398 



RECREATION. 



gun would be a disgrace to the nation, 

 and its introduction should be prohib- 

 ited by law. This may not be, but the 

 sale of any such weapon, to decent 

 men, can be prevented by the creation 

 of a proper public sentiment. 



I appeal to all readers of Recrea- 

 tion to write at once to the company 

 mentioned, stating that they will 

 never buy or use an automatic gun ; 

 that they will discourage its use by 

 others in every legitimate way; and 

 that they will not associate with any 

 man who may use such a weapon. 



Will every woman who loves the 

 birds write and protest, in the name 

 of decency and of humanity, against 

 the making and selling of any such 

 weapon ? 



Here is a chance to strike a telling 

 blow for the protection of our birds, 

 and I trust no friend of the birds or 

 the wild animals will let the opportu- 

 nity pass, no matter how busy he or 

 she may be. When you write this 

 company send me a copy of your 

 letter, in order that I may print as 

 many such protests as possible. 



A JURYMAN IN THE JUG. 



As stated in September Recreation, 

 Chris McLain, his son and 3 other men 

 were discovered by Game Warden B. B. 

 Spafford, of Cadillac, Mich., spearing fish 

 at night in a lake near Frankfort. Spaf- 

 ford ordered the men to surrender, when 

 McLain attacked him with a spear and 

 Spafford shot and killed McLain. Spaf- 

 ford was arrested, charged with the killing, 

 and claimed that he fired in self defense. 

 He was, however, convicted of manslaugh- 

 ter and released on bail, pending sentence. 



Now comes the sequel. R. M. Thomas, 

 of Thompsonville, Mich., was impaneled as 



one of the jurymen to try Spafford and in 

 common with the other 11 men was placed 

 under oath and asked whether he had 

 formed or expressed any opinion as. to the 

 guilt or innocence of the accused. He re- 

 plied that he had not, and that he could 

 legally sit on the jury and render an im- 

 partial verdict. After the trial, neighbors 

 informed Game Warden Brewster they had 

 heard Thomas express the opinion that 

 Spafford was guilty of murder. One man, 

 a banker, swore Thomas had said in his 

 presence that Spafford should be sent over 

 the road and that he, Thomas, would like 

 to sit on a jury to send him to hell. 



Other of Thomas' neighbors made simi- 

 lar affidavits and as a result, Game Warden 

 Brewster arrested Thomas on a charge of 

 perjury. At the present writing, there is 

 an excellent prospect that Thomas will get 

 quarters at the prison he tried to send 

 Spafford to. Meantime, Governor Bliss has 

 pardoned Spafford. 



There is among the farmers of Michigan, 

 as among those of many other States, a 

 great deal of hostility to the game laws. 

 Much of this is due to ignorance of the 

 real value of living wild animals and birds 

 to the farmers. Many of these men want 

 the privilege of killing game at any time 

 of year. Still, when a man becomes so bit- 

 ter in his opposition to game laws that he 

 will swear to a lie in order to get on a jury 

 to send a game warden to prison, he is 

 carrying his opposition about an inch too 

 far, and I hope Thomas may get at least 5 

 years. 



SHALL I PRINT MY OWN STORIES? 



When I established Recreation, 9 years 

 ago, I determined not to write anything for 

 it other than short editorial paragraphs, 

 and only such of these as conditions might 

 render necessary. I told my friends I 

 should not burden them with any long 

 winded stories of my own, but that I 

 should let other people do all the talking 

 of that class. I adhered to this rule strictly 

 until a year ago, when I visited the Sel- 

 kirk mountains and made a study of the 

 snow slides that occur there. I made a lot 

 of photographs of them and wrote an article, 

 with the intention of selling it to some other 

 publisher; but in talking of the subject 

 with some of my friends, they persuaded 

 me, against my own judgment, to print the 

 article in Recreation. Much to my sur- 

 prise, however, few of my readers objected, 

 and some of them even claimed to be 

 pleased with the story. A few have gone so 

 far as to ask me to do it again. 



And I have done so. 



I spent all of last summer in the Cana- 

 dian Northwest, flitting about among the 

 high tops of the Continental Divide. Of 



