282 
HARD BLOW TO GAME LAWS. 
The grand jury yesterday ignored charges against 
William T. Henderson of violations of the gare laws. 
This action is a blow to the efficacy of the stringent 
laws passed at the last legislature, at the instance of 
the Maryland Game and Fish Protective Association. 
Mr. Henderson was arrested for having in posses- 
sion rabbits, in violation of the game laws, He 
claims that the rabbits came from Virginia, where they 
were legally captured, and that to punish him for their 
possession would be a violation of the interstate com- 
merce law. By their action the members of the grand 
jury coincide with Mr. Henderson in this opinion.— 
Baltimore American: 
I referred the foregoing to Hon. John 
S. Wise, 30 Broad Street, who replies as 
follows: 
The decision rendered in the case against 
William T. Henderson is certainly con- 
trary to the holdings of the Supreme Court 
of the United States in the case of 
Bauman vs. Chicago, etc., Railroad Com- 
pany, 125 U..S. 465.- In that case it was 
held that, while a state cannot prohibit 
the transportation of legitimate articles of 
commerce into or through its territory, 
it may, under its police power, regulate the 
sale of such commodities within its limits. 
The same doctrine has been held in New 
York, Illinois and Missouri, and in Allen 
vs. Wickoff, 48 N. J. L., page 90, a similar 
law was sustained. 
In Missouri it has been expressly de- 
cided that it is not a defense to a prosecu- 
tion for selling game in violation of the 
state law prohibiting that kind of game 
to be sold during specific months, to show 
that the game was brought from another 
state: (See. State: vs. Randolph, 1 “Mo: 
App. I5.) Nae 
It is the same in Illinois (see Wagner 
vs. People, 97 Ill. 320.) 
In Michigan it was held that the pos- 
session of game during the prohibited 
period should be prima facie evidence of 
the violation of the law but that the de- 
fendant could clear himself by proving 
that the quail was killed in another state. 
This decision, however, turned upon the 
particular language in the Michigan stat- 
ute. (See People vs. McNeil, Chi. L. News 
II, September 15, 1808.) 
In England it was held to be no de- 
fense that the game was killed elsewhere. 
The court said: “The object is to prevent 
British wild fowl from being improperly 
killed and sold under pretence of their 
being imported from abroad,” and the de- 
fendant was convicted of having in his 
possession game imported from Holland. 
(See Whitehead vs. Smithers, 2 C. P. 
Div. 553.) I think the English case states 
the strength of the matter best. That rea- 
son is sufficient to justify the prohibition 
from selling game in the close season, no 
matter where it was killed. 
Yours truly, : 
Jno. S. Wise. 
RECREATION. 
A FAMOUS PAIR OF ANTLERS. 
Sixteen years ago in the headwaters of 
the Belle Fourche river in Wyoming was 
the finest hunting grounds in the North- 
west. The country was sparsely settled, 
yet the cowboy, the fore-runner of the 
pioneer, had learned the value of the nu- 
tritious grasses produced in those beau- 
tiful valleys, watered by the purest of 
mountain streams. 
Among the large ranch owners who 
were first to take. advantage of this favor- 
able locality was Bartlett Richards, 
now a citizen of Chadron, Neb., to whom 
I am indebted for my information. 
Organized hunting trips were not fre- 
quent in those days and only those who 
have since become famous as mountain 
guides seemed to have the hardihood to 
force their way into a country where the 
Indian was not the most dangerous sav- 
age. One of those, Hank Mason, who 
later met a tragic death, in the winter of 
1880-81 hunted in the Bear Lodge range, 
Northwest of the Black Hills and about 
20 -miles West of Devil Tower. While 
on one of his excursions he secured what 
is probably the finest pair of antlers in 
the United States, if not in the world. 
The head is that of a black tail deer, of 
which I send you a photograph.* It is sur- 
mounted by a pair of antlers having 44 
well defined points. It was impossible 
to get a picture showing them all as some 
project backward, while others pointed 
directly toward the camera. | 
In one of the London clubs is a pair 
of antlers known to have more points 
than this, but which, for size and sym- 
metry of form, can bear no comparison. 
This famous head is the property of 
Mr. Richards, and adorns the walls of the 
First National Bank. of Chadron, of 
which he is president. He has refused an 
offer of $250 for the head, but values it as 
a keepsake. 
A few years after Hank Mason secured 
this trophy he was hunting 20 miles South 
of Inyan Kara on the same range, and 
came in contact with a bear. A fierce 
hand-to-paw fight ensued in which the 
brave hunter met his death, not, how- 
ever, until his antagonist had received his 
death blow and both were found dead, 
within a few feet of each other. 
F. J. Houghton, Chadron, Neb. 

GAME NOTES. 
Your letter at hand. You have been ill 
informed. The duck story is all untrue. 
I was formerly a market hunter and saw 
the number of birds diminishing each year. 
Through the influence of RECREATION I 
sold my share in the club that I was a 
member of and quit the business for good. 
* Published on page 97 of August RECREATION. 

