
Our editorial comment in August 
RECREATION on the murder, last spring, 
of Deputy Game Pro- 
tector I. Seeley Houk, 
of New Castle, Pa., 
may have brought 
forth some criticism, 
because we held that the attitude of the 
daily press and the general public 
toward the game warden and his work 
tends to incite the more brutal of his 
enemies to take his life. We think we 
succeeded pretty well in answering, in 
the November number, any such criti- 
cism. And if any of our readers wants 
further proof that we are right when 
we maintain that the game warden does 
not receive the support and protection 
that are his due as an overworked, un- 
derpaid and generally disliked worker 
in behalf of the public good, then we 
invite attention to the case of Deputy 
Commissioner of Fisheries and Game 
Adam Rausch, of Lawrence, Mass., 
who, on October 14, was shot, perhaps 
fatally, by Patrick Cahill, a farm em- 
ployee of Edward B. George, whose 
place is near Rowley. Cahill, with a 
companion, was found breaking the 
game law, and the shooting occurred 
when Deputy Rausch, with Deputy 
Commissioner Wm. W. Nixon of 
Gloucester, attempted to arrest the men. 
The story of the shooting, as published 
in the Gloucester (Mass.) News of 
October 15, is in substance as fol- 
lows :— | 
The 
Persecuted 
Game Warden 
It is alleged that when the two men drew 
near Rausch said that he and Nixon were 
officers, exhibited the badges and told the 
men that they were under arrest. It is 
alleged that Cahill then said, “You attempt 
to arrest me and I ’ll blow your brains out.” 
Rausch then seized: Cahill, this version of the 
affair says, and a slight tussle then ensued, 
at the end of which Cahill breaking away 
ran about 15 feet, then turned and discharged 
his shotgun at Rausch, inflicting the wounds. 
i ot ati hand then disappeared into the 
woods. 
And as to the effect of the shot, the 
Boston Globe of the same date says :— 
Arriving at the hospital, Rausch was 
thoroughly examined, and it was found that 
some of the shot had passed completely 
through his body, entering the breast near 
the top of the right lung and coming out at 
the back. His condition to-night was ex- 
tremely critical. 
Later examination by a Boston spe- 
cialist in the treatment of gun shot 
wounds resulted in the removal of two 
gun wads that had entered Rausch’s * 
right breast and traversed the ribs to 
find lodgment in the back. 
From a letter to RECREATION from 
the Massachusetts Department of Fish- 
eries and Game and dated October 23, 
we cull the following :— 
. Deputy Rausch has been well known 
to us aS a man of exemplary habits and ex- 
cellent judgment, and of keen enthusiasm 
for the protection of game. He has served 
as deputy since 1902 with marked success. 
There seems to be no shadow of excuse 
for the action of Cahill, who shot him. 
Neither Deputy Rausch nor Deputy Nixon 
had revolvers in their hands, and both showed 
their badges to the offenders. 
At the most, Cahill’s fine would have 
been $10, had he submitted to arrest. 
Did he take the chance of murdering 
the deputy commissioner because he did 
not want to pay a $10 fine? Well, 
hardly. Men do not take such a chance, 
and before witnesses, if the matter of a 
nominal fine is all that influences them. 
Cahill was actuated by hate—hate en- 
gendered in him, as it is in many of his 
