50 GAME COMMISSIONS AND WARDENS. 



POWER TO REQUIRE AID. 



The game warden unaided may be physically powerless to execute 

 the process in his hands or to check violations of the law committed 

 in his presence. To provide for such contingencies Colorado, Min- 

 nesota, Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyo- 

 ming empower their wardens, or certain of them, to summon to their 

 aid any number of persons required. In Colorado the commissioner 

 or one of the chief wardens may, when such course is necessary, sum- 

 mon to his aid, or require the sheriff of the county to do so, a sufficient 

 number of persons to quell any unusual and ungovernable violation of 

 law. It is a violation of the act for any person, when summoned, to 

 fail to respond without good cause. Nevertheless, the commissioner 

 of that State, in his report for 1901 and 1902, questions the value of 

 this power and gives the result of his experience in attempting to put 

 it into operation in the fall of 1902, when he undertook to quell an 

 Indian raid in Rio Blanco County. He says: 



In October of last year [1901] I received information that the Indians were hunt- 

 ing in the vicinity of White River in Rio Blanco County. I went there and suc- 

 ceeded in arresting seven Indians who had in their possession a wagon load of ' jerked' 

 venison, one hundred and forty-odd deer hides, and some fawn and doe heads and 

 hides. The Indians, with their booty, were conveyed forthwith to Meeker, in Rio 

 Blanco County, and brought before a justice of the peace. A jury was called and 

 evidence presented which would convict in any other court in the land, but, for rea- 

 sons which at that time I did not understand, they were found not guilty. ... It 

 seems that the citizens, almost to a man, are opposed to these annual raids, but, as 

 it is taken for granted that they will continue, and that, as heretofore, no successful 

 measures will be taken to prevent them entirely, they are not inclined to incur the 

 enmity of the Indians. Many of the citizens have cattle and other property in the 

 localities where the Indians hunt and have frequent occasion to go there in person. . . . 



This year [1902] upon learning that the Indians were again making their appear- 

 ance I decided to visit their camps in person, with the view of persuading them to 

 go back peacefully. I encountered a number of them at Gillen Draw, in Rio Blanco 

 County, at about 10 o' clock in the forenoon of October 6. After they had learned 

 my business with them they agreed to go back to the reservation. It seems, how- 

 ever, that instead of returning, they found another band in the vicinity and imme- 

 diately followed my trail. Upon sight of me they began firing. I was shot in the 

 left side, the bullet shattering a portion of the seventh rib. While the wound was 

 painful, it was not serious, and I was still able to cling on my horse. Their fire was 

 returned by me, but with what result I do not know. Later my horse was shot 

 from under me, and I was compelled to seek shelter in the brush. The loss of blood 

 from the wound began to tell upon my strength by this time, and I was forced to 

 lie down. At daylight I made my way back to Rangely, and, after attending to my 

 wound, asked for volunteers to go with me to the scene of the encounter for the pur- 

 pose of getting my saddle and bridle. Some of the citizens of Rangely informed me 

 that they ' had lost no Indians,' and I found only one man . . . who was willing to 

 go with me. After securing the saddle and bridle, we learned from a number of 

 cowboys whom we met that the Indians were on their way back to the reservation. 



The history of this department during the past few years satisfies me that the 

 commissioner is not able to cope with these Indian depredations with the force at 

 his command. While the law intends that in such cases the commissioner may 



