474 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 1, I89b. 



THE MARZLUFF CASE. 



One day last year I learned that a merchant in Glens 

 Falls, N. Y. , had, a day or two before, put a quantity of 

 brook trout in a private pond on his own property, and 

 that the trout were taken from a public brook in the 

 State. This, if true, was a Yiolation of Section 103 of the 

 game law. I made some inquiry about the matter and 

 wa-s told tliat the merchant, Mr. J. B. Marzluff, had said 

 to my iulorijiant that he had taken the trout from a pub- 

 lic stream find had put them in a private pond, as he had 

 a perfect right to do, and he uudei-stood the law fully, be- 

 fore and after he caught the ti'out. I conclude that by 

 the time that I heard of tlie case Mr. Marzluii had become 

 more familiar with the law and had clianged his mind 

 concerning his rights under it, for, instead of saymg, as 

 he was at first reported, that he did not care who knew of 

 the transaction, he said nothing. The trout were caught 

 on Sunday by Mr. Marzluff and several of the clerts from 

 his store, and apparently there were no witnesses except 

 the participants in the catching of the trout, and theii- 

 lips were securely sealed. If I have a choice as to who 

 shall be punished for violating the fish and game laws my 

 leanings are toward the rich man, wdio should be in- 

 formed in regard to the laws of his State, rather than 

 toward the poor devil who may know nothing about the 

 laws, and violates them to fill his empty stomach. I sent 

 for Special State Game Protector William H. Biurnett, 

 and when he came not a lead could be found to follow, 

 and as a last resort I sent him to Mr. Marzluff s pond, 

 which was a small, shallow affair, to see if there were any 

 trout under 6in. among the lot. 



To my surprise, he reported that all but two fish seemed 

 to be under 6in. in length, but he could swear to a certain 

 number as being less than the legal length. I thought it 

 better to have two witnesses to make absolutely sure, and 

 anotlier visit was made to the pond and a certain number 

 of ti-out under the legal limit counted by two men; but 

 the officer was recognized. The same afternoon a wit- 

 ness was found through whom the trout were traced to 

 the brook from wldch they were taken, but there was 

 reason to believe that if anything -was to be done at the 

 other end of the line it must be done at once or the cake 

 would be dough. After a night drive the officer appeared 

 in the mountains where the trout were caught. To be 

 correct perhaps I should say the ofiicer did not appear in 

 the morning, but I have understood that a man did ap- 

 pear who wanted trout fishing and was directed to the 

 stream and was told what to do, and as proof that the 

 stream was a trout brook he was informed, incidentally 

 as it were, tlrat Mr. MarzlufE came there on a certain Sun- 

 day and caught 138 trout, all under Gin. in length, and it 

 was more tlian intimated that they were caught in a 

 net. That man went off down the brook and I 

 hear that he has not yet returned, so he must 

 have had good luck. Officer Burnett did get there, how- 

 ever, and tliere was a justice of the peace with him, and a 

 woman and two men had an opportunity to tell under 

 oath what they knew about Mr. Marzlufi"s skill as a fish- 

 erman for fingeiiing trout. Ordinarily it would be re- 

 garded as considerate on the part of an officer to come to 

 one's house to take testimonj^ and thus save a journey to 

 court, but one of the men got mad about it, and said the 

 officer and justice had no business in his house, although 

 his wife had invited them in and ofiered them seats and 

 a table on which to write, and he went off, as he said, to 

 have the officer arrested. His errand proved to be noth- 

 ing more serious than to reach Mr. Marzluff as quickly as 

 possible and inform him that the jig was up, and he must 

 prepare to call at the caj)tain's office. 



Stress has been laid upon the fact that Mr. Marzluff 

 freely confessed that he caught 138 trout and tliat he put 

 them in his pond, all unconscious that he was, in so 

 doing, violationg the law. So he did, but it was after 

 the evidence was secured against him and it made not 

 the least difference in the world whether he confessed or 

 not, for the sworn evidence told the story as well as he 

 could tell it, and it could be used in court to convict him 

 even if he kept his mouth shut as tightly as he did dur- 

 ing the weeks previous, when a confession would have 

 amounted to something. He did not confess that he. or 

 those that he employed, caught the trout in a net, while 

 It is morally, and may be made legally, certain that a net 

 was used to catch every trout that he put in his pond. 

 However, the officer decided to let the confession count 

 for something and so did not arrest ]\Ir. Marzluff for the 

 misdemeanor, but got an order from the Chief Game and 

 Fish Protector to employ counsel and bring a suit in the 

 name of the people for the penalty. This was done, the 

 penalty amounting to something over $1,200. Having 

 brought the suit, Officer Burnett not desiring to persecute 

 in the name of prosecution, got another order permitting 

 the attorney for the people to settle the case for I think 

 $200, and the matter dragged its weary length along. Time 

 to answer was asked for and gTanted over and over and 

 apparently there was no disposition on the part of the 

 defendant to settle the case on any terms. 1 was some- 

 what surprised, for the action brought was not all there 

 was to the case if the officer was disposed to press other 

 charges. Fmally the Chief Game Pro tector tried'his hand 

 at a settlement and came to see Maxzluff and talked the 

 matter all over m a most friendly spirit and decided that 

 the State would settle for $100, which was satisfactory to 

 Mr. Slarzluft. 



Major Pond and Officer Burnett concluded that a lone 

 drawn out case was well out of the way when to their 

 siu-prise, for Major Pond had no previous knowledge of 

 It, liiey were confronted by a copy of the following paper 

 m the hands of Mr. Marzluff 's attorney : 



State of New York, 

 Chief (tAme am) Fish Photector-s Office, 

 '^LBAm.', N. Y., April ir, iftJi.S. i 

 1«t ifiof Commissioners of Fisheries held Tuesday April 



;M t'i,„f**°y?'"*-°? I'esolutiou was unanimously adopted • "Ke 



^^iLS^^ ^-^^"^'^ witho'ut '^eo's^.t^SS'tl 



Copy of resolutfeB,Bpr{afled;t6 as correct. 



Edwahb p. Doyle, 

 beeretary, Commissioners of Fisheries, 



To be sure the resolution does not amount, m court to 

 that It IS written on except to show the position 

 of the Lommissioners, and their apparent contempt for 

 the law when a man of means is caught in the toils, and it 

 does this so thoroughly that f m-ther Tv^m ment is unrSces- 

 sary._ I have been told how the -pull" was workPd btt 

 that IS of no moment, compared with the result "which 

 speaks for itaelf . And such a resultl Why, one is induced 



to hold one's nose as he reads that when a man commits 

 a misdemeanor the officials virtually charged with the 

 punishment of the crime formally declare that it is in the 

 interest of public policy that the violater shall go scot free. 

 What are the laws for anyway? 



I believe that not very long ago a man was arrested in 

 the CatskiU region for doing the very same thing that Mr. 

 Marzluff is charged with, but j)ublic policy and a resolii- 

 tion of the Fish Commissioners did not come to his 

 assistance, for the newspapers stated that he had to pay 

 $1,000 or more. Perhaps he could have got a "pull" 

 cheaper. A friend of Mr. Marzluff told me that he 

 thought it "a blanked poor law that would not permit a 

 man to go out to the brooks and get a few little trout for 

 his private pond." I told him to have the law changed ; 

 that was the remedy. But he did not know what such a law 

 was for anyway. I told him that a member of a private 

 club in an adjoining State informed me that in one year his 

 club had bought 18,000 little trout from boys hii-ed for a 

 few cents per trout to catch them for the club's ponds. 

 The State stocked the public streams for the people, then 

 the club hired boys to catch the people's fish, and they 

 were then put where the people could not catch them. 

 That is what the law is for. Mr. Marzluff does not main- 

 tain a club, but his case comes under the law just the 

 same. If the man of means is to go free after violating 

 the law of the State, let the poor devil go also. 



A. N. Cheney. 



THE "KINGFISHERS" IN CANADA.— II. 



Black Bass in Big Basswood Lake. 



When we had fished above the camp for three or four 

 miles until we got thoroughly acquainted with the water 

 and almost ashamed to look a bass in the face, we tried 

 below, and on down to the foot of the lake, and around on 

 the north shore as far up as a farm across from camp, and 

 found the fishing nearly as good as above; a trifle better, 

 if anything, for the bass run a little larger, a good many 

 of them up to nearly or quite 31bs. We were told tliat 

 bass had been taken out of this lake that weighed as high 

 as 7 and Bibs., but we had some doubts a,bout it, as we 

 fished it diligently for nearly a month and never got one 

 that weighed a featherweight over 31bs. If there were 

 B-pounders in it, we never had the luck to strike one of 

 them. There are doubtless some large brook trout in the 

 lake, but while we were there they were not in a very 

 good biting humor; however. Kelpie and the Colonel took 

 three, fishing off a rock they chiistened "trout point," that 

 w^ere of fair size, the smallest one Aveigliing nearly a pound 

 and the largest one Iflbs. 



But the bass fishing is unsurpassed and later in the 

 season, September and October, Dyer says the lake trout 

 are nearly as nimierous as the bass are in the summer. 



The Canada law says that only 12 bass a day shall be 

 taken by one rod, but w^e frequently took many more than 

 that number, never, however, taking more than 12 each 

 back to the camp. The others were conscientiously and 

 carefully returned to the water uninjured, and often 

 nearly the entu:e catch of the day was returned, as we had 

 no use for them, only as brotlier Dyer took them off our 

 hands to cure and smoke for his winter use, or ;i neighbor 

 would now and then drop around for a mess. 



We never took to camp, even when six or seven of us 

 were fishing, more than thirty or forty in a day, and we 

 believed that in doing this we were complying with the 

 spirit of the law, if not the letter of it. All that we did 

 not use ourselves were turned over to brother Dyer (or 

 the neighbors) to sun cure and smoke, and I ha,ve no 

 doubt he made good use of them. 



If our interpretation of the law was wrong we will be 

 glad to be set right by Commissioner A. D. Stewart, 

 through Forest and Steeam, for the information and 

 benefit of ourselves and others who may want to go a 

 fishin' over the border. ^ 



I fished one afternoon by myself (none of the others 

 were out as the lake was very rough) and caught 45 bass 

 that ran from 21 to2|lba., and I was windbound for 

 three hours of the time, the water being so rough that I 

 was afraid to venture out. This was around the lower 

 end of the lake. I took back to camp the List eleven 

 taken and Dyer got eight of them to cure. 



There are only a few places around the lake where a 

 comfortable camp can be made and near Dyer's house is 

 the best of them. On the level common back of the house 

 is room for a hundred tents or more, but it would not be 

 quite so handy to the w^ater as we ^xere. 



Up tlie lake a couple of miles at the head of a deep bay 

 is another fair camping place, near a landing where a 

 road leads back to Sowerby, and on the big island a 

 short distance above another good camp cotdd be made. 



This island is about eighty rods long, as near as we 

 could guess it, but it may be less, and a couple of himdred 

 feet wide at the widest point. It is a solid rock rising 

 50 or 60ft. out of thfc water at the east end, but cov- 

 ered with enough soil to support a fairly thick growth of 

 trees and bushes. The south side is low, only a few feet 

 above the water, and all along this shore of it the water is 

 shallow, 3 to 6, 10 and 1.5ft. deep, out four and five rods, 

 till it pitches off deep in tiie channel between that and the 

 main land. The bottom is a solid roc'k. The lake here is 

 less than half a mile wide and the island is in the middle. 



The fishing around this island is usually very fine, but I 

 fished aU around it one day, twice around without a nib- 

 ble, and only the previous afternoon Charley had taken 

 twenty -seven bass on the south shore near the head with- 

 out moAdng his boat ten rods. (He would doubtless have 

 been there yet, only he ran out of bait.) Another count 

 in favor of the island as a camping place is that it is a 

 charming, pictm-esque spot, and covered with huckleber- 

 ries. At a good many places around the lake , back on top of 

 the hills, there are acres and acres of these insipid berries, 

 and we bought pailfuls of them, and the luscious wild red 

 "rozberries," of the neighbors at five cents a quai-t, and 

 they ai-e just about good and ripe from the middle of July 

 on till they are gone. 



There are f om- islands in the lake, the largest one above 

 mentioned, another good-sized one neai- the extreme 

 head, one at the entrance of one of the deep bays on the 

 south shore, a stone's throw from the mainland, and a 

 smaU patch of nearby solid rock, a few yards in area, three 

 or four rods out in the lake from Loafer's Point in front 

 of Dyer's house. This last stands only four or five feet 

 above the water, and has no soil or vegetation on it ex- 

 cept two or three sttmted bushes that find a pecarious 

 "toe holt" in. the crevices of the rock. 



We did not find a spear of grass nor a bulrush growing 

 up from the bottom around the entire circuit of the lal-;e 

 except at the head, at the mouth of Beaver Creek and at 

 the mouth of the little stream connecting with Loon Lake; 

 all the rest is rocky bottom, nor is there a spring to be 

 found around the shore except a little puny stream a little 

 larger than a lead pencil coming out of the hillside right 

 at the boat landing at Dyer's, and a very fine cold spring 

 branch on the north shore well down to the lower end of 

 the lake. Snider and I found it one day while fishing 

 around on that side when the lake was perfectly quiet, by 

 the melody it made in tumbling over the rocks and into 

 the lake. Only for the music it made we would not lia,ve 

 fould it, for the trees and bushes were so dense on the hill- 

 side and down to the very water's edge that it was entirely 

 hidden from view. I looked for it several times after- 

 ward, but the wind was each time blowing down the lake, 

 and the roaring of the surf drowned the whimper of the 

 little brook, and I was unable to locate it. 



But the lake water is clear and pure, and fairly cool, 

 although not quite cold enough for a "satisfy in' beveridge'' 

 on a hot July day. 



We did not confine ourselves to fishing Big Basswood 

 Lake alone; there were four others not hard to reach that 

 needed inATestigating, and we put in several days at differ- 

 ent times exploring their waters — except one. Little Bass- 

 wood, lying five or six miles from the camp, and south of 

 the big lake. Brother Dobie had sent us a rude sketch of 

 the lakes and their relative positions, and had written the 

 kinds of fish to be found in each. one. 



Little Basswood contained, he said, bass, pike and pick- 

 erel, the latter the Canadian name for pike perch or wall- 

 eyed pike, and the Canada pike is the American pickerel. 



KiNGEISHBE. 



ANGLERS ON CANADIAN WATERS. 



. There is no more ice on Canadian waters, but plenty of 

 anglers have already taken up their position on them. Early 

 last week the thick but water-soaked icy covering of 

 Lake St. John broke up under the influence of a strong 

 east wind and sank beneath the surface. The natives are 

 now at work shamelessly taking the beautiful, bright, 

 silvery ouananiche on coarse lines and coarser hooks 

 baited with pieces of ouitouche and such-Uke enormities. 

 This is principally along the Roberval shore of the lake. 

 Any day now may bring the news that the fish have 

 commenced to take the fly in the liglit rapids at the mouth 

 of the Ouitchouan and also in the Metabetchouan pool. 

 Last year they were rising freely before this time, but the 

 season was a little earlier than it is this year. A large 

 Quebec party is going out to tlie lake on Saturday. 



Quebecers who are members of the Stadacona and 

 Laurentide clubs along the line of the Lake St. John 

 Railway, or of the new Triton Club, whose territory is in 

 the Batiscan district, are daily leaving in quest of fonii- 

 nalis, and quite a number left town on Saturday last. 

 Reports from Lake Edward are to the eft'ect that heavy 

 fisli were taken there last week with bait. Mr. A. Simons 

 of Lake Beaufort, took his first trout this season out of 

 that favorite water over a week ago. It Aveighed 17oz. 

 and took a hackle. 



The first American visitors to the trout waters in 

 northern Quebec this season are Dr. Porter of Bridgeport, 

 Conn,, and Senator and Miss Read of the same ])lace. who 

 went up last Thursday to their club house at Lake Kiski- 

 sink, from which the ice had disappeared but a very few 

 days previously. On the waters of this club, and especi- 

 ally at the outlet of tlie lake, the spring fishing is usually 

 exceptionally good. 



Messrs, Edward- D. Toland and Sutherland Law of Phil- 

 adelphia, members of the Moisie Fishing Club, are here om 

 their way to their fishing grounds. 



Salmon fishermen will be interested in knowing that", 

 the Quebec government is no longer to allow the Gov- 

 ernor General of Canada the free control of the famous 

 Cascapedia River, which is not even second in parts to the 

 Restigouche. It will shortly be advertised for sale by 

 auction, and it is 'understood that tlie upset price will be' 

 $4,000 a year. As the Dominion of Canada pays its Gov- 

 ernor-General an annual salary; of $50,000 a year, there 

 does not certainly seem to be any reason why free fishing 

 should be thrown in, E. T. D. Chambers. 



Quebec, May .83. 



P, S. — It may be useful to those who purpose for the 

 first time tr^dng spring fishing for ouananiche, to repeat 

 that they should come well stocked with large flies of the 

 Jock-Scott and silver-doctor varieties. Salmon sizes are 

 not too large for this season of the year. This kind of 

 fishing usually lasts for about three weeks or a little more. 



E. T. D. C. 



The Chicago Fly-Casting Club. 



There were 1.3 members present at the regular meeting 

 of the Chicago Fly-Casting Club in the Grand Pacific 

 Hotel, Chicago, May 26. The minutes of the previous 

 meeting, April 10, and the special meeting, April 30, 

 were read and approved, Mr. J. E. Lsgrigg, of Mont- 

 gomery Ward & Co.'s talented stafl', was elected to mem- 

 bership. The resignations of ^Messrs. C. E. Kenyon, J. 8, 

 Hair, C. P. Stivers, S. R. Ireland and Wm. Herrick were 

 accepted. A communication from W. F. Dose, private 

 secretary to Gov. Altgeld, was read. It simply and 

 briefly mentioned that the club's petition, in respect to 

 the Fish Commission, had been submitted to the governor. 

 A communication from Dr. J. A, Henshall informed the 

 club that he accepted the position of director of tourna- 

 ments. The secretary's repoi-t showed a balance of 

 ^231.12. The executive comrnittee had no report to make 

 at that time. The matter of a so^ivenir key for each 

 member was postponed tfll a later period for considera- 

 tion. The motion which made the executive committee 

 the tournament committee, with Dr. J. A. Henshall 

 director of tournaments, was reconsidered. A motion to 

 have a special tournament committee was carried. This 

 committee will be appointed by the president. There 

 was so much business for the executive committee to 

 attend to that it was thought wise to relieve it of the 

 tournament labor. The tournament committee has full 

 charge of the conduct and arrangements of all tourna- 

 ments and contests of 1893. There was a good deal of 

 desultory conversation, after which the meeting ad- 

 journed to meet June 2. An informal vote of thanks was 

 tendered the management of the Grand Pacific Hotel for 

 com'tesies and accommodations bestowed on the club. 



B. Waters. 



