Ma:r.oh 19, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



171 



The office of warden is nothing. It is the man who must 

 make the office. The present incumbent, or perhaps I 

 might better call him incumbrance, the immortal Bruse- 

 witz, is now thought to be sufficiently well advertised as 

 an incompetent. Action in his case has been all too long 

 delayed. Yesterday at the committee meeting a petition 

 for his removal was presented. This petition will have 

 10,000 names in a couple of weeks. As it is desired to 

 circulate it somewhat outside of the city of Chicago, and 

 as some clubs or individuals may wish to sign it if for- 

 warded to them, the petition is here given as drawn; 



P15TXTION FOHTHE BEMOVAL. Ofc' THE COOK COWa Y GAME WAR- 

 DEN, AND FOR THR APPOrNTMSNT OF A SirCOESSOn. 



To Ms ExceUeitcii, Jnmxjli Fifar, Qnvcrnnr uf the SUite of TtUnoiti: 

 We, jour petitioners, do "respectfully rcpresf-nt: 

 First— That the tmlawful haudliug, soIHuk and exposure for sale 

 of wild game in the county of Cook and city of Chicago, ia an 

 offeuse flagrant, continuons, and openly shataeful, and asainst 

 the dignity of the Commonwealth which has enacted laws for the 

 prevention of such practices. 



Second— That Uie game warden under whose inspection falls 

 the great game markets of the city of Chicago, ahouid be ti man 

 holding in the highest degree qualities of energy, fearleasneea and 

 probity of character, and a disposition to prevent this unlawful 

 offense agaiuBt the dignity of the Cotamon wealth. 



Third— TJiat the present incumbent of said ofBce of Cook county 

 game warden, H. V. Bruscwitz, is, and has been from the first, 

 notoriously inefficient and incompetent, and has shown himself to 

 be possessed of qualities the reverse of those demanded in the 

 possessor of that office, for that: 



((•() He has rartly, if ever, appeared upon South Water street, 

 that being the location of the game markets, and has shown 

 i-ather a disposition to keep away from said game markets than to 

 appear and prosecute his duties tliere. 



(ft) He has, in his capacity as insurance agent, taken large 

 amonnts of bttsiness among the game dealers, but he has found no 

 illegal game. 



(c) He has said publicly, and often, that he "cared nothing for 

 this game business, knew nothing about it, and didn't propose to 

 bother with it." He has further publicly snid that he "did not 

 know a duck from a prairie cliickeii, and did not care to." 



(d) He has refused always, although repeatedly so requested 

 by those wi'o had discovered the whereabouts of illicit game, to 

 appear and make seizure or search for the same; so much so that 

 it is now known that be will not act in any such case. 



(c) He has refitsed to appear and seize illegal game when so re- 

 quested by a justice of the peace, to wit; Justice Harry Smith, 

 who had dismusted an action through error in form, the said 

 action involving .a certain lot of illegal game then and there lying 

 in the court room of the said Justice t>mith. 



( f) He has failed and neglected to file an annual report of his 

 acts and doings as such wrden, as is by law required. 



ig) Ho has been gtiilty of assisting in violating the game laws 

 of this State. 



(7il He is so notoriously indifferent, incompetent, and inefficient 

 that your petitioners believe your Excellency will be unwilling to 

 retain blm in olTicenpon the presentment of these facts. 



i\"oit\ therefore, we. yoitr pptitioners, do respectfully pray: 



First— That tile said H. P. Bntsewitz be removed from his office 

 as game warden for the county of Cook. 



Second — That a successor be appointed at an early date. 



And we believe that one , of the city of Chicago, county of 



Cook, now resident at , would be a man tit and worthy for 



said ofiice of game warden for the county of Cook, lie, the "said 



, being in our belief, energetic, feailess, of iuregritv, of an 



nnfeigned interest in the preservation of our fast disappearing 

 game, and well imbued with a disposition to make it hot for the 

 law breakers on South Water streets 



And your petitioners will ever pray. 



We shall have to ask the game dealers to guess the 

 name of the successor referred to in blank, and for the 

 present the same must be asked of Foeest and Stream, 

 until the petition is actually started going. It would be 

 worthless to jump Brusewitz out and get another incom- 

 petent in. This titne we want a w.<jrden who will make 

 a national name for himself, as Mr. Collins, of Connecti- 

 cut, has done, or if you like, as Mr. Bergh did, as Mr. 

 Shortall is doing. We want an enthusiast, and if possi- 

 ble a man of means, not an impecunious and questionably 

 honest incompetent. We believe out here that we have 

 got just such a man located, or we hope we have, at least. 

 At present he will not accept, but tinder the pressure 

 brought upon him to do so, it is thought that he will yield 

 and take the office. If he does, we only hope that South 

 Water street will try that vride open business. We are 

 going to have some fun out here yet, and this time I be- 

 lieve the warden will have better support than any ever 

 did before from the sportsmen. 



■ Now some more talk about this question of game pro- 

 tection. My old friend Col. Bond, the king of the game 

 dealers, and a man of no mean ability in general smooth- 

 ness, as I think readers of Forest and Stream will agree, 

 writes me as follows: 



The Forest and Stream came Saturday, and I roticed your 

 article. You have no correct conception of this game question. 

 Your idea of eventually closing the season Jan. 1, is welt enough 

 in its way, but does not solve the question of game protection. 

 Now take grouse as an example; the great destruction is made in 

 Septpmber, October next. November next, then December, and in 

 January less than any of the preceding months. If you wish to 

 save game, prohibit its being killed in the months when most of it 

 is destroyed. Commence by stopping the killing first in Septem- 

 ber, then October, as there are twice as many killed in September 

 and October than in November, December and .Tanuary. I don't 

 know but I would favor a uniform law prohibiting liie killing in 

 September and October, and opening the season on all game Nov. 

 1 and closing Jan. 31. There is no use to talk to me about being 

 in favor of the "bird" when September shooting is alliwed. The 

 disposition to make big bags is another reason for the great de- 

 struction of game. A large majority of shooters wottld like a gun 

 thai would be as effective at a quarter of a mile as their present 

 guns fire atSOyas., and if thev could get one of the former would 

 throw their old guns away. T would suggest other ways of saving 

 game. Prohibit the use of dogs in field shooting, and the use of 

 boats, blinds, decoys and duck-calls in water fowl shooting. If 

 this could be done it would go a great way in saving the "bird." 

 But there is no tise talking of such things, as the sportsmen would 

 not agree to anything that would take away their ohancea of 

 slaughtering game.— E. S. Bond. 



So I haven't any correct conception of this game ques- 

 tion, Col. Bond says. I reckon he is about right. But I 

 just want to struggle with his letter for a moment. Col. 

 Bond says that most of the game is killed in the two or 

 three early months. This is unfortunately true, so far as 

 shooting and not traj)piug is concerned. But who kills 

 that game, and where does it go? It is not killed in bulk 

 by sportsmen and used by themselves and friends. It is 

 killed by market-shooters and ptit into the freezers all 

 over Iowa, Minnesota, South Water street. It is the 

 fiend Cold Storage which kills this early game in btilk, 

 and not the sportsmen. A denial of this is worthless, 

 because the truth is too well known. It is true that the 

 State Sportsmen's Association by its committee agree to 

 advance the chicken date to Sept. 1 instead of Sept. 15, 

 Why? Simply as a compromise. A compromise with 

 whom? Was it a compromise with the sportsmen of the 

 lower part of the State? No sir! It was a compromise 

 with the shooters in the lower part of the State who shoot 

 for Cold Storage, and who can kill more birds on th» 

 stitbble than they can in the corn. Not a man of the 

 legitimate personnel of the whole association but would 

 rather see the chicken date Nov. 1, now and forever, if 

 that thing could be. That cannot be, because Col. Bond 

 and his associates and their market-shooters, who here 

 blame the sportsmen for this early deatruction of game, 



would never all of them Jonce agree to any such a date. 

 Col. Bond's real friends are these same early shooters, 

 whom, wrongly named as sportsmen, he here seeks to 

 blame. Col. Bond is playing an easy game. No wonder 

 he can talk. He has two ways to win. Last summer I 

 could have showed the game dealers in early July 

 prairie chickens on South Water street not bigger than 

 your fist. Next summer, unless we get a decent 

 warden, I shall be able to show the same thing. 

 Was it the sportsmen who killed those birds? Is it 

 the sportsmen, or just the game-selling shooters, who 

 are so anxious to do this slaughtering of game early in 

 the season? I know very weil that the dealers do not or 

 dare not openly invite these early shipments. Why? 

 Because they get them anyhow, out of the local freezers, 

 when the season permits; also, because, as they admit 

 and publicly profess, the natural demand for game, and 

 consequently the time it brings the most money, seems 

 to be in the cold weather. It is easy to see, then, that 

 the cry of the dealers against September shooting is be- 

 eatise there is not so much money at once in that shoot- 

 ing for tlie dealers. I think Col. Bond will admit that 

 the September game and its allied poultry trade must 

 amount to some little amoimt. I think he will admit 

 that he gets his share of this, anyhow, sooner or later, at 

 once or ultimately out of the Iowa and Minnesota freezers, 

 and that he can get this just as well while he upbraids 

 the "sportsmen'' for practicing such early shooting. 

 There is nothing like being honest with one's own self. 

 Very well. Let us suppose that all this could be cut off, 

 that the dealers wotdd really give up this September 

 profit which they now realize in December, and that the 

 actual sportsmen would be willing to sacrifice the mild 

 and beautiful days of autumn, the natural sporting 

 season of the year, and agree upon so cold and stormy a 

 date as Nov. 1 for the opening of the season. Would the 

 dealers meet this last sacrifice with an equal sacrifice 

 and cut down the selHng season to Jan 1 ? No indeed ! 

 They Avouldn't do anything of the kind. Would they 

 agree to Oct. 1 to open the season, shooting and selling, 

 and Jan. 1 to close both? No, indeed, nothing of the kind. 

 In short, the game dealers know just exactly how they 

 can make the most money out of selhng game, and they 

 are going to hang out for just exactly the dates most 

 profitable to them. Their indignation at the ' slaughter- 

 ing of game" is a very artificial and really transparent 

 affair. 



I do not think the use of a dog in field shooting ought 

 to be prohibited, any more than the use of a gun, for it is 

 natui-al and fit; but as to the tise of more destructive 

 arms, their adoption by sportsmen is as much from a de- 

 sire to be up with the times as from a desire for actual 

 butchery. I do not find these large bags by sportsmen 

 so very common as Col, Bond would indicate. The 

 shooter for sport lays in many appliances for sport, but 

 who is the man that actually and steadily uses such ap- 

 pliances? Col. Bond knows it is the man who ships his 

 game. To give up boats, blinds, decoys, calls— I can 

 conceive of a spirit of American sportsmanship which 

 would agree to all that, but a law to that effect would 

 have to be made by a compromise, and that compromise 

 would have to be made, not with the sxjortsmen, but with 

 the men who ship their game — the men who are Col. 

 Bond's friends, and not the friends of sportsmen. I do 

 not find the sportsmen such steady killers as would seem 

 to be intimated in Col. Bond's letter. I don't find them 

 eager to devise ways to kill game more generally. I bear 

 in mind a devoted little body of men who not long ago 

 pleaded strongly with Col. Bond to consent to a means 

 which should make the killing of game, as they thought, 

 less general. And Col. Bond would not consent. It 

 wasn't his way. I shouldn't like to say anything unfair 

 or discourteous to Col. Bond, who is himself always 

 pleasant and fair — although 1 know I don't have any 

 "just conceptions of this game question" — it does look to 

 me as though a South Water street compromise was one 

 by which South Water street gets the carcass, hide, tail, 

 horns and tallow, and the more valuable portion of the 

 intestines, while the sportsmen get the rest — withascold- 

 ing for being so selfish about it. 



I've got the Colonel stirred up a little, and the other 

 day he sent me another letter, which I really must have 

 space to run, for it raises some more interesting points. 

 The letter says: 



I inclose a letter from an old friend and one of the niost aticom- 

 plished sportsmen 1 ever knew. I have several of the same tenor, 

 so you see the free advprtising I have had in the Fobest and 

 Stbeam has done me good. I want you to become a convert to 

 my idea of preventing September shooting. I have taken the 

 trouble to look over my old books and find my receipts of grouse 

 in the mon' h of September were about half the number I received 

 during the months of October, November and December. At that 

 time the season opened Sept. 1 and closed Jan. 1; and I have not 

 the least doubt but that the grouse killed in August and Septem- 

 ber amounted in round numbers to over dotible killed in October, 

 November and December.— E. S. Bond. 



The inclosure refen*ed to is a letter from Mr. S. W. 

 Scott, of Osakis, Minn. I wonder if it is Col. Bond who 

 has put sttch funny ideas in Mr. Scott's head? I reaU^^ 

 must quote a part of the latter's letter, since I am not 

 told not to do so, thotigh we cannot be severe in comment 

 on it under the circumstances. Mr, Scott says; 



I saw by Forest and Stream that you represented South 

 Water street at the Sherman House the other evening. I hope 

 you will make game laws that will suit everj'body. 1 see the 

 Forest and Stream occasionally, and would be highly interested 

 in it, it they would only drop a little of their game protection. 

 Anything English makes me sick, and if they could only have 

 their own way they would tax the guns of us poor dcNils and cut 

 us off entirely. They keep agitating the subject, and have got the 

 city shooters to believe as they do, and in time they will succeed 

 in making a law to sitit them, and we the people, the majority not 

 being organized, a mob, so to speak, will have to go to the wall. 

 South Water street is a posver, and can keep them in check in 

 Hlinois, but we, unorganized as we are, are powerless. My day is 

 most past, and I can't be cheated out of what sport 1 hav-e had, 

 but my sympathies are just as strong as if I had got to spend 

 another life on this naughty world. 



Now, if Mr. Scott will so permit, I can't help thinking 

 that he would be yet more highly accomplished as a 

 sportsman if he would get out of the way of thinking 

 that game protection in America is anything either Eng- 

 lish or undesirable. The old idea that it is the "city 

 shooters" who want to protect the game for themselves 

 selfishly and not for the people, ia now quite too old and 

 exploded to be retained by Mr. Scott or anybody else any 

 longer. It is for the people, heedless, thoughtless, waste- 

 ful and unreasoning as they are, that other and wiser 

 heads should act in the preservation of the game. For- 

 est A'SD Stream is not more for the city shooter than for 

 any shooter, and everybody knows that who knows the 

 paper. But I imagine it will keep right on agitating this 



game protection until it does indeed obtain a law which 

 drives to the wall the unorganized mob of the thoughtless 

 and reckless shooters. The day will come when these 

 sporting papers will be called blessed. Mr. Scott says he 

 cannot be cheated out of the sport he has had. How 

 about his cheating his own children and the next gener- 

 ation out of the sport they ought to have? How about 

 cheating other fellows, right here in this generation? If 

 such fraud be prevented, who should have the praise for 

 it, the unorganized mob, or the organized thought and 

 energy and intelligence which lie behind an able journal 

 of to-day? 



It pleases me to hear my friend the Colonel say he is 

 getting results from his free advertising. I always said 

 Forest and Stream was a capital advertising medium. 

 But as to "becoming a convert to the idea of September 

 shooting," I would like to know who is more of a convert 

 or a devotee to that idea than the writer, or than the men 

 of the State Association, or than Forest and Stream? 

 We all know very well that witli the Sept. 1 date we 

 should have no chickens in Illinois after the next fall. 

 Why was not the date Oct. 1? Compromise. With whom? 

 This has above been answered fully enough for any one 

 to understand who cares to do so. Col. Bond may or may 

 not, but I wish he would turn in and really help to stop 

 the extermination of the game. No man could be so able 

 as he, for he is cute above all things, and smooth, oh my! 

 Still, 1 hope he will once in a while come over in our yard 

 and holler down our rain barrel, even if he can't stay very 

 long. 



March 14. — Mr. Lew Harrison, of Minneapolis, I sup- 

 pose about the best-natured and biggest-hearted sports- 

 man in the world, is in town this week, having scented 

 from afar off the battle of day before yesterday between 

 Capt. Adrian Constantinople Anson and Mr. Geo. Hof- 

 mann in the matter of 100 live pigeons, somewhat a side, 

 in which, as will appear by the scores in the proper 

 column, Capt. Anson won. The boys wanted Lew Har- 

 rison to come dowTi and have a little duck shooting, but 

 he declined. He is one of the all too few men who will 

 not shoot ducks in the spring at all. Something of prin- 

 ciple in that, sure. Mr. Harrison informs the Chicago 

 boys that he has started a branch Possum Club in Minne- 

 apolis, and that it is already a howling success. 



The organization of the Rock Creek Fishing Club is 

 announced at Clinton, la. Will some friend out there 

 report more fully? The fishing season is coming on, and 

 Forest and Stream wants "all the news from all the 

 fishers. 



Mr. James Wolstencrof t, of Philadelphia, who was in 

 the city last week, got away without my meeting him. 

 It was wrongly reported in a Chicago paper that "Billy" 

 Wolstencrof t, the Philadelphia crack shot, was in town. 

 Billy and Jim are brothers. 



Mr. H. L. Cairncross, a well-known figure at Illinois 

 traps, blew in the other day, and so did Johnnie Euble, 

 of Beloit. Charlie Budd will be here next Friday. There 

 will be quite a party going over to the Detroit shoot, and 

 the opening of the season there will be something of an 

 event. 



Mr. V. E. Wampler, of Dayton, O., an old friend of 



Rolla Heikes, was here yesterday visiting with Rolla, 



Mr. F. E. Bosworth, late of Lexington, Ky., is recently 

 arrived in Chicago, which i)lace he will now make his 

 home. 



On last Saturday quite a party went down to Mak-saw- 

 ba Club after some duck shooting, but a cold turn of the 

 weather defeated plans and no bags were made. There 

 were some bluebills about, and some sheldrakes in the 

 river, but no shooting. Mr. W. H. Haskell says tlaat 

 about that time a conductor told him that in running 

 along the Kankakee Marsh he had seen great numbers of 

 geese out on the ice. I have beard of no goose shooting, 

 though tmusual quantities of geese have appeared here- 

 abouts this spring. The'weather has been changeable and 

 mostly cold all this week, and though a thaw ought to 

 bring some shooting now, it is still a question whether 

 those going out near the end of this week will meet any 

 bhds. To-day wiU see a good many shooters start. 



E. Hough. 



A Silver Gray Fox.— It has been known for a num- 

 ber of years that on the hills north of Port Crane there 

 lived a silver gray fox, the most beautiful and highly 

 prized of all the reynard family. Every effort has been 

 made to capture the cunning creature, but in vain, aa 

 every time the hounds were put upon his track he would 

 lead off to the north and make such a circuit that nothing 

 would be seen of the dogs for the rest of the day. The 

 next day, if they had good staying qualities, they would 

 come in worn and exhausted by their long and fruitless 

 chase. For several days after such a chase no trace of 

 the fox could be found "in his usual haunts, after which 

 his trail would be fotxnd leading from the hennery where 

 he had been to regale himself. His home was known to 

 be in a rocky gorge, but there were so many entrances to 

 it that all efforts to trap him proved unavailing. Last 

 week the cunning animal was shot by a hunter who got 

 within range of him by the merest chance. He was one 

 of the largest foxes ever killed in that section' of country. 

 His size was probably due to his age, which cotild nob 

 have been less than ten years. The fur was coal black, 

 except on the extreme tip of the hairs, where for about 

 ,\, of an inch they were as white as snow. The skin was 

 shipped to a New York fur dealer and yesterday the 

 hunter, A. C. Wilson, received a check for .$100 in pay- 

 ment for it. lu conversation with a fur dealer in this 

 city to-day it was learned that silver-gray fox skins are 

 the most valuable of any furs obtained in this State, and 

 .f 100 is the usual price for a good one. But one other has 

 ever been obtained in this county so far as known, and 

 that was shot by Burton Wylie near North Colesville 

 about ten years ago. He kept the skin two years, which 

 damaged it somewhat, and finally sold it for $50. — Bitig- 

 hain.ton{N. Y.) Exchange. 



Missouri.— Sedalia, March 11. — The game prospects 

 were never better here at this time of year. Chickens 

 and quail are very plentiful, the latter very numerous, 

 and if the breeding season is favorable the shooting next 

 fall will be exceedingly good. The law is pretty well 

 observed here, and I am satisfied the quail supply is stead- 

 ily on the increase. — L, S. E. 



Madawaska Caribou. — Caribou are unusually plenti- 

 ful this winter in Madawaska. At Murchie's camp they 

 have killed over fifty. —Sf. Croiv (N. B.) Courier, March 5. 



