Harce 17, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



227 



Schuylkill County League. 



Pottsvtlle, Pa., March 1 — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The Schuylkill County League of Game and Fish Protec- 

 tive Associations met in Bensinger's Hall, Mahanoy City, 

 yesterday in semi-annual convention, with the following 

 irepresentives: + ^ ,. 



Pottsville— Col. J. M. Wetherill, Capt. H. J. Hendler, 

 George Dewald, Edward G. Faust, Charles Parkin, F. L. 



Pell tUGI* 



Trem'ont— D. P. Faust, W. E. Moody, Elias Dillfield, 

 Jacob Lauks and D. L. Mellon. 

 Schuylkill Haven— P. F. Baur, Willis Bryant and Dr. 



D "BM«moy City— E. L. Silliman, W. A. Bensinger, S. S. 

 Miller, H.*K. Smith, Wallace Haldeman, J. J. Ooyle, T. 

 H. B. Lyon and Frank Wentz. 



The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: 

 President, Col. J. M. Wetherill; Vice-President, E. S. Sil- 

 liman; Secretary, F. C. Palmer; Treasurer, D. P. Faust; 

 Solicitor, T. H. B. Lyon. Messrs. J. M. Wetherell, E. S. 

 : Silliman, C. W. Parkin, P. F. Baur and D. P. Faust were 

 appointed warden committee. The committees will meet 

 \ in the Pennsylvania Hall, Pottsville. at 9 A. M. to arrange 

 ' a conference with the County Commissioners, the object 

 ! being to have five wardens appointed at the counties' 

 .expense This is in a line with the views of the Miners 1 

 Journal published last fall. An effort will also be made 

 to .discriminate in the tax rate of dogs, and the Commis- 

 - sioiiers will be asked to fix the tax at 50 cents a head, 

 - r regardless of sex. . . 



Mr. Faust in a forceful speech pointed out the import- 

 ance of #11 the co-ordinate branches, being represented at 

 «he annual convention of the State Sportsmen's Associa- 

 tion, to be held in Altoona next August. This subject will 

 be considered by the Association. The next convention 

 will be held at Schuylkill Haven, Sept. 4. The thanks 

 of the Association were tendered Mr. Bensinger of the 

 Grand Central Hotel, for hospitalities, and to the Mahanoy 

 City Game and Fish Protective Association for kind and 

 cordial treatment. . , 



The following resolutions were unanimously adopted: 

 « Whereas, The extermination of game and game birds in our State 

 seems to be threatened, and _ ^ x „.-». . 



Whereas, One of the most potent causes of the threatened evil is 

 the action and work of the "market, sportsmen, 1 ' therefore be it 



Resolved, By the League of Game and Fish Protective Association 

 of Schuylkill county, at this, the semi-annual convention, assembled 

 at Mahanov City, Pa., that it is the sense of these associations that 

 the sale of all dead game birds and animals should be prohibited by 

 ■ law. 



Secretary Palmer writes: "I doubt if there is any 

 , county in the United States which can boast of five well- 

 organized game and fish protective associations. Last 

 winter (1892-1893) destroyed almost all our quail and rab- 

 bits, .but this winter hasn't hurt what remained. The 

 grouse were fairly plentiful this winter. Some of us think 

 with fair weather and a little stocking we will have good 

 . shooting next season. Violations of game and fish laws 

 ; are few in our coal mining county of Schuylkill." 



Manitoba is Hospitable. 



Winnipeg, Man.— Editor Forest and Stream: Writing 

 in your issue of Feb. 17, "Saint Lawrence" condemns 

 the game laws of Ontario and Quebec for discrimi- 

 nating between Canadian and American hunters. Let 

 me, as a Canadian, enter my protest too. If the New 

 York laws prohibited the Canucks from enjoying the 

 pleasure of that State's hunting grounds the action of the 

 Provinces would be justifiable; but as it stands now, they 

 are ill repaying that debt of gratitude they owe to the 

 States for their courtesy in throwing open their hunting 

 grounds to the world. 



Manitoba, the youngest Province in the Dominion, can 

 teach them all a lesson in true sportsman's hospitality. 



: Her hunting fields— and they cannot be surpassed in the 

 florid for feathered game— are open to all; provided, of 

 ccurse, that they adhere to the laws concerning the sea- 



: sons; and the right hand of good fellowship is always ex- 

 tended to visiting shooters from the States. Let "Saint 

 Lawrence" and his friends journey westward in the fall 

 and we can give them either duck or prairie ohicken 

 shooting, the like of which they never saw before, and all 



j without the $25 license. 



I hope that the "irresponsible and marauding parties 



j from the neighboring Dominion, whose habitual disregard 

 «of their own protective laws is an encouragement to pira- 

 cies on this side of the border," that your correspondent 

 refers to, are not taken as typical Canadian sportsmen. 

 The lovers of the field, forest and stream are the same fine 

 set the world over; and those on this side of the border are 

 no exception. Rod. Random)} 



Doing Without "Forest and Stream." 



I tried it a few years ago for two weeks; my excuse for 

 so doing was to economize: when I received the last paper 

 of the year I told my newsdealer that I should discontinue 

 it. Two weeks later I happened in the news room when 

 the package of Forest and Stream arrived. I picked up 



i a copy and while looking it through saw something that 

 interested me, and bought the paper, paying ten cents. 

 After reading it through I found that there was a missing 



Uink and that I must have the back number, which I 

 • ordered the newsman to procure. This also cost me ten 

 cents. And so it went on for a whole year, when I con- 

 cluded that it was no economy in not subscribing for the 

 Forest and Stream. I have now every copy for the 

 past thirteen years and do not know how to get aloU; 

 without it. J. L. Davison. 



The Coming of the Birds. 



Perth Amboy, N. J., March 5. — Song sparrows and 

 purple grakles (crow blackbirds) were heard and seen here 

 to-day. There are a good many whistlewings in Raritan 

 Bay, but rather wild. No ducks have yet arrived from the 

 South. J. L. K. 



Deer Hunting Ethics. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



1 am an old-time subscriber and reader of Forest and 

 Stream and have come to have abounding faith in its 

 judgment and wisdom. A good many times during the 

 years that I have been reading it I have thought that 

 it was wrong, but as time went on events proved the wis- 

 dom of its course, and so my faith has grown strong. 



If it were not for this, I should be disposed to criticise 

 very strongly your wisdom in printing in your iasue of 

 March 10 the horrible brutal story of water killing- deer 

 by a party of Canadians, which publication, it seems to 

 me, can serve no good purpose. Perhaps it may have 

 been well to print il for the simple reason that it will 

 horrify a. good many people and increase their detestation 

 of this so-called sport, but on the. same principle you 

 might justify the publication of an account in which all 

 the hunters made beasts of themselves with licpior. How- 

 ever, as I say, I have faith in your judgment, and I do 

 not wish to criticise; but I may say that a more brutal 

 story of cold-blooded butchery I have never seen in your 

 columns. Old Man. 



Another Lost Bear Trap. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The late "Uncle" Wm. Chase, of Moro, Me., one of the 

 most successful of hunters and woodsmen in that region, 

 had a trap carried off by a bear, which all the close search 

 by himself and his two boys and a few neighbors failed to 

 find. This happened, if I recollect aright, along in the 

 sixties. About ten years later a chopper in a lumber 

 camp six miles from where the trap was taken, set his axe 

 in the snow against a tree while he lighted his pipe. The 

 axe gave forth a metallic sound, and on searching, the 

 lost trap was found. The woods of Maine contain many 

 lost traps carried off by bears, and so seldom is one recov- 

 ered that the occurrence is interesting, to hunters at least. 



Pine Tree. 



Long Island Ducking Season. 



No CHANGE has been made in the New York ducking 

 law this year. The open season throughout the State 

 closed March 1, but on Long Island it will not close be- 

 fore May 1. Possession is forbidden in the State after 

 March 1 , except on Long Island, where possession is for- 

 bidden after May 1. 



Central Lake, March 5.— Robins reported seen and 

 heard March 3. Crows heard March 4. Chipmunks out 

 in force for the last three day. March 10. — Spring 

 weather. Kelpie. 



California. 



Ventura, Cal., March 4. — Our game season was up 

 March 1 for shooting quail, ducks, etc. Quail shooting 

 has been very good the past season , but ducks were not so 

 plentiful. Our fishing season begins April 1. M. E. B. 



" That reminds me." 



My cousin and I were sauntering down the bank of the 

 Ouachita RiveT one bright Sunday afternoon, taking a 

 rest from our week's work, enjoying the fresh air and 

 having a little chat about various matters. We were 

 both fond of hunting and were, perhaps, talking on that 

 very subject, when my cousin noticed something make 

 its disappearance in the hollow of a tree that had been 

 blown down and lodged in another tree I did not see 

 it but he said it looked like a coon, and on approach- 

 ing the tree and looking into the hollow we could see a 

 pair of bright eyes peering through the darkness at us. 

 I told my cousin that if he would stay there I would 

 go to the boat and get my rifle and we would have some 

 fresh meat, for we had been living on salt meat a good 

 while and a little coon fixed up right would go fine. In 

 a few minutes I was back, prepared to make war on those 

 two balls of fire, but the eyes were no longer to be seen; 

 and as the sentinel declared that the animal had not got- 

 ten away we proceeded to smoke him out with moss and 

 leaves. The tree was dry inside, and as it had a hole in 

 the upper end the scheme worked like a charm, and we 

 soon liad smoke enough going through the hollow to 

 smoke out any living thing with nostrils and eyes. Di- 

 rectly we heard a rumbling noise in the upper end, and a 

 terrific meow, whicii had it been at night under the bed 

 room window, would have brought forth a bootjack, pair 

 of boots, trousers and all. Then out popped a house cat 

 and disappeared through the woods with a suddenness 

 that would have rivalled a Nancy Hanks gait. We looked 

 in amazement at our disappearing dish of fresh meat, and 

 turning to my cousin I said, "You are a fine fellow, 

 aren't you? Don't know a cat from a coon." 



Mississipi. j _^ Plumb-Bob. 



PUBLISHER'S DEPARTMENT. 



The '94 catalogue that Win. Mills & Son, 7 Warren street, New York, 

 will shortly issue will be unusually instructive to anglers. 



B. C. Milam & Son, Frankfort, Ky., manufacture a reel with a repu- 

 tation tor lasting. Reels of their manufacture made fifty years ago 

 and constantly used are in good working order still. 



TheT. H. Chubb Rod Company, of Post Mills, Vt,, will not issue a 

 new catalogue for 1894, as their '93 catalogue is very complete. They 

 will, however, issue from time to time special circulars describing new 

 products- 



The new rust preventive called "Grunoleum," which has recently 

 been put upon the market, seems to meet the requirements of sports- 

 men in all respects. The manufacturers show letters from some of 

 the principal gun manufacturers and sporting goods dealers commend- 

 ing their product. 



The total losses upon insured property resulting from the recent fire 

 in the Colts factory at Hartford have been placed at $72, 336.94. The 

 appraisers appointed to estimate the loss to the buildings were Wat- 

 son H. Bliss and John R. Hills, of Hartford. The appraisers of the loss 

 to stock and machinery were Wm. Winchester, of the Winchester Re- 

 peating Arms Company, and L. C. Glover, of the Colts Fire Arms Com- 

 pany. Insurance was carried to the amount of 8187,000. 



William Wood, of 35 West 125th street , New York, is showing this 

 early in the season a very large and superior line of St. Lawrence 

 skiffs, boats, canoes, both sailing and paddling; also new and second- 

 hand naphtha, steam and oil-burner launches. Mr. Wood is perhaps 

 the oldest living oarsman and trainer in the country, having been first 

 in 48 professional races out of 54 starts. He was also trainer to Yale 

 College during the years 1863-4-5, and in each year gained a victory; 

 hence is fully competent to judge what a boat snould be. A new and 

 handsome illustrated catalogue will be mailed free. 



NETS AS NUISANCES, 



SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Go to the Mountains of Western North Carolina. 



Where will you spend the month of March? A more delightful 

 spot cannot be found than Asheville and Hot Springs, in the moun- 

 tains of western North Carolina. You find in the air a brain and 

 mind tonic that cannot be purchased in bottles or abs irbed in powders. 

 WJiere the mountains rear their lofty peaks against Italian blue skies 

 in an atmosphere fairly filled with electrical brain shocks. The air of 

 the mountains must be like a balm at this season, for it is like wine in 

 winter. It is a paradise for the invalid, tourist and pleasure seeker, 

 and can be reached within twenty-four hours' ride from New York, 

 over the Pennsylvania and Richmond & Danville K. E., in an elegantly 

 equipped vestibuled train carrying Pullman drawing-room sleeping 

 cars from New York to Asheville and Hot Springs without change. 



An attractive book, "The Land of the Sky," can be had upon appli 

 cation to Alex. S. Thweatt, Eastern Passenger Agent R. & D. R. R., 

 239 Broadway, New York.— Adv. 



No. 203.— October Term, 1893. 



George W. Lajtog et al ] In ^ tQ the mg 



"s \ Court of the State of 



William N. Steele. J New York. 

 [March 5, 1894.] 



This was an action at law instituted in the Supreme 

 Court for the county of Jefferson by the plaintiffs in error 

 against the defendant in error, together with Edward L. 

 Sargent and Richard U. Sherman, for the conversion of 

 fifteen hoop and fyke nets of the alleged value of $525. 

 Defendants Steele and Sargent interposed a general denial. 

 Defendant Sherman pleaded that he, with three others, 

 constituted the "Commissioners of Fisheries" of the State 

 of New York, with power to give directions to game and 

 fish protectors with regard to the enforcement of the 

 game law; that defendant Steele was a game and fish . 

 protector, duly appointed by the governor of the State of 

 New York, and that the nets sued for were taken posses- 

 sion of by said Steele, as such game and fish protector, 

 upon the ground that they were maintained upon the 

 waters of the State in violation of existing statutes for 

 the protection of fish and game, and thereby became a 

 public nuisance. 



The facts were undisputed. The nets were the property 

 of the plaintiffs, and were taken away by the defendant 

 Steele and destroyed. At the time of the taking most of 

 the nets were in the waters of the Black River Bay, being 

 used for fishing purposes, and the residue were upon the 

 shore of that bay, having recently been used for toe same 

 purpose. The plaintiffs were fisnermen, and the defend- 

 ant was a State game and fish protector. The taking 

 and destruction of the nets were claimed to have been 

 justifiable under the statutes of the State relating to the 

 protection of game and fish. Plaintiffs claimed there was 

 no justification under the statutes, and if they constituted 

 sucn justification upon their face, they were unconstitu- 

 ional. Defendant Sherman was a State Fish Commis- 

 sioner. Defendant Sargent was president of the Jefferson 

 County Fish and Game Association. Plaintiffs claimed 

 these defendants to be liable upon the ground that they 

 instigated, incited, or directed the taking a,nd destruction 

 of the nets. 



Upon trial before a jury a verdict was rendered, sub- 

 ject to the opinion of the court, in favor of the plaintiffs 

 against defendant Steele for the sum of $216, and in favor 

 of defendants Sargent and Sherman. A motion for a 

 new trial was denied, and judgment entered upon the 

 verdict for $216 damages and $106.09 costs. On appeal to 

 the General Term this judgment was reversed, and a new- 

 trial ordered, and a further appeal allowed to the Court 

 of AppealB. On appeal to the Court of Appeals, the order 

 of the General Term granting a new trial was affirmed, 

 and judgment absolute ordered for the defendant. (119 

 N. Y. 226.) Plaintiffs thereupon sued out a writ of error 

 from this court. 



Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the court. 



This case involves the constitutionality of an act of ths 

 legislature of the State of New York known as chapter 

 591, Laws of New York of 1880, as amended by chapter 

 317, Laws of New York of 1883, entitled "An act for the . 

 appointment of game and fish protectors." 



By a subsequent act enacted in 1886: 



'■Section 1. No person shall at any time kill or take from the waters 

 of Henderson Bay or Lake Ontario, within out mile from the shore, 

 between the most westerly point of Pillar Point and the boundary 

 line between the counties of Jefferson and Oswego, . . . any fish 

 of any kind by any device or means whatever otherwise than by 

 hook and line or rod held in hand. But this section shall not apply 

 to or prohibit the catching of minnows lor bait, providing the person 

 using nets for that purpose shall not set them, and shall throw back 

 any trout, bass, or any other game fish taken, and keep only chubs, 

 dace, suckers or shiners. 



"Seo. 2. Any person violating any of the provisions of this act shall 

 be guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to a penalty of $50 for each 

 offence." 



By the act of 1880, as amended by the act of 1883: 

 •'Seo. 2. Any net, pound, or other means or device for taking or cap- 

 turing fish, or whereby they may be taken or captured, set, put, 

 floated had, found, or maintained, in or upon any of the waters of 

 this State, or upon the shores of or islands in any of the waters of this 

 State, in violation of any existing or hereafter enacted statutes or laws 

 for the protection of fish, is hereby decla td to be, and is, a public 

 uuisance. and may be abated and summarily destroyed by any person, 

 and it shall be the duty of each and every protector aforesaid and of 

 every game constable to seize and remove and forthwith destroy the 

 same, . . . and no action for damages shall lie or be maintained 

 against any person for or on account of any such seizure and de- 

 struction." 



This last section was alleged to be unconstitutional and 

 void for three reasons: 1, as depriving the citizen of his 

 property without due process of law; 2, as being in re- 

 straint of the liberty of the citizen; 3, as being an interfer- 

 ence with the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the 

 United States. 



The trial court ruled the first of the above propositions 

 in plaintiffs' favor, and the others against them, and 

 judgment was thereupon entered in favor of the plain- 

 tiffs. 



The constitutionality of the section in question was, 

 however, sustained by the General Term and by the Court 

 of Appeals, upon the ground of its being a lawful exercise 

 of. the police power of the State. 



The extent and limits of what is known as the police 

 power have been a fruitful subject of discussion in the 

 appellate courts of nearly every State in the Union. It is 

 universally conceded to include everything essential to 

 the public safety, health and morals, and to justify the 

 destruction or abatement, by summary proceedings, of 

 whatever may be regarded as a public nuisance. Under 

 this power it has been held that the State may order the 

 destruction of a house falling to decay or otherwise endan- 

 gering the lives of passersby ; the demolition of such as are 

 in the path of a conflagration; the slaughter of diseased 

 cattle; the destruction of decayed or unwholesome food; 

 the prohibition of wooden buildings in cities; the regula- 

 tion of railways and other means of public conveyance, 

 and of interments in burial grounds; the restriction of 

 objectionable trades to certain localities; the compulsory 

 vaccination of children; the confinement of the insane or 



