FISH AND FISHING. 



A REVEREND SINNER PUNISHED. 



The facts in re State against Rev. W. H.. 

 Stone, of Elysian, Le Sueur county, Minn., 

 are as follows: About the 20th of July 

 my wife, daughter and I went to Elysian 

 to enjoy a few days' fishing on Lake Fran- 

 cis, a comparatively small lake, but one 

 of the prettiest bodies of water in the 

 State and a favorite resort for bass fish- 

 ing. The 23d was excessively hot and my 

 folks preferred the shaded woods to the 

 scorching sun, so they remained ashore 

 while I employed a boatman and went fish- 

 ing. We went out about 7 in the morn- 

 ing and found this man Stone comfortably 

 anchored in a choice spot with a boat that 

 looked like a protected cruiser. In addi- 

 tion to his casting rod he was using 4 

 extra rods; and as fuither evidence of his 

 porcine character he had extra baited hooks 

 on his extra lines. This was shown when- 

 ever he landed a fish ; and he secured 

 some large bass while I took in the situa- 

 tion. I did not know the man, but ascer- 

 tained his name; and when I found he was 

 a resident of that place I decided to enlist 

 the services of the county attorney before 

 taking any steps in the matter. We re- 

 mained on the lake about 2 hours. When 

 we left he was still performing with his 

 formidable array of tackle and did not even 

 take a recess for lunch. We were out 2 

 hours again in the afternoon and he was 

 still there when I left preparatory to tak- 

 ing the 6 o'clock train. I learned that was 

 his usual custom, and that he generally took 

 his dinner with him and fished all day 

 without intermission. It is quite clear that 

 he and his family could not possibly use 

 all the fish obtained by his operations, and 

 it is equally clear that he was not fishing 

 simply for pleasure. 



Immediately on my return home I com- 

 municated the facts to Mr. Fullerton, exe- 

 cutive agent, and to the county attorney 

 of Le Sueur county and told them I wished 

 to make complaint and have Mr. Stone 

 prosecuted. Mr. Fullerton was much 

 pleased with the notion, but as the county 

 attorney was absent from home my first 

 letter was mislaid. After waiting a rea- 

 sonable time I again wrote him, offering to 

 prepare the complaint and warrant and go 

 before any justice he might name to make 

 complaint. He promptly responded to this 

 communication, expressed his willingness 

 to prosecute, authorized and requested me 

 to prepare the complaint, and named G. J. 

 Dressel, of Waterville, as the most con- 

 venient justice before whom to institute 

 the proceedings. Accordingly, on the 29th 

 of August I went to Waterville, made com- 

 plaint, had warrant issued, and arranged 



for the trial on September 3d, in case of a 

 contest,. The arrest was made August 30th, 

 a plea of guilty was entered, a fine of $25 

 and $7 costs were imposed, making a 

 total of $32, and I was advised the follow- 

 ing day and saved the trouble and expense 

 of going to Waterville to testify. I under- 

 stand that Mr. Fullerton gave the facts 

 to the press and that the case was widely 

 advertised and commented on, but as I 

 was absent from home about that time I 

 did not happen to run across the stuff that 

 was dished up to the preacher. I have, 

 however, met many men, in different parts 

 of the State and in several counties where 

 I have been since that time, who did read 

 it and the universal verdict is that it served 

 him right. I know it served him right, 

 but am glad it is generally so considered. 

 As he was arrested, pleaded guilty and was 

 fined on Saturday I trust that on Sunday 

 he preached from the text, "The way of 

 the transgressor is hard." 



Mr. Chas. E. Price, of Currie, Murray 

 county, Minn., should be given full credit 

 for his good work in the following case. 

 April 29th I received a letter from Mr. 

 Price, who is a member of the L. A. S., 

 complaining of illegal fishing at Currie and 

 of his inability to secure satisfaction from 

 the authorities. I immediately laid the in- 

 formation before Mr. Fullerton and a 

 deputy was sent from Fairmont ; and 

 through Mr. Price he was able to obtain 

 satisfactory results. May 8th I received 

 the following report from Mr. Price : The 

 State is richer by $156.80 to-day than it 

 was last night. Deputy Searle, from Fair- 

 mont, caught 10 fellows from Walnut 

 Grove, brought in 2 of them and their net, 

 and Justice Millard fined them $75 apiece, 

 in addition to costs. 



Henry A. Morgan, Albert Lea, Minn, 



AN ACTIVE LEAGUE WARDEN. 

 Deputy Sheriff Jackson was out one 

 Sunday in August, looking around for vio- 

 lators of the fish or game laws. He 

 started to go into a piece of brush where 

 he heard shooting and in order to get 

 there he had to cross a brook that we had 

 stocked with trout. When he reached the 

 brook he came right on 2 Poles, who had 

 a net, made of a grain sack, across the 

 brook. One of them was holding the sack 

 while the other one was driving the fish 

 into the net. Mr. Jackson arrested those 

 men, took them to a house near, and left 

 them in care of one of the men at the 

 house. Then he went back, caught the 

 fellow that was shooting robins, and took 

 all 3 down to town. The next day they 

 were fined $25 each. That was good work. 



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