May 81, 1891,J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



S49 



SIX YEARS UNDER MAINE GAME LAWS. 



VI. — POISONING. 



WE have a law regulating the sale and distribution of 

 poisons. It has remained on the statute since 1857 

 without substantial change and without repeal at any 

 time. The latter part reads: "If any person for the pur- 

 pose of killing wolves, foxes, dogs or other animals, and 

 not for the destruction of insects or vermin, in a building, 

 leaves or deposits any si;ch poisons within two hundred 

 rods of a highway, pasture, held or other improved land, 

 he shall be punished by a fine not less than twenty nor 

 more than fifty dollars; or by imprisonment not less than 

 thirty nor more than sixty days." 



Tt is my otgect to show that this law has been recklessly 

 violated; tha t this violation has been charged to wardens; 

 that the breaking of this law and the suspicion that war- 

 dens did it have caused Diuch of the feeling that exists in 

 the eastern part of the State against the game laws and 

 their administration— these three things only; but I shall 

 probably show that the feeling and the suspicion are not 

 altogethi-r unreasonable. If I dwell more on the belief 

 of peoiile here than on an elaborate setting forth of the 

 facts involved, it is because the collective loss which these 

 facts I'epresent is small relatively to the effect it had upon 

 public opinion, because also this is purjDOsely left as a 

 matter of circumstantial evidence; and because my 

 object is not to do more than to explain and account for 

 the state of feeling which should not longer be disre- 

 garded. So far as the testimony here given needs any 

 guarantee it may be said that it comes from men believed 

 to be truthful, who do not live near each other, who 

 belong to different classes and occupations, who cannot 

 have had any means of knowing what has been told me 

 by any one but themselves. I have received nothing con- 

 tradictory to what is given here, and I do not publish all 

 that would confirm these statements. 



I. Poison has been laid out contrary to law and domestic 

 animals have been killed by it. 



Previous to the Graves murder, in 1886, I heard of a 

 number of cases in which animals were killed by strych- 

 nine, and among them some which are quoted below. 

 This shows that these claims are not of recent manu- 

 facture. Although I then had no reason for remembering 

 or noting the mcidents given, I recollect that the reports 

 came from a number of different towns, and that Passa- 

 dumkeag was one of the principal places which suffered. 

 This winter I asked a man whom I remembered as having 

 spoken of the matter, whether he knew definitely what 

 happened there. His reply was substantially as follows: 

 "Kaow? Yes, I was there at the time it was done. 

 There was poison left in doughnuts and biscuits — strych- 

 nine enough to kill anything, and they left it close to the 

 railroad station and all around town. Yes, it did do 

 damage. I know of some cases, A man at Grould's Ridge 

 had a dog killed, and found a pieee of poisoned biscuit in 

 his yard. A Pessadumkeag man lost two horses; one was 

 a farm horse and one was a colt worth S'300. Tlie horses 

 had been in the door yard all night, and in the morning 

 they were dead, with a piece of poisoned bread near them. 



But there was worse than that. had a child die that 



same day, and they thought it was poisoned. It was a 

 little child, out playing with the dog, and they found a 

 piece of doughnut somewhere. The child brought it into 

 the house and very soon the dog died. The child died 

 that same day. Thej^ thought it was poisoned. No, we 

 did not know who did it, but it was laid to the wardens; 

 it is all guess work who did it." 



This is almost a literal transcript of notes taken dm-ing 

 the narration. Names were given which I have omitted 

 for obvious reasons, and it is possible that there may be 

 some minor errors in taking down the facts; but the 

 veracity of my informant is beyond question and all that 

 is claimed by me is that he believed poison had been 

 laid out in more than one instance. However, a letter 

 subsequent to this shows more. "You wanted to know 

 about Passadumkeag," he write. "I was in town when 

 the child was sick but went home before it died that 

 night, and all I know is what they told me; and for the 

 horses I smv ikeni." 



This proves c jnclusively that two horses were poisoned 

 and that the same day this was done a rumor of a more 

 serious nature was started. I wish, however, to disclaim 

 any belief in the latter. I have spent some time in try- 

 ing to investigate it and have been unable to disprove it, 

 but also unable and certainly not desirous to prove it. It 

 is an odd matter and those who might have denied it 

 have not chosen to do so; had they done so it would not 

 have been mentioned here although it had its influence. 

 It should be said that I have found no proof that any 

 warden laid out poison in Passadumkeag, but a strong 

 and somewhat pointed suspicion to the eft'ecb that it was 

 done either by a warden or some one in his employ. 



So far we have proof of two hordes killed hy poison. 

 From another sotu'ce the poisoning of dogs at G-juld's 

 Ridge and in the town is confirmed, with a repetition of 

 the rumor that it was done by wardens. Still another, 

 repeating substantially the same story told by the first 

 about the child, makes the more definite, but perhaps not 

 more correct statement that it was "the same night that 



[a warden] poisoned all the dogs and cats in town." 



Another from a town near by writes that he never has 

 heard the child's death ascribed to this cause, but knows 

 "that strychnine has been left in our highways by being 

 put into doughnuts, etc., and that one cow was poisoned 



that was hitched near the house in the field ( 's of 



Olamon). Some four years ago [the warden men- 

 tioned by the last correspondent] went through this sec- 

 tion and immediately after he passed dogs and other 

 animals dropped dead."' A man from still another town 

 tells of poisoned bitcait being brought into the house by 

 children, but gives no particulars. He also speaks of a 

 house dog and turkey being poisoned in the dooryard. 

 Another says that his daughter's pet cats died with evi- 

 dent signs of strychnine poisoning, and that he supposed 

 poison had been laid out by a waraen— whom he named — 

 for dogs. These are a few insiances out of many, but 

 they are definite, not general, statements, and illustrate 

 the variety of the casualties that have occurred here. It 

 is certain that the law prohibiting laying out poison 

 within 300 rods— five-eighths of a mile — has been grossly 

 violated. 



As it may explain other matters, I wi^h to state why I 

 do not undertake to prove more here. I could not well 

 do it without the use of names. Matter of importance 

 has been put into my hands with the understanding that 

 it WM t9 be pubUebed if desired, but without any Uiaita- 



tion or caution as to its use or the use of names. I have 

 therefore preferred to err on the side of caution and have 

 adhered to my plan to give names only when the point 

 was one of public record or notoriety, or else supposed to 

 be a matter of personal indifference. 



II. — This poisoning of domestic animals has been gen- 

 erally charged to wardens. 



People living in four different towns on Penobscot 

 waters have given me accounts of what has been done in 

 their own towns, and these and others have told of cases 

 in towns where they were not resident. All seem agreed 

 that persons unknown were guilty, and most are of the 

 opinion that these men were wardens. The names of 

 two wardens are frequently mentioned, but no third ex- 

 cept a man, sometimes called a warden and sometimes 

 not, who was known to accompany one of them on a trip 

 and a man believed to be employed by a warden. There 

 is also an entire agreement as to the methods used west 

 of the Ndrraguagus, and as to the odd fact that bread and 

 other cooked food was frequently the bait employed. 



Is there a j)ossibility that any number of the animals 

 that died were killed in some other way? Not the slightest. 

 The signs of strychnine poisoning are unmistakable, be- 

 sides, the poison was found in a number of places. 



Could they not have been killed by malicious people 

 who wished to cast reproach on the wardens? To a very 

 limited degree this might have been done, but not to this 

 extent. The work was carried on for three falls, '84, '85, 

 and "86, and in parts of three different counties, Penob- 

 scot, Hancock and _ Washington. I have reports from 

 Penobscot, Union River, Machias and St. Croix waters, 

 showing that it was done on all these within three years. 

 It was not done to kill foxes or wild animals. The season 

 of the year was too early, the places and bait both un- 

 suitable. None but domestic animals or men would be 

 likely to find the bait, and few other creatm-es would be 

 attracted by it. The reports that bread, biscuit and 

 doughnuts were frequently used show that it was done 

 by the wholesale by some person or persons who wished 

 to carry bait in bulk and must have a kind easy to pro- 

 cure and convey. Whoever did this work made a busi- 

 ness of it. 



There w re men who were suspected of doing this, as 

 I have said. They were watched and followed, unknown 

 to themselves. One of them was seen repeatedly, and 

 wherever he went poison or dead animals were found. 

 He made two trips with different companions, and both 

 times the same results attended him. There certainly 

 was some reason for suspicion of this man, if not of his 

 companions. 



There is a printed statement also, which never having 

 been denied may be taken, in connection with some other 

 matters as authoratative, ''Special" made it in the|FOREST 

 AND Stream for Jan. 8, 1885, It shows that els'ewhere 

 at this time wardens were engaged in poisoning. He 

 says: 



T be deer founders, or rather their poor dogs, have fared hard 

 this year. Ttie Maine game law not only foroids hounding, but 

 provides for the desti'uction of ihe dogs. By the game wardens a 

 ■war to the death has been waged. A great number of poor dogs — 

 or perhaps good dogs with unworthy masters — have been de- 

 stroyed. If one apothecary would tell his story, pounds of poison 

 would be accouDted for. Repeating rifles have also been employed 

 by tbe wardens. 



In support of this statement, I am at liberty to say that 

 about the time this was published Mr. Stilwell asked my 

 father to listen to a letter which he had received from 

 some one residing on Machias territory. He did not read 

 either signature or superscription, but the writer gave a 

 detailed account of a trip taken by some warden, the 

 amount of poison which he had distributed, and the re- 

 port that he had killed every dog on the route except one 

 belonging to Shaw Brothers, which was kept at a camp 

 w^here the warden could not get at him. A Bangor man 

 who was on Machias about this time reported finding five 

 pieces of poison laid out in the road between l^'ourth Lake 

 Machias and Lower Dobsy, a distance of about one and 

 a quarter miles, Whiie it is possible that none of this 

 was put within five-eigths of a mile of Shaw's house at 

 the end of the carry, and that none of the rest which was 

 laid out elsewhere on Machias was distributed within the 

 legal limit, the practice could do no good to the cause. 

 In this district the law about poisoning was not scrupu- 

 lously regarded, as has been shown; and I have deposited 

 in the editor's hand proof that would justify popular sus- 

 picions as to who did the mischief. This, however, I con- 

 sider too confidential to be published. There is an inci- 

 dent which is strong circumstantial evidence of the same 

 that I am at liberty to give. 



A year ago last fall the man who went as guide for us 

 told us of a narrow escape his cousin, his uncle and f our 

 other men had from being poisoned by wardens a few 

 years ago. They left camp for a short time, and in their 

 absence wardens put poisoned bread on the table. Re- 

 turning, they made a bean soup, and were on the point 

 of thickening it with the bread from the table when one 

 of them said that it was too dry and gave it to the dog, 

 which died immediately. 



This winter I asked one of the men who was of the 

 party— a very well known and much respected guide— 

 for the facts. He gave them in great detail, every point 

 that was essential, and I wrote down the more important. 

 I understood him to give permission to use his name also, 

 but as there is the possibility of an error here and as I 

 cannot now send manuscript for his correction, if any is 

 needed, I will not make him responsible. My notes say 

 that on Jan. 37, 1891, he told me that a partj"- of six, in- 

 cluding himself, his uncle, another guide and three sports- 

 men from New Haven, Conn., all of whose names he 

 gave, were camping in a lumber camp at Brandy Pond 

 on the West Branch of Union River. They had with 

 them two dogs — one three-fom-ths foxhound, which be- 

 longed to him; the other, as I understood, not a hound. 

 They were hunting deer, but I do not know whether 

 these dogs were or could be used to run deer. 



While they were there the warden whose name has 

 been left blank several times, with a companion, who is 

 variously reported as a warden and as not being one, 

 came to the camp and tried to induce them to put the 

 dogs out after deer. They left the camp for two or three 

 days while this warden and his companion were still in 

 the country on, as every one reported, a poisoning tour. 

 On their return they made a bean soup and were about 

 to thicken it with a piece of bread which one of them 

 saw lying on the table, when it was said by some one that 

 the bread was too dry. Instead of using it for themselves 

 it was given to the dog owned by the narrator, and the 

 dog died on the spot. They could prove only the fact of 

 the poisoning, not wljo did it, When they left the place 



the warden and his companion had been near; when they 

 returned both were gone. Whoever may have been the 

 guilty man, some one was narrowly delivered from the 

 crime of killing six men who had done him no injtuy, 

 against whom he could plead neither injustice, personal 

 danger, nor a violent and overmastering provocation. 



Comparatively few of the wardens in tliis State were 

 engaged in this wretched poisoning, but the few were 

 diligent. For their misdeeds some who were innooeht 

 were suspected, and under the cover of them men who 

 were not wardens at all may have used their opportunity 

 to do evil. It was a practice which could do no good, 

 which might do, and did do, much harm, which would 

 disparage the cause in whose service it was carried on, 

 and alienate rather than attract the support of those 

 without whose hearty co-operation game laws must be a 

 failure. Nothing can more certainly react against an 

 object to render it unpopular than the attempt to push its 

 claims by overriding greater ones. In the eyes of the 

 people it was more important that their property should 

 be safe than that deer should not be dogged. Both were 

 desirable, but the former was the greater. The latter 

 could not be enforced at the expense of the former. If 

 there was reason to suspect that officers of the law in en- 

 forcing one statute broke a law much more important, 

 they lost the support which was needed to make their 

 cause good. It does not matter if they did not all engage 

 in it, or if they did not do all of which they were accused. 

 One murder grew out of this, and there is danger yet. 



Of the warden who has been principally accused so far, 

 it may be said that the charge does not greatly injure his 

 reputation. He has been guilty of about all the petty sins 

 on the catalogue; he attempted blackmail, illegal seizure, 

 breaking and entering a locked storehouse, is an habitual 

 drttnkard— of which the editor holds proof — but he is still 

 a warden. 



Fannie Peaeson Hardy. 



DUCK HUNTING IN PENNSYLVANIA. 



THE stormy winds of March had spent their wrath 

 and the driving snow had changed to rain. Warm, 

 balmy winds from the south murmured among leafless 

 branches, and kissed the last vestiges of icy winter from 

 the barren fields. The early birds of spring flitted here 

 and there, in search of food, and the wild geese and 

 ducks still journeyed toward the lakes of Canada, as if 

 eager to reach that chilly clime before the first breath 

 of spring. 



From the railroad men who passed through the valley 

 every day, I learned that hundreds of wild ducks fre- 

 quented the sequestered parts of the river. This was 

 news to me indeed. I could scarce wait till morning to 

 go after these ducks. I remained up late that night load- 

 ing shells. After getting my htmting clothes ready I 

 went to bed. I may have slept one or two hours, but 

 after that could not rest. It seemed a year till the first 

 faint signs of approaching day appeared at my east 

 window. Then 1 arose, prepared a warm breakfast, un- 

 loosened Dick, my black setter, from his chain, and after 

 eating, started on foot for the "big bottoms." 



The sky was overcast with heavy clouds, and daylight 

 brought a light dx-izzling rain. I kept the railroad for 

 the first three miles and then struck off through a muddy 

 lane that led to the river and the ponds. 



Just as I reached the edge of the first thicket there was 

 a whirring of wings and a flock of fine mallards rose and 

 were out of range before I could cover any of them. This 

 incident induced me to be more careful and I approached 

 the next thicket with great caution. All of these thickets 

 concealed sloughs or ponds, which afforded a secure rest- 

 ing place for wildfowl. There was one i)ond of large size 

 shaped Like a crescent and concealed by a heavy fringe of 

 black alder, where I felt sure I would And ducks. On the 

 north side of this pond the overflow from the river had 

 piled up an immense amount of driftwood, and by keep- 

 ing behind this it was possible to advance to the very edge 

 of the pond without being at any time exposed to the 

 watchful eyes of any wildfowl which might be on the 

 water. I approached this pond with great care, keeping 

 behind the pile of drift, Dick was aware of the necessity 

 of caution and a cat could not have followed me more 

 noiselessly than he did. Reaching the barricade of drift 

 I slowly raised my head and peered over a large rotten 

 tree trunk, I was rewarded for the care I had used by a 

 sight such as but few men, I think, ever beheld in that 

 valley before. The pond w^as literally covered with ducks 

 of all colors and kinds, from the big mallard with his gor- 

 geous plumage to the white-headed and white- winged 

 fish duck and the black and blue-winged teal, I was not 

 more than SOyds, from a bunch of fine mallards but was 

 so shaky that I remained fully half a minute behind the 

 log trying to compose myself. Then I grasped my heavy 

 Parker which contained two shells loaded with No. 4 shot 

 and 5 drams of powder. Rising suddenly to my feet I 

 covered the mallards and gave them the right! They 

 were somewhat scattered and I killed only two, but my 

 left barrel brought down another from above the lower 

 branches of the trees, I sent two more loads after a cloud 

 of teal but fail to stop any of them. 



I can never forget the tremendous confusion my fii*st 

 shot caused in that pond. There must have been at least 

 two hundred ducks in a space not over (50 by 90yds,, and 

 they got up with a rush and whirring roar of wings such 

 as I never heard before. 



Dick retrieved the three big mallards, the finest I have 

 ever bagged. Placing them in the pockets of my coat I 

 continued my himt, but found not another duck on the 

 river or ponds. 



I noticed many flocks of wild geese and ditcks flying 

 up stream, but all far out of range. Knowing that they 

 would see me long before they got over me, and rise out 

 of reach of shot, I resolved to hide and wait for a flock, 

 low enough to shoot at with some chance of sixccess. I 

 found a patch of high timber, mostly composed of syca- 

 more and maple trees, growing close to the river bank, 

 and ending in a wide open wheatfield to the north. I 

 selected a spot on the edge of the timber, where I was 

 concealed by a pile of drift, and could see the ducks and 

 geese as they came over the tops of the trees, without 

 being seen by them. 



I had several shells loaded with No, 1 shot and 5drs, of 

 powder, and resolved to try them at any flock within 

 reasonable distance. After waiting about an hour I grew 

 restless, and was about to leave when I was suddenly 

 startled by the well-known cry of wild geese coming 

 : from BO great distance. 



