Dec, &, 1889,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



389 



DROP A DOLLAR IN THE SLOT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The article under the abov« caption and signed " A." in 

 last week's issue is certainly amusing. "A." says he 

 "called the attention of the Connecticut Fish and Game 

 Protective Association to the subject" of sending game 

 from this State through your columns last fall. "A." 

 probably did not fully understand that "last fall" we 

 could not search freight consigned to New York— this 

 ' year we can. Now, the fact that a person did take 2,500 

 game birds to New Haven is not conclusive evidence that 

 said birds were shipped to New York. New Haven has 

 a population of about 70,000, and those 2,500 quail could 

 have been eaten in 90 days, less than 30 birds a day for 

 70,000 persons to eat each day. 



During September I was informed by a person (who no 

 doubt meant well) that his friend " picked up two par- 

 tridge feathers in a market"; but he added that his 

 friend would not testify to this remarkable evidence in 

 court. I was instructed that the case ought to be pushed. 

 Just think of the absurdity of such evidence. ''A." 

 should remember that the "owner or occupant under 

 lease," or "a member of the family of such owner or 

 occupant," can snare on their land. Of course this most 

 seriously handicaps those who wish to enforce the game 

 laws by working— not by simply writing to the press. 

 Give us evidence, Mr. "A.," something tangible, and the 

 same will be acted on quickly. 



Those of your readers who think that we get any pay 

 from the Stale of Connecticut for enforcing their game 

 laws should distinctly understand we do not. We have 

 expended $700 of our own money to make the showing 

 we have. That the showing is a good one is generally 

 conceded. "A," says: "Mr. Editor, please encourage 

 the game wardens and all game protective associations 

 in rigidly enforcing the law." Now, I will suggest an- 

 other plan, Mr, Editor. Get a good well-tested baseball 

 bat (or club) and pound into the frame of some of the 

 sportsmen a little enthusiasm — say enough to produce a 

 dollar. There are several "nerve foods" on the market, 

 and by their use for a few months, perhaps some of them 

 instead of proffering ■ lvice, might give a dollar. I am of 

 the opinion that a machine of the order drop-a-nickel-in- 

 the-slot can be so improved that to drop-a-dollar-in-the- 

 slot would mean that a game or fish law violator would 

 get fined. We have one of those machines. Let those 

 of your readers who are so very solicitous about Connec- 

 ticut game and her game laws try the machine. lean 

 safely recommend the machine, having tested it myself, 

 as have also many of my friends. 



Dr. N. W. Holcombe, Treasurer, Pratt Street House, 

 Hartford, or the writer will drop your dollar into the 

 machine at any time, and either will duly acknowledge 

 the same. For further particulars as to the workings of 

 the machine watch the papers, especially the Forest 

 and Stream. 



The first year the machine was run, all those who had 

 the courage to drop a dollar in the slot saw twenty fish 

 and game law violators lined — twenty for a dollar. The 

 machine will receive dollar bills, silver dollars, gold 

 dollars, checks for a dollar, or money orders for a dollar. 

 They all go to pay detectives. The managers do not ask 

 anything for their services. 



The machine has one peculiar piece of mechanism. 

 If a piece of paper is dropped in with the words, "You 

 are doing good work, keep at it," if this is not accom- 

 panied with a dollar the machine has to be closely 

 watched for several hours; and it's dangerous to be 

 around it, especially to the party who tried to beat the 

 machine. The drop-your-dollar-in-the-slot game protect- 

 ing machine is in position now, try it. 



A. C. Collins, 

 Pres. Conn. Association of Farmers and Sportsmen 

 for the Protection of Game and Fish. 



Hartford, Conn., Nov. 19. 



A Quail Banqtjet. — Beardstown, 111., Nov. 26.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: Last evening a very pleasant event 

 occurred at the Park House, the occasion being a quail 

 banquet given by Messrs. F. H. Peck, of Des Moines, 

 Iowa, and A. A. Rogers, of this city. The banquet was 

 the result of a match quail shoot between Messrs. Peck 

 and Rogers vs. H. H. Cole and C. E. Jones, the losers to 

 furnish the banquet. Messrs. Cole and Jones won by 14 

 quail. The score stood: Cole and Jones 30 quail, Peck 

 and Rogers 10 email. The following principals and in- 

 vited guests sat down to a most elegant spread of quail 

 on toast and numerous other viands: Messrs. H. H. Cole, 

 C. E. Jones, F. H. Peck, A. A. Rogers, Judge C. R. Cum- 

 mings, Dr. H. H. Ehrhardt, Dr. Geo. Bley, E. S. Horton, 

 A. A. Greene, C. F. Derr. During the banquet many 

 toasts were passed between the victors and vanquished; 

 notwithstanding they were very tired from their long 

 day's tramp the very best of spirits and repartee pre- 

 vailed. Altogether it was a very happy affair and will 

 long be remembered by the entire party, all of whom are 

 great lovers of the rod and gun. — A. A. Greene. 



St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 30.— Where are the ducks? Cer- 

 tainly they have not infested this locality very numer- 

 ously: in fact there have never been at any time this fall 

 enough to furnish fair sport, and the field sportsmen are 

 all broken up. During the early part of the season the 

 prospects were most favorable. Now the season is so far 

 advanced that all hope of a duck shoot has vanished and 

 shooters have nothing left them but to be patient until 

 the break up of winter. Sportsmen who have turned 

 their attention to email have been more fortunate, for as 

 a general rule the birds are plentiful and quite a number 

 of good bags have been made. On Thanksgiving day 

 there was a genuine exodus in quest of quail, and with 

 few exceptions all secured satisfactory bags. No snow 

 to speak of has fallen as yet in this locality, consequently 

 the pot-hunter has not had an opportunity to get in hfs 

 work on the birds, and they are abundant enough to 

 furnish excellent sport to the" end of the season. — Unser 

 Fritz. 



Mr. L. C. Smith has sold out a controlling interest in 

 his gun business to a new company, the Hunter & Corn- 

 stock Arms Co., of Fulton, N Y., to which point the 

 machinery will be moved. Mr. Smith retains an interest 

 in the business. It is stated that the new typewriter 

 made by Mr. Smith has proved such a success that its 

 manufacture will require all his time and care. Mr. 

 McMurchy has been, appointed agent of the typewriter. 



A Game Commissioner Caught in the Act.— The 

 Bangor, Me., News of Nov. 28 reports that on Nov. 18 

 Messrs. James Johnson, a constable, Walter Dresser, a 

 game warden, and George Miller, a man in the employ 

 of the Maine Central Railroad, were in the woods near 

 Simquash Lake, a small sheet of water about ten miles 

 south of Vanceboro, Me., and its eastern shore not more 

 than two or three miles from the St. Croix River, which 

 here forms the boundary between the two countries, so 

 that a better place for law breakers to dodge across the 

 line could hardly be found. They discovered here a 

 party of three New Brunswick men hunting deer. They 

 had a valuable dog with them, which the Vanceboro men 

 shot. The unlawful hunters were Frank H. Todd, one of 

 the firm of F. H. Todd &Son, the heaviest lumber con- 

 cern in St. Stephen, and one of the three commissioners 

 of fish and game for the province of New Brunswick. 

 Peter Morrison, a man employed by the Todds and their 

 head man in the woods, and Captain John Taylor, a 

 New Brunswick steamboat engineer. On the return 

 of the Vanceboro people to their home, they went 

 before E. T. Holbrook, Esq., a trial .iustice, and made 

 oath to what they had seen. Justice E. T. Holbrook 

 issued a warrant for the arrest of Todd, Morrison and 

 Taylor. When Constable Johnson and Game Warden 

 Dresser got back with the warrant and approached the 

 poachers, Mr. Todd told them in an engaging way that 

 there was no need of arresting them; it would only be a 

 bother, and everybody knew that he was perfectly re- 

 sponsible. They would come up to Vanceboro and ap- 

 pear before Justice Holbrook the next Tuesday and 

 answer to the charge, or any day the officer might 

 name. This was promptly agreed to and Tuesday af ter- 

 noor at 2 o'clock was fixed upon. When 1 o'clock Tues- 

 day afternoon arrived a telegram was received saying in 

 effect: "Do not summon witnesses. Letter by mail." 

 The letter said that it was impossible for them to be at 

 Vanceboro that day, and that they would be there some 

 other day, any other day, in fact, that might be suggested. 

 There the matter rested at last account s. It is hardly 

 correct to remark, as might at first blush appear to some, 

 that now that Mr. Todd and his fellow lawbreakers have 

 got back to their own side of the line, the case against 

 them is defeated. Mr. Todd is a man who spends his 

 time as much in Calais as in St. Stephen, and a man of 

 such means and with such business interests that he 

 could not afford to let the matter which two or three 

 hundred dollars would settle keep him in banishment 

 on his own side of the line. 



Mexican Game Notes.— San Luis Potosi, Nov. 22.— 

 Ducks are fairly abundant, though in this section water 

 is scarce on account of a dry year. Recently on a foggy 

 morning I saw a wedge of geese (Hutchins, I think) fly- 

 ing over. A conductor on the National Railroad said 

 there are great numbers of them in a marshy section 

 about an hour from here southward. Voy a ver. Quail 

 shooting would be fair if you didn't have to run your legs 

 off to make the little pests take wing, and if the sun did 

 not come down with such unmerciful force. The whole 

 country is full of cotton-tails and jack rabbits, the biggest 

 and fattest I ever saw anywhere. They are favorite 

 shooting with the Mexicans, and to please one of these a 

 friend and I went with him recently and fairly loaded 

 down his coach. It is a pleasure to give them away to 

 the poor half-starved peons, as they are really palatable. 

 —Aztec. 



Southampton (L. I.) Sportsman's Club. — At the 

 annual meeting of the Southampton Sportsman's Club, 

 held at Southampton, L. L, Nov. 1, at the headquarters, 

 the house of Mr. Daniel G. Phillips, the following officers 

 were elected: Edward H. Moeran, President; David T. 

 Kennedy, Vice-President; Lawrence W. Clark, Secretary 

 and Treasurer. Messrs. Moeran and Clark were appointed 

 a committee on legislation to watch the action of the 

 Assembly at Albany. They would be glad to communi- 

 cate with similar committees from other clubs of the 

 State, so that all may work together to influence legisla- 

 tion for good. The club is in a thriving condition. The 

 membership is full, there is no debt and a handsome sur- 

 plus in the treasury. The shooting has been fair; no 

 great abundance of quail, but enough to give good sport 

 to hard workers. 



Virginia Ducking- Grounds.— Suffolk, Va., Nov. 28.— 

 In a late issue "M. R." wanted information about good 

 duck shooting. If he wants fun, let him go to Cobb's 

 Island, Va., or anywhere in that vicinity. No better 

 place anywhere in this countrv. Go to Philadelphia by 

 N. Y., P. & N. R. R. ; get off at Cheriton Station, near Cape 

 Charles city, the terminus of the road. From that point 

 he can work ten miles either way. Plenty of people to 

 post him. Good places to stop on mainland if he prefers 

 that to Cobb's Island ; nice j)eople and not very expensive. 

 I was at Cobb's in July, also in August, and had some 

 good shooting with the birds. I am behind with my 

 reading, and am just in Oct. 24th issue of Forest and 

 Stream. — A. S. E. 



Cceur d'Alene Club. — A number of sportsmen from 

 Coeur d'Alene and Fort Sherman, Idaho, have organized 

 themselves into the Cceur d'Alene City Rod and Gun 

 Club, with the following officers: President, R. E. Mc- 

 Farland; Vice-President, Cant. J. W. Bubb; Treasurer, 

 F. G. Pettibone; Secreteary, Win, E. Caiiin. The main 

 object of the club is to protect the game and enforce the 

 laws, which, by the way, are very lax. There is a great 

 deal of deer hounding going on at present, and the game 

 is rapidly disappearing. Trap-shooting and rifle and 

 pistol shooting will be indulged in two days each week, 

 and from the present outlook good scores will be rolled 

 up.— Chelan. 



A Game Hen. — I had a queer thing happen yesterday 

 while exercising my setter, showing how the old instinct 

 still lingers in our common barnyard fowls. I was pass- 

 ing an old cornfield, very bare of any grass or weeds, 

 when my dog made game. Thinking there might be a 

 stray bevy of quail, I walked in. He worked up care- 

 fully, and finally stood stiff, but seemed a little puzzled. 

 I saw something in front of his nose that looked like a 

 dead owl at first, but I soon saw it was a hen. She lay as 

 flat as a flounder, head on the ground. As I stepped up 

 close, she went off with a mighty flurry and caclding,— 

 M. Holberton. 



North Carolina. — A correspondent who has been 

 shooting at Newbern, N. C, reports that the quail suf- 

 fered in the low grounds last fall, the bevies being a,bout 

 half the usual size; those of the young the hen bird could 

 not cover of course had to suffer from the weather and 

 perished fr om wet and cold. The hares are almost en- 

 tirely exterminated. The most comfortable way to get 

 there, especially with dogs, is to take the Saturday 

 steamer on the Old Dominion Line to Newbern. There 

 is only one change, and that is at Portsmouth or Norfolk 

 —Portsmouth is to Norfolk what Brooklyn is to New 

 York. The other game there comprises wildfowl, deer, 

 wild turkeys and snipe. 



Toledo, O.— Squirrel shots report game abundant in 

 Waterville and Sylvania. 



TAXING GUNS-PERSONALITIES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



When 1 read the article of "Cohannet" in this week's Forest 

 and Stream, I was both surprised and amused, that he should 

 characterize my article in your issue of the 7th as "an attack 

 entirely personal. " I do not apprehend that anv other reader 

 thought of ii in that light. I certainly d'd not. Upon looking it 

 over, i find that I called direct attention ro him but twice, whereas 

 he has named me thirteen times in his alleged reply. I have been 

 a, frequent contributor to the columns of Forest and Stream 

 almost from the time of its establishment, and I believe this is 

 the first time that auy on-i has accused me of being personal. As 

 between "Cohannet" and myself, I will be content to let the 

 readers of Forest and Stream decide which of us has descended 

 to personality, and which has the best of the argument, to say 

 nothing of courtesy; for all through his article he charges me as 

 directly as he can, by inuendo, of falsehood. Referring to his Ply- 

 mouth stock allusions, 1 will incidentally remark that my family 

 claim that our emigrant ancestor commanded the good ship May- 

 flower, upon the occasion of her second trip to Plymouth Rock, in 

 1G24, that he bought a homestead in Plymouth county, Mass., and 

 that this property has to the present time continued in the family. 

 This ought to be a satisfactory pedigree with any of the. genuine 

 stock. Notwithstanding this evidence of "blood," I do not assume 

 to speak as a representative of the "broad domain of New England," 

 as •'Cohannet" charges, hut in my younger days was generallv 

 called a pretty fair representative of the shooting element. There 

 are still living quite a number of white-headed old fellows, at dif- 

 ferent, points between the Atlantic and the Pacific, who would not 

 hesitate to accommodate "Cohannet" by wagering small amounts 

 upon my maxkinanship, although I am past 64, with impaired 

 eye-sight, seriously paralyzed, and confined to the house most of 

 the time. Still, if I could* get my muzzleloader out of the window, 

 and bearing upon auy of the usual ranges, 1 would not hesitate, 

 to try titles with "Cohannet," though I have never been a "pro- 

 fessional" in the remotest degree, as he broadly intimates, unless 

 attending the country turkey shoots forty years ago constitutes, 

 me one; nor did I ever sell a dollar's worth of game, though I have 

 given away large quantities to those who were even poorer than 

 myself. Disabled by an army injury, I have not been hunting for 

 years, but I wish to see all who enjoy it have the same opportunity 

 that I have had. The desire and intent of "Cohannet" and those 

 who, like him, wish to have the gun taxed, even up to $10 per year, 

 is too glaringly apparent to require explanation, and is the most 

 audacious and monumental exhibition of sbamelessness yet dis- 

 played by the "game-bog" element, who would thus endeavor to 

 deprive forty-nine out of every fifty persons from using fire-arms 



"Cohannet" seems to think that the city boy and himself are 

 strangers. In this he is as correct as in his other conclusions. I 

 have spent the larger portion of my adult years in Jarge cities, 

 including New York and Philadelphia, gor in their immediate 

 suburbs, and have taught the use ot the rifle to hundreds of boys, 

 many low down in their teens, and some who had become gray- 

 headed, and many of these were city boys too. But I referred to 

 this point in my former article sufficiently. The best material in 

 the armies. North and South, during the late war, were those who 

 had used the line from childhood. 



I am now living in a large city, and when the "Weather and my 

 physical condition will permit (as has of late been frequent), I 

 take a street car at the door and step off at the door of tbe lead- 

 ing gun store in the city; which for some weeks past has been 

 crowded with gUnUerf", between 9 A. M. to 8 P. M., from, the city 

 and country for 30 miles around. The Forest and Stream is read 

 in this gun store and by numbers of its patrons. Not a person 

 except the proprietor of the store knows that I am the author of 

 the article complained of by "Cohannet," and this fact gives me a 

 rare opportunity to learn the unbiassed opinion of the gunners 

 upon tne subject generally and my article iu particular. In every 

 instance, the gunners have expressed sympathy with my view of 

 the case. I would like to see a vote of those who own guns 

 recorded upon this subject. I believe that 49 of every 50 would 

 vote against the unrepublican proposition. 



"Cohannet" is anxious to know now the use of the gun is to be 

 restricted. In my first article I answered that question, before 

 he asked it. And in conclusion, I will add further, that within 

 three weeks I have read more notices and accounts of farmers' 

 g3me protective societies than I ever before saw in an entire 

 season. The game-hogs are steering clear of these societies, and 

 the farmers and their legitimate gunner friends in all older 

 States where game exists are enjoying the best gunning season 

 for many years. The game-hog societies, of which many exist, 

 will have to seek unsettled regions, as I stated in my former 

 article, while those who take an occasional day's outing during 

 the gunning season will, with their farmer friends, enjoy legiti- 

 mate sport for long years to come. Wacautah. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"By all means let thn boys have their rifle and shotgun, furnish 

 them a reasonable amount of ammunition and pay their license 

 to shoot, if we ever come to that protective measure. How else 

 eau the boy learn to shoot? If I had my way every boy and every 

 girl should learn to shoot even though they never killed alone a 

 single head of game. It is not the extinguishing of the vital prin- 

 ciple of either bird or beast for which men go afield, and the 

 game butcher should never be classed as a sportsman. The rifle 

 and revolver are weapons, the use of which demands physical 

 conditions never found in the indolent, the effeminate or the dis- 

 solute. They are weapons for men and women, not for dolls of 

 either sex. If every boy and girl were early taught the use and 

 the abuse of firearms the death rate from accidents caused by 

 carelessness would be reduced to the minimum; the number of 

 corner loafers, cigarette-smoking, round-shouldered, delicate 

 boys, and girls afflicted with corsets, nerve tire and headaches, 

 would decrease in direct proportion to the increase of recruits to 

 the army of those now enjoying such sport. 



And what is to hinder ? Any one of a half dozen American 

 manufacturers makes rifles sufficiently light for ladies or boys to 

 use; prices are such that any one of moderate means can own 

 the very best; accuracy is unsurpassed; and ammunition, that is, 

 the .22cal. cartridges, which are plenty large enough for all ordi- 

 nary ranges, is very cheap. But alas I fickle fashion has decreed 

 that the girl child shall be a woman before reaching womanhood, 

 and must neyer condescend to mingle in manly sports unless the 

 thin veneer of fashionable polish should be marred. Fathers for- 

 get they were ever boys and wanted a gun; or being without de- 

 sires that way , compel their boys to think as they do, or to use 

 weapons surreptitiously. No! give the boys a chance, and the 

 girls too. Let those jjarents who are not sportsmen, and are 

 blessed with children imbued with such ins+incts, take the time 

 and trouble to learn the art themselves and instruct their boys 

 and girls. My word for it. such children will love you with a 

 still deeper intensity, w 7 ill spring to obey your commands with a 

 better grace, for has not their father, their ideal of all that is 

 good and great, associated himself with them in their play? and 

 where is there a normal child who would not rather associate 

 with his father thau with any other companion? 



You who yourselves love the gun, do not, I beg you, think it a 

 bore to guide the youngster iu the paths you love so well or think 

 it tiresome to initiate him in the mysteries of an art fascinating 

 alike to young and old. Bear in mind your own youth, and your 

 heart would have gone out to any one who would have taken time 

 and trouble to help you become a good shot. 



Our boys and girls are to be the fathers and mothers of other 

 boys and girls, and how can we mould the generations of those 

 who shall take our places unless we now stand sponsors to the 

 sports as well as to other educational advantages, and where is 

 there to he found a cleaner, more scientific, more manly sport 

 than rifle shooting? Pictrs. 



Names and Portraits of Birds, by Gurdon 'i'rumbuu. ». 

 book particularly interesting to gunners, for by its use they can 

 identify without question all the American game birds which 

 tney may kill. Cloth. 320 pages t price 82,50. For sale by Forsk 

 AM) STBBAlfc 



