish and game violations 

 is higher than any other class of cases of like degree. In all instances 

 of criminal violations of a particular class the imposition of punishment 



