THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN. 



307 



Virginia Division of the League, seized 14 

 lots of game that had been delivered to an 

 Express Co. for shipment out of the State, 

 in violation of law. The shippers were prose- 

 cuted and were made to pay heavy fines. 



C. A. Durell, a League member, of Read- 

 ing, Pa., caught one H. B. Hintz in the act 

 of killing a blackbird. He warned him 

 that this was in violation of the law, but 

 Hintz defied him and went on shooting. 

 Durell swore out a warrant for Hintz, on 

 which Hintz was convicted and fined $40. 



The El Paso, Texas, chapter did an im- 

 portant piece of work some months ago. 

 The members became disgusted at the open 

 violations of the game laws by certain men 

 in and about that town, and served notice on 

 the market men and express companies that 

 thereafter all violations of the game laws 

 would be punished. As a result, not a car- 

 cass of game was to be seen in the El Paso 

 markets during the past season. 



The building of the Sierra Madre Rail- 

 way into Mexico opened up a great game , 

 country. Certain pot hunters went out- on 

 this line, established camps and went to 

 killing game and shipping it to El Paso. 

 The officers of the local chapter induced 

 the railway company to make a rate on 

 game 8 times greater than that on domestic 

 meats. This promptly ended the shipment 

 of game over that road. 



The South Carolina Club, a wealthy so- 

 cial organization of Columbia, S. C, or- 

 dered 400 quails for its annual banquet, 

 which was given in October last. There is 

 a law in that State prohibiting the sale of 

 quails at any time, and the birds could not 

 be obtained without violating that law. Mr. 

 C. F. Dill, Chief Warden of the South 

 Carolina Division, wrote the president of 

 the club, calling attention to this fact and 

 asking that the order be rescinded. At 

 first the club refused and assumed a defi- 

 ant attitude. Mr. Dill then advised the 

 president that if the birds were served the 

 officers of the club would be prosecuted. 

 After a long and spirited controversy the 

 order for quails was countermanded, the 

 members ate turkey instead, and the ma- 

 jesty of the law was upheld. Every sports- 

 man in that State should join the League 

 for this one reason, if for no other. 



An important silent worker in the cause 

 of game protection is our cloth poster. 

 During the past year, we have distributed 

 something over 5,000 of these, and it is 

 gratifying to hear the reports that come 

 from remote districts regarding these 

 posters. For instance, a man writes me 

 that he was crossing a range of mountains 

 on a lonely trail in Oregon, and that he 

 was confronted by League posters, nailed 

 on trees, every few miles. He said he 

 could _ readily understand how they might 

 restrain any evil-minded man who might 

 have been inclined to kill game illegally, 



because of the risk of being confronted by 

 a League member at the next turn in the 

 trail. I hear of these posters staring people 

 in the face in Vermont, in Mississippi, in 

 Michigan, in Texas, in Minnesota, and in 

 fact in nearly every State of the Union. 

 Men write me nearly every day for supplies 

 of these warning flambeaux, and after a 

 week or perhaps a month they write again 

 that they have put them up throughout 

 their respective neighborhoods, that the 

 poachers are talking about them and damn- 

 ing the League. In some cases we hear 

 that evil-minded men have torn down the 

 bills, but our friends promptly replace them 

 with new ones. The influence of these pub- 

 lic offers of rewards for lawbreakers is far- 

 reaching, and will become more and more 

 so as the League membership grows and as 

 our posters are more generally distributed. 



Altogether we may well feel proud of 

 our record for the year, and I heartily con- 

 gratulate the members on the great work 

 done in 1902. 



G. O. Shields, President. 



Last November E. F. Smith, Chief War- 

 den of the West Virginia Division, came to 

 Morgantown and organized the 30 L. A. S. 

 members here into a local chapter. Much 

 good has been accomplished. L. A. S. 

 posters have been tacked up all over the 

 county. The local newspapers have done a 

 great deal to help along the good cause, 

 and the general public is coming to know 

 that a live interest is being taken in the 

 matter of enforcing game laws and pro- 

 tecting game in every way. We are in 

 hopes the present Legislature will make it 

 unlawful to sell game during the closed 

 season, no matter when or where it was 

 killed or bought. 



Bennett White, Morgantown, W. Va. 



Nothing could tempt me to withdraw 

 from the League of American Sportsmen. 

 This organization has done any amount of 

 good around here. The State makes the 

 game laws, but it takes the L. A. S. to 

 carry them out. It has stopped nearly all 

 the "before sunrise" and "after sunset" duck 

 shooting, and the game hogs and market 

 hunters are leaving for pastures new. 



C. B. Nordhoff, Redlands, Cal. 



Mary had a little horse 



Which was forty-nine years old, 

 She sent it to the butcher's 



And for prime beef it was sold. 



X. L. N. C. 



Recreation takes the lead of all other 

 sporting papers. 



Daniel Dale, Newburyport. Mass, 



