24 



foR]e:st and stream. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[By a Staff Corrmwndent.'] 

 Chicago, 111., Sept. 10. — It was mentioned earlier that 

 in response to the letter of Mr. Organ, president of the 

 State Association, and also of Warden Bortree, certain of 

 the express companies had issued circulars to their local 

 agents forbidding the receipt of illegal game. In order 

 to give this matter wider publicity it is thought well to 

 give here the text of two of these circulars issued by 

 companies running into country from which much game 

 is shipped. The American Express Co. circular is as fol- 

 lows: 



Amkbican Express Company.— Office of Assistant _^Geiieral 

 Manager, Wesifiru D. partment.— Chieagrd, 111., Aug. 17, 1893.— 

 Agents Western Department: The Game Warden of this city has 

 recently called our attention to tlie fact tiat more or less game, 

 killed out of BeasoD,i8 being shipped into Chicago contaary to 

 law, and he has givfn notice that hereafter express companies 

 will be prosecuted for esch and every violation. This company 

 has repeatedly isBUPd instructioua regarding the violation of 

 game laws. It is our intention to comply with the law in each 

 and every State in which we do business. A copy of said laws has 

 been furnished you and there is no excuse for violating same. 

 You must be more watchful than ever, and refuse to receive for 

 transportation anv game, the shipment of which is in violation 

 of the game laws ot your State, Agents will be held personally 

 responsible for any loss growing out of a violation of this order. 



A. AntisdeIj, Ass't Gen'l Manager. 



The Northern Pacific Express Company's circular is in 

 substance as follows: 



NORTHEHN Pacific Express Company.— General Manager's 

 Office. Game Ijaws.— Ouieago, Aug. ^3. ISQi.—To Agents: The 

 attention of all agents of this company i.s called to the game 

 laws, as published in tariff circulars from time to time for the 

 different States as loUows: The taking of game or fish at any 

 time embraced within the "close season," as set fortli iu tariff 

 circulars, is a violation of the law. Any person violating the 

 law will be bubject to tine or imprisonment, or both. Agents 

 must strictly live up to the game laws and refuse to handle or 

 ship game out of season, as it is the policy of this company to 

 uphold the law. It is known that agents of this and other 

 express companies have accepted game and way-billed the ship- 

 ments under the guise of "flsh" and vice versa, li is our earnest 

 desire to put a stop to this evasion of the law and not handle 

 illicit game under fictitious names. AVith a view to end this 

 practice, agents must promptly refuse to accept or handle game 

 of any kind during the close season. Offenders of the law are 

 being successfully prosecuted, and should penalties be imposed 

 upon this company for such offenses the amount in each case 

 will be charged to the offending agent. 



H. H. Bbcwts'ihg, General Manager. 



This action of the carriers ought to liave some little 

 effect, though it takes a trusting and confiding soul to 

 believe that the local agents will be geared into absoJtitQ 

 carefulness by the above communications. If the com- 

 panies would send out a circular showing the names of 

 a few agents who had suffered for violating the terms 

 of the circulars they would do something toward taking 

 this matter out of the red tape precinct. 



To-day I hear that yesterday afternoon Messrs. Organ 

 and Bortree found two firkins and one barrel of illegal 

 prairie chickens on South Water street. Particulars are 

 not at hand about this latest roughening of the way of 

 the transgressor. 



TEAVELING SHOOTERS. 



The Bloomington (111.) Hunting Club issues a neat 

 itinerary of the trip to be taken this fall in their special 

 hunting car *'Cleoi)atra." The personnel of the party is 

 given as follows: Dr, iI. O. Barke, A. S. Eddy, Deane 

 N. Funk, H. L. Smith, Frank H. Fank. J. F. Glenn, J. 

 C. Stevenson, J. Deeraismes, .J. B. Stevenson, lAnc. 

 Funk, H. 0. Wheeler, Eugene D. Funk, H. O. Hoffman, 

 W. H. Creber, Isaac G. Funk, C. T. Stevenson, E. C, 

 Roush, Ed Butler, 0. T, Eeeves, Jr. and A, C. Eddy. 

 J. B. Stevenson, M=inager; H. E. Smith, Ciptain; W. IT. 

 Creber, Sec'y-Treas. 



The trip beg:in8 to-day, Sept. 10, and the party will 

 arrive at St. Paul to-morrow morning, and at Winnipear, 

 Man., Sept 13. The journey is thence west via C. P. R, R. 

 A stay of two weeks is billed for Revelstoke, and thence 

 the journey leads to the northwest coast, Sa,n Francisco, 

 and home by way of Salt Lake and Denver, the trip to 

 end Oct. 18. This will leave small time for actual hunt- 

 ing, but will make a grand tour for these fortunates. 



Somewhere I have lately seen it stated that the cost of 

 a special car is not so appalling as might be supiioseil. A 

 parlor special costs .$50 a day, a hunting car only $85 a 

 day. Over most roads eighteen full fares must be paid, 

 and board must be paid extra, though a cook and two 

 servants are furnished with the car. 



Mr. Chas, Grubbs, of Montgomery Ward & Co.'s gun 

 department, starts this week on an extended trip of rest 

 and sport in Dakota and the West, which may take him 

 to the Rockies aud keep him away a couplo of months. 

 Mr. Grubbs goes for bis health primarily. 



Mr, L. M, Stone, representing a New York commission 

 firm, made inquiry this week for chicken country, and 

 has started for North Dakota and Minnesota. He will 

 probably make his main stay at Alexandria, Minn. 



Mr, W. H. Reddingtou, of this city, starts early for 

 Trout Lake, near Reynolds, Wis., for some fall fishing: 

 not for deer shooting I hope, Ris camp will be on Grooked 

 Lake most of the time. 



Messrs. W. W. Ash and ( i eo. B, Washburne have j ust 

 completed a boat trip through the Fox Lake system, 

 starting from Long Luke. They had fair fishing, and re- 

 port seeing some few ducks, but not a great many. 



A party of half a dozen or more will go up to Horicon 

 Marsh, Wis., next Tuesday. They should just about aneet 

 the teal flight, which is a little early this i'dll. Ducks are 

 reported more abundant now on the marsh than last week. 



It appears that they have law in Dakota, and that with 

 a vengeance, as Messrs. E. R. Sheldon and Dsvight Law- 

 rence, of this city, and their two companions can testify. 

 On their recent trip they one day killed 84 chickens, the 

 law allowing only 25 birds to the gtm. A, constable ar- 

 rested them and they were taken before a J P. Anotlier 

 section of the law forbids shipping over 13 birds a day. 

 A little juggling of the two sections convinced them that 

 they had broken the law, and they paid |100 and costs. 

 If these gentlemen kept faitli with the law, aud killed 

 not over 35 birds to the gun, they were unjustly fined. If 

 they did not they were not fin^d enough. Any shooter 

 going into a strange country to shoot should look up the 

 law thoroughly and then observe it implicitly. This 

 done, there is small danger of unjust fines, for the 

 shooter will be clear in his own mind as to bis rights in 

 the matter. 



Mr. B. Waters, of the Forest and Stream staS, is back 

 from the field trials at Morris, Manitoba. He reports that 

 prairie chickens and sharp-tails were very abundant in 

 that section, and just beginning to pack, They often put 

 up 30 or 40 birds on a few acres of ground. He thought 

 that two good dogs might find 20 or 35 poveys a day 



easily, and that one gun could easily bag 100 birds a day 

 on some of the best country. Morris is only 28 miles 

 above the Dakota line. 



Mr. Waters says also that along a new road north of 

 Winnipeg, caribou are seen in herds resembling, in minia- 

 ture at least, those of the buft'alo in days gone by. This 

 fabulous statement came from an old Manitoba hunter of 

 big game. Moose are also obtainable in the same region, 

 which is easily accessible from Winnipeg. 



ILLINOIS BIRDS. 



It still seems the case that, while the Northwest is un- 

 usually blessed this fall with the prairie chicken crop, 

 Illinois is sadly short. .A.round Jacksonville there are 

 usually some birds, but they are scarce for even the illegal 

 shooters this year. I was told that there are more chickens 

 southeast of Springfield than anywhere else, though il- 

 legal shooting has been common there also. I was also 

 told that there was fair shooting about sixteen miles 

 north of Prentice, on the 0, & A,, though that country 

 is much po.sted. 



A prominent shooter who lives at Virginia, 111., about 

 twelve miles above Jacksonville, writes me the following 

 interesting note: 



"Last Sunday as I was walking around my pond, I saw 

 a sight that 1 never before witnessed. The cows had 

 waded out in water almost mid-sitie deep, and the little 

 fish at once surrounded them, jumping as much as a foot 

 out of the water after flies which lit on the cows. They 

 did not seem to be in the least frightened by the move- 

 ments of the cows. Most all were small sunfish. Such 

 an occurrence may be very common, but it is the first 

 time I have ever seen it. 



"Last week while in attendance at the Springfield, 

 111., tournament, I heard quite a number talking about 

 the killing of prairie chickens, and from what I could 

 learn, there were already being many killed in that 

 vicinity. There seems to be much dift'erence of opinion 

 regarding the law on shooting chickens, since the blunder 

 iu the Legislature a few years ago. I think that that has 

 been the cause of much illegal shooting. Of course, 

 nearly all the shooters, or rather sportsmen, acknowledge 

 Sept.'lo to be the legal time for killing chickens in this 

 State, but there are a few lawyers scattered through the 

 country who claim there is no valid law at present in re- 

 gard to chicken shooting, and that they will defend any 

 one who kills them. This also I think, has had its effect. 

 No doubt it would be an easy matter to find out some of 

 the offt-nding ones. Rex " 



Th« state of affairs referred to is unfortunately in ex 

 is ence. There seems to be, however, a growing respect 

 for the law in many of the country districts of this State, 

 and "'early shooting'" comes more and more into criticism. 

 The writer of the above is a young farmer and could 

 easily soothe his conscience over a few early birds, but I 

 know that he would not in any circumstances violate the 

 law. The Springfield men might well note the example. 



DK. THOMAS AND HIS DEER. 



Last week I gave space to the current report that Dr. 

 H. W. Thomas, pastor of the People's Church, of this 

 city, had, during his summer vaction in Wisconsin, 

 killed three deer. I stated that I had written Dr. Thomas 

 for the facts, and hoped a full denial of the charge. Now 

 I have Dr. Thomas's reply, and it is with genuine regret I 

 see that the denial is wanting, and that there can no 

 longer be even the most charitable doubt as to the truth 

 of the original accusation. Summer deer shooting, openly 

 carried on and openly admitted by a minister of the gos- 

 pel, a man whose conscience should be tender and alive to 

 natural justice — that is something we had no right to ex- 

 pect, W e should have expected that from the brutal, 

 the reckless, the low and the unreasoning, not from a 

 man of education, of intelligence and of a position bear- 

 ing need of self-respect in even the most minute particu- 

 lar. The facts, however, are stubborn, and here is the 

 letter, which I give mrhatim et litenttim: 



H'do Monroe St., Sept. T.- Your kind letter reed., and I appre- 

 ciate its spirit snd courtesy. 



Yes, it is true I killed three big deer in Wisconsin, and whilst I 

 had never examined the statutes of the State, I knew there was a 

 law protecting the game out of season. 



But the nearest meat market was some 40 miles away; we had 

 to liave fresh meat, aud the easiest and most enjoyable way to 

 get it was to kill it; and this, as 1 understand, is tne custom, and 

 allowable under such circumstances, and does not really violate 

 the intent of the law. The tew people who live in those wild tim- 

 ber lands seem to have about the same right to the game that 

 a. farmer has lo his herds, aud hence I felt a clear conscience in 

 the matter. 1 killed for immediate use, and we ate the whole 

 animals— I'ore.iuarters all. I lefo the hides with the residents. 

 Of course, 110 hunter would shoot a doe before the weaning time 

 of the fawns. And we caught and ate trout; and we killed and 

 ate partridges, but not till near the last ot August, when the 

 young ones Were well grown. And I shot a porcupine on a tree, 

 thinking in haste it was a coon. But I did not call the deer sheep, 

 as some do in the Rocky Mountains. 



Now, if iu all this I offended the spirit of the law", I am ready 

 to pay the good State of Wisconsin for the damage done. 



•Resp'y, H. W. Tuomas. 



There is one quality about this letter which is not often 

 shown by some of our so-called "sportsmen"' who kill 

 deer in the summer, aud that is a manliness equal to ac- 

 knowledging the fault. There is no use getting saA^age 

 over this matter, and abusing or deriding Dr. Thomas for 

 what he admits he has done. It will be better to be cool 

 and reasonable, and so to show Dr. Thomas and others 

 that such an act is both a wrong and a risky one. So far 

 as treating Dr. Thomas any better than anybody else is 

 concerned, there is no reason for that. He is no better, 

 by virtue of his position, than anybody else, and more- 

 over he steps quite aside from his position when he goes 

 into the woods and kills deer in the summer time. Yet 

 we will cling to that position for a moment, and from 

 that point show the fallacy of the reverend gentleman's 

 excuses to his conscience. 



A minister of the Gospel should have in his heart a be- 

 lief in the principles of love, justice and unselfishness, 

 and he should practice tliem. If Dr. Thomas can be 

 shown that on tlie basis of his letter he has been unlov- 

 ing, unjust and selfish, it should be enough, and should 

 be the easiest way to show him that he should recede 

 from the position there maintained, and should make 

 atonement for his fault. This is good religion, and more- 

 over it's good logic. 



Dr. Thomas says, "The few people who live in those 

 wild timber lauds seem to have about the same right to 

 the game that a farmer has to his herds." Well now, this 

 isn't so in the first place, because these people are exactly 

 like Dr. Thomas, and Dr. Thomas is exactly like them. 

 They are either citizens or outlaws. If they are citizens, 

 one is as good as another before the law. In the Booial 

 compact we give u.p many individual privileges for the 



c 



gommon good. For many reasons, it is pleasanter to do 

 s one likes, but when one goes into society he agrees to 

 ive up this doctrine. He has his chance when he votes 

 or a man to represent him in makingjlaws. He has his 

 c fiance again wnen he votes for a man to represent him 

 in interpreting the laws. But he has no longer any 

 chance to make law, interpret law, and carry out laws to 

 suit himself. He gave that up to the State when he be- 

 came a citizen. He is one of the many, now. The citi- 

 zen of Wisconsin, or the hunter of Wisconsin, whether he 

 lives in the wild timber lands or in the heart of the busi- 

 est city, is no better than his neighbor, and he has no 

 right to think himself so. Dr. Thomas is no glittering 

 exception. It is not his business to construe the law. If 

 he can construe the game law, he can just as well be out- 

 law enough to construe the laws relating to any other 

 form of theft, and take what suits his fancy, because he 

 "needs"' it. He, in effect, stole the property of the people 

 of Wisconsin, knowing that the faithful citizens of that 

 State could not raise a hand to take of that property ex- 

 cept in certain ways and after a certain date. In this he 

 was selfish, unjust and unloving. He cannot do these 

 things and be a goood citizens, or a good minister. He 

 cannot do these things and retain the respect of many 

 men who now have respect and admiration for him in 

 their heai'ts. W^hen he has thought the matter over, he 

 will know that he cannot do these things and retain his 

 own self-respect. And the loss of that is the worst thing 

 a man can suffer. 



The plea that the natives of the pine lands own the deer 

 is a specious one, but it is wrong and bears no scrutiny, 

 far leas when urged by Dr. Thomas as an excuse. If the 

 deer belong to this restricted portion of the population, 

 then Dr. Thomas stole from that restricted portion. If 

 the deer belong to the natives as the farmer's hei-ds to him, 

 Dr. Thomas had no more right to kill a deer, without the 

 consent of all those natives living in that region, than he 

 would have to kill an animal out of the farmer's herd 

 without his consent. Dr. Thomas certainly does not live 

 in "those wild timber lands himself." He doesn't own 

 those deer as a farmer does his herds. He isn't a native. 

 He has not, on his own statement, any right to go in there 

 and rob those poor people of the animals of their herds, 

 which they may need for food. When he does that, he is 

 selfish, unloving and unjust. A good minister whom I 

 once heard — I will not tell Dr. Thomas who he was — told 

 us, "It is very easy to find excuses for doing a thing we 

 want to do." That is just what Dr. Thomas did. He did 

 what he wanted to do, and then hustled for the excuses. 

 He did a strictly selfish act. As to the old plea about 

 needing meat, that is very old, very recurrent, and very 

 thin. It always has been thin, and now it is thinner. I 

 don't doubt for a moment that Dr. Thomas's party used all 

 the meat, j ust as he says, but I do not for a moment believe 

 that the need of meat was the controlling impulse which 

 took him out to kill deer in the red coat. I think he felt 

 the hunter's impulse to kill a large animal. In short, I 

 think he wanted to kill a deer, and did ao, and then ate 

 it, and then sought to make the eating an excuse. Dr. 

 Thomas receives several thousand dollars a year as 

 salary. He could have taken enough provisions into the 

 woods. He admits that he had good fishing. I have 

 little sympathy for the men who have trout and pork and 

 beans and a hunter's appetite, and who yet feel con- 

 strained, because nothing is good enough for them but 

 venison, to go out and kill a deer for the sake of some- 

 thing to eat. The eating is no excuse. If I should steal 

 a quarter of beef from the Government warehouse and 

 eat the beef all up, would that be any excuse? And yet 

 for that act I could build up a far sounder and more 

 logical apology than this shaky one of the reverend gen- 

 tleman who, bound naturally to the doctrine of loving- 

 ness, justice and unselfishness, abandons all that wilfully, 

 and knowingly breaks a law of man, of nature and of 

 natural justice, because he simply feels like doing so. 

 Who am I, that I should steal beef? Who is Dr. Thomas, 

 that he should steal venison: I want no stolen goods. I 

 want my self-respect, and I want to be a citizen. 



For theft of this sort there are j ust two classes whom on^ 

 could excuse, those who are actually ignorant of the law, 

 and those residents who actually used the game for food. 

 Any man may break a law in ignorance, and there is no 

 real fault in that, and when one thinks of the poor devils 

 who live up in the pine country, condemned by their 

 hard circumstances to a life of pork and saleratus, it ia 

 hard to blame them for killing an occasional deer. But 

 Dr. Thomas belongs to neither of these classes. He is a 

 man who ought to know better and who did know better, 

 and who ought to have done better. If we excuse him, 

 what shall we say to restrain the herd of the brutal, the 

 reckless, the low and the unintelligent? May they not as 

 well stay as he ? Suppose one hundred of these go into 

 the woods, and kill three deer apiece? The deer of a 

 whole region are destroyed forever. This is the conclu- 

 sion of Dr. Thomas' logic. The conclusion is too severe 

 to allow him to use such logic. He must admit himself ' 

 no better than his brother citizen. He will need no 

 sophistries then. 



There is in this no mere utilization of an opportunity 

 for a sportsman's i)aper to haul a minister of the Gospel 

 over the coals. The sporting press is not at war with the ' 

 pulpit in any way. It is only the importance of the of- 

 fender which makes this case the most worthy of mention 

 of any of the kind yet known — a case as interesting and 

 noteworthy as it is unfortunate and deplorable. 



I do not claim to know Dr. Thomas's business. He ■ 

 should not claim to know ours. Had he traveled all over ■ 

 this country as much as I have, and sought to learn accu- 

 rately about the game supply, and had he seen, as I have, I 

 the game of every sort in this great country year by year 

 vanishing, fading away, disappearing from even the 

 wildest fastnesses of mountain and forest, he would feel 

 just as I do about this to-day, and he would know there 

 was no ghoulish malice under comment such as this, and 

 anything but pleasure in the writing of it. There is small 

 selfishness beneath it. I do not want merely to see these • 

 animals preserved for myself, or for the sake of my sport- 

 ing friends, or the sake of the general sj)orting public, 

 although that is part of the business of a genuine sports- 

 men's journal. I want to see these animals preserved for 

 their own sake. They are going, Dr. Thomas does not 

 know how fast. We of the guild of sportsmen are try 

 ing to get good laws to preserve the game, and to have 

 all observe the laws, and to give all an et|ual chance on ^ 

 such conditions that the game will not be exterminated, 

 and this chance eo put forever out of question for us all, 

 We want the help of just such men as Dr, Thomas, We 



