Sept. 5, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
187 
"Now, Ira," said I, in obedience to instructions under 
Harleigh, "hold your line taut. When you feel the light- 
est touch give a twitch as though you didn't want a fish 
to have a taste of your bait, A bass will quickly follow 
the hook and you will feel it again. Keep this up, hand 
under hand, until you either feel them wiggle on the 
hook or they abandon it. In either case haul in, for the 
bait is gone or the fish is hooked. Don't allow a bit of 
nibbling or the bait is lost. Snatch it from them as if 
you did not want them to have it, until in despair they 
make a rush and take hook and all. Allow no sampling 
and sifting of the eggs through the netting." 
After a while he got the hang of it, losing much bait in 
the meantime, and we took quite a number of small 
striped bass and a couple of eels, in the only mode of tak- 
ing this fish near Albany, where they were rarely found 
outside the channel of the river, that I knew. Fish of 
^Ib. were considered big ones, but Capt. John Hitchcock, 
a retired river man, who fished from the steamboat land- 
ing almost daily, once caught one of 21b8. weight. While 
we were fishing we saw young shad, perhaps 3 or Sin. 
long, rising near the boat, apparently after such loose 
sturgeon eggs as might escape through the netting or 
were dropped from the boat. With destructive man in 
addition to all these eaters of stui-geon eggs it is no wonder 
that "Albany beef" is no longer found in the markets of 
that city. The great fish held its own for uncounted 
centuries against all these enemies, the greatest of which 
was the eel, but man upset the balance that nature had 
kept and the sturgeon has nearly followed the buffalo, 
the wild pigeon and other beasts and birds which man 
has pursued for market, and has not been saved from ex- 
tinction by artificial propagation, as he has saved the shad 
and some other fishes. We did not philosophize on these 
things then. We were boys and life was before us. The 
future of the sturgeon troubled us as little as the preces- 
sion of the equinoxes or the differential calculus. Boy- 
like, our mental vision was bounded by the year, and a 
year was a long time then. It was so long from one 
Christmas to another! A man of thirty had lived a great 
while, we thought, and the disrespentful boys of Green- 
bush prefixed "old" to the name of every man over fifty. 
This reminiscence is brought up by Ira's, questions. 
"Does old Hogeboom let the boys go in swimmin' off 
the dock now?" 
The man referred to was a justice of the peace, an office 
which he held for years, but from my earliest recollection 
I never heard him called anything but "old" Hogeboom. 
Once my mother expressed surprise that I had returned 
from a swimming trip in the islard ceek so soon. 
"Yes'ni," said I, "we on'y just got nicely in when ole 
Morris came down and drove us out." She said: "Don't 
let me ever hear you call Mr. Morris 'old Morris;' you 
should have said, 'Mr. John Morris drove us out.' " There- 
fore I said to Ira: 
"No, Squire Hogeboom," with emphasis on the Squire, 
"doesn't allow us to go in off the village dock, but 
there's good swimmin' off the rafts over there by the 
island." 
He thought a moment and said: "There's one thing 
sure, I've got to quit the theater or begin a course of 
study that I never thought of. I must learn dancing, 
fencing, music and a wnole mess of things if I continue 
in it. I thought that a little knowledge of elocution was 
all that was needed, and I got a little of that and went 
ahead. It is all up-hill work, and I think it is best to 
quit. Reub says that old Genet gives fencing lessons yet, 
if he's living; is he alive?" 
With mother's lesson in mind I answered : "Yes, General 
-Genet is alive," again with emphasis on the title for Ira's 
benefit, "and he is the same skillful swordsman that he 
always was, and as he is still going around selling build- 
ing lots in Greenbush, with no buyers,- the chances are 
that he will be glad to give you lessons." If Ira was be- 
side me now he would be reminded of his irreverence 
and told, what he may have learned in after years, that 
his fencing master was a son of the illustrious "Citizen" 
Genet who figured in our Revolutionary times. In 
after years Ira had the reputation of being a good 
swordsman, and while he was learning I picked up a 
point or two which was of service in garrison when the 
neck of a champagne bottle was to be severed at a clean 
stroke, "but I anticipate" you may be told of this when 
ex-President Arthur is under the searchlight. 
After all his lessons in fencing, and his studies in other 
directions, Ira shook the dust of the stage from his feet, 
left Thespis, Melpomene and other more or less reputable 
goddesses behind him and sought other fields. We did 
not meet again for many years. Boys do not care for 
each other as men do, if they take the trouble to care for 
any one except their royal selves, and we went our ways, 
but somehow we were thrown together again; perhaps 
by some occult fatalism of which we then, and I now, 
know nothing, for on a review of life to-day no man is 
recalled whose early ideas so fully accorded with my 
own. He never thought of accumulating wealth. A 
powerful physique enabled him to disregard all thoughts 
of health and a romantic disposition led him to seek ad- 
venture. Without consultation we both went away in 
the same year, he to the army and I to try a different but 
equally adventurous life. 
Ira Wood enlisted Feb. 18, 1854, in the Engineer Corps, 
U. S. A., at Boston, Mass., for five years. He was under 
instruction at West Point for a while and was then em- 
ployed on Fort Sumter, at Charleston; Fort Taylor, at 
Key West; and was discharged Feb. 18, 1859, at Fort 
Cascade, Washington Territory, by reason of expiration 
of his term of service as an artificer of Co. A, First 
Lieut. James C. Daane commanding. He had made ap- 
plication for examination .for promotion to a lieutenant- 
cy, but no examination was held between the time of 
application and his discharge. 
At the call for volunteers after Port Sumter was fired 
upon, and the regiments of State militia were found in- 
sufficient, Ira Wood raised the first company for the first 
regiment of volunteers that was organized in the State 
of New York, but by some delay at Albany other organi- 
zations were numbered ahead of it, and the regiment left 
the State as the 13th N. Y. Vol. Infantry, with Ira 
as First Lieutenant of Co. A. He was mustered into the 
United States service on May 13, 1861. Daring that year 
he participated in the battles at Blackburn's Ford, Bull 
Run and Upton's Hill, all in Virginia. He was promoted 
to captain, and mustered as such, to date Oct. 39, 1861, 
He was engaged in the following battles while a captain: 
Near Big Bethel, siege of Yorktown, Hanover Court 
House, Seven Days' battle, Gaines's Mills, Malvern Hill 
Malvefn Cliff, second Bull Run, Antietam and near Shep- 
ardstown. He was honorably discharged on tender of his 
resignation by special order. War Department, Oct. 14, 
1863. On a semi-official list of volunteer captains Ms 
name appears in italics, denoting that he was commis- 
sioned, but not mustered in that grade. I looked this 
matter up, and take his record from a letter written by E. 
D. Townsend, Adjutant-General, U. S. A., to Hon. Frank 
Hiscock, M. C, May 13, 1878, which I have been per- 
mitted to see. The record of battles is from Col. Phis- 
terer's "New York in the Rebellion," and accords with 
what Ira told me in later years. He resigned to become 
a field officer in a new regiment, but owing to the clamor 
of politicians for places for their favorites he did not get 
the appointment. While with the 12th a friend writes 
me: "The regiment was for a good part of the time com- 
manded by Capt. Wood, the senior captain, and he was 
the only company commander who was present at every 
engagement up to the time he resigned. At Antietam he 
made a record with his color guard, when ordered to re- 
treat, by backing off the field as much as possible, declar- 
ing that he preferred to take the bullets in front." 
On leaving the army he was for a few years in the em- 
ploy of the American Express Co., and while living in 
Buffalo became a captain in the 74th N, Y. S. National 
Guard. He then went back to Syracuse and for four and 
a half years was chief of the fire department of that city, 
resigning the position in October, 1881, to travel for an 
Eastern manufactory of fire hose. Upon his resignation 
as chief the board of Fire Commissioners tried to induce 
him to remain, and passed resolutions of regret. Steamer 
No. 1 and the Hook and Ladder Co. presented him with 
an elegant desk clock, with an inscription commending 
his mode of handling fires. Leading citizens and mer- 
chants presented him with a costly watch in recognition 
of his efficient service. 
In 1867 Ira married Miss Brinckerhoff, of Albany, who 
with one son, Frederic K. Wood, survives him. He was 
born in Greenbush, N. Y., May 18, 1884, and died at Al- 
CAPT. raA WOOD. 
From a photograpli in 1884. 
bany, N. Y., April 6, 1886, after an illness of only three 
days, caused by some bladder trouble. He was an en- 
thusiastic Mason and Grand Army man. He attained the 
thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Masonry, and 
was adjutant of George S. Dawson Post, G. A. R., of 
Albany. He was buried with services of the G. A. R. 
and with those of the Knights Templar, these organiza- 
tions attending in uniform. It was also my privilege to 
witness the last sad rites over the friend of a lifetime, one 
of the bravest, truest and gentlest men that ever trod the 
earth. 
He went to Albany in 1883 as head of a branch of the 
house of Pierce, Butler & Pierce, of Syracuse. Long be- 
fore this his fame as a fly-caster and winner of prizes at 
tournaments of the State Association for Protection of 
Game, held at Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse, had 
drifted eastward, but not until the tournament of the 
State Association was held at Coney Island in June, 1881, 
when I superintended the fly-casting contests, did we 
clasp hands since we parted in Albany, some twenty-seven 
years before. 
"Why, you old duffer I You have been in a flour mill! 
Your hair is all white I Take off your hat and I'll dust 
you off I" 
"Yes, that'll all come off, but your head is mildewed 
and you'll have to bleach it in the sun to kill the mould.' 
His record in that tournament was 101ft. with a two- 
handed salmon rod, third prize in a class of four, but he 
was only second to his brother Reuben, because Pritchard, 
who was awarded first prize for 91ft., was allowed a num- 
ber of feet on account of his using a shorter rod — a mode 
of reckoning that was abolished later, Mr. Frank P, 
Denison, of Syracuse, cast 3ft. further than Prichard, yet 
only took fourth prize. In "Class A," single-handed fly- 
casting, Ira withdrew after casting 67ft. and took fourth 
prize. He had not got out all the line he could handle, 
and Frank Endicott said that, as his brother Reuben cast 
before Ira and took first with 75ft., he withdrew for fear 
of beating his brother. This was probably the fact, be- 
cause I had attended a State tournament after this where 
the contestants were Seth Green, Reuben and Ira Wood, 
Seth had a wonderful reputation as a fly-caster, and they 
used to report his casts without strict measurements, 
because his only contestante up the State were Reub. and 
Ira, and Reub. would not beat Seth under any circum- 
stances; nor would he allow Ira to beat Seth, Once I 
stood on the casting platform. Seth had cast, and Reub. 
had restrained himself and was restraining Ira, 
"Don't you do it, Ira," said Reub,, "hold it, don't beat 
the old man, it wUl break his heart. There now! That's 
far enough." 
"Go in, Ira," said I, "go in and win," for I never loved 
Seth as Reub. did; "don't let Reub. hold you back; this is 
a fair open contest, and you should win if you can." 
He didn't win, could, but wouldn't. He listened to his 
brother, and if the little fly- casting tournaments of the 
State Association had been kept up the same old farce of 
"don't you do it, Ira," would have continued. After the 
Coney Island tournament was over "The National Rod and 
Reel Association" was organized, with Francis Endicott 
as president, and yearly tournaments were held on Harlem 
Mere, Central Park, New York city. Here both Reuben 
and Ira were freed from Reuben's worship of Green, who 
never cared to meet Hawes, Leonard, Prichard and the 
other great fly-casters, and the scores of the Wood 
brothers are familiar to readers of Forest akd Stream. 
After these meetings, when Ira and I got to talking over 
old times and swapping army experiences, something 
always happened to interrupt, and the loss cannot be 
repaired. 
At the tournaments in Central Park it was a common 
remark how Ira was always on the casting platform un- 
tangling the lines, tying on flies and helping the men 
who were in the contest against him; a course so opposite 
to that of the "mug hunters," which the lax rules of the 
Association encouraged to enter the lists, that it could 
not have passed unnoticed. Unconsciously the subject of 
this sketch was exposing himself and his great kind heart 
to the public, and, worst of all, to one who in later years 
chose to write him up and show him by lime-light on the 
great curtain of Forest and Stream. 
In 1885, after I had begun the stocking of the Hudson 
River with salmon, Ira organized the Eastern New York 
Fish and Game Protective Association, which still exists. 
Under date of Nov. 18, 1885, he wrote me: "I have set on 
foot a plan for forming a club or society, to be composed 
of the best men in this city (Albany), to care for the 
salmon which you have planted in the Hudson, and 
also to protect all other fish and game in this region." 
In this imperfect sketch I have been greatly assisted by 
Mr. William Allen Butler, of Syracuse, N. Y., in gather- 
ing facts concerning Ira's life in that city. He tells me 
that Capt. Wood "came of good old New England stock, 
being a descendent of Dr. Samuel Wood, who came from 
England in 1684, and was one of the first settlers of Dac- 
bury. Conn., in 1696. His mother was a Breed, and her 
father, with three brothers and their father, fought in the 
battle of Bunker Hill on their own farm; their ancestor, 
Allan Breed, having emigrated from England in 1680 
with Gov. Winthrop and the Puritans." As a boy, Mr. 
Butler was one of Ira's pupils in fly-casting, and speaks 
with great enthusiasm of his teacher when he relates 
their trips to the Adirondaoks. 
About a week before his death Capt. Wood opened a 
store in Albany, at 15 Green street, for the sale of fishing 
tackle and general sporting goods, with every prospect of 
success. Cut down by the reaper before he was fully ripe, 
those whose good fortune it was to know him intimately 
can say with Marc Antony: 
"His life was gentle; and the elements 
So mixi'd in him that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, 'This was a man r " 
Fred Mather. 
Wanted. — Somebody who has fished with Fred Mather 
to write him up just as he is writing up men he has fished 
with. His series of articles is incomparable, but will 
not be complete imless he is written up and placed with 
the rest of them. O. H, Hampton. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
More about Texas Taroon. 
My friend Mr. Cleveland was thoroughly inoculated 
with the tarpon fishing germ when he killed his first fish, 
and "it took." He writes me under date of July 14: 
"Since my first catch of tarpon I have been fishing three 
times, spending about three-quarters of a day each time. 
On the first visit after my catch of the foul-hooked fish I 
hooked seven tarpon, but in each instance they went into 
the air and got rid of my hook. One grand fellow about 
lift, long and weighing probably 1751b8, surpassed all 
others in his endeavors to get rid of the hook. He not 
only jumped forward from me three times, with scarcely 
a moment between the jumps, but he concluded other 
tactics would be necessary to rid himself of me. His 
jumps were first one side, then the other, repeated four 
times, and in each instance jumping a little toward me, 
making it impossible for me to wind up the slack line. 
The fourth effort of this kind of springing loosened the 
hook and he threw it not less than 30ft. from him. His 
efforts reminded me of the bronchos of my boyhood 
days. When they failed to relieve themselves of their 
riders by bucking forward, they would jump first to the 
right, then to the left, which style of bucking was called 
'laying a worm fence.' The tarpon have been in South- 
ern waters until they have acquired the bucking habit, 
and it is of no use to try and save them when they have 
fully made up their minds to get rid of you. The second 
time I went out I hung three fish, but after a few min- 
utes they got rid of me. The fourth fish I hooked about 
13 o'clock and it was about an 851b. fish, I played him 
for an hour and a quarter in the hot, broiling sun and 
had him, as I thougnt, so completely under control and 
exhausted that I concluded to take him in to the flats 
more rapidly than he wanted to go, and by main strength 
and awkwardness pulled the hook out of his mouth. On 
the same day I landed one of 851b8, after less than an 
hour's play. 
"Friday night last I went down to the Point again, but 
soon after arriving a great storm came up and the rain con- 
tinued falling all night and until the next day at 10 
o'clock. Nevertheless as soon as the rain ceased I went 
out. I had several gentle strikes, and at 13 o'clock hooked 
a tarpon of 1451bs., 6ft. Sin long, which I landed in good 
shape after an hour and a half of play, 
"These fish are something like the ouananiche, only 
more so, and it is more difficult to keep the hook in their 
mouths after they are hooked. They have a mouth in 
which there are so few places that a hook can enter that 
it is surprising to me that I ever succeeded in placing a 
hook in one of these few places. The sport is grand, and 
I often wish for you when I am out after these fish. 
They remain here until September, and I esrpectto enjoy 
a great many parts of a day with them until they leave. 
Several friends have gone down to the Point to use my 
