Nov. as, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
429 
what Henry called "dead loads of fun." At these rural 
hostelries we struck a dance most every night. At a 
small place not far from Rochester, Minn. , the fiddler 
didn't show up and some country roughs proposed to 
wreck the hotel, and the landlord appealed to us for pro- 
tection. We were at a late supper, and Tom Daviea fin- 
ished first and went out and talked with the turbulent 
spirits; but he was only one maUj and he came back for 
reinforcements. We went out in a body at the landlord's 
suggestion, and after he had said a few words in a con- 
ciliatory way I winked to Henry and he came; we took 
the leader of the gang one side and I said to him : 
"This party of ours has just come out of the woods, and 
they're peaceable enough if there isn't any fighting going 
on; but if there's any fighting you can't keep 'em out. 
We don't know any of the people here, but the landlord 
is a white man, and if a fight is started we're with him. 
Do you see that dark man over there? Well, he's a 
Welshman; look at the build of him, he can kill a steer 
with one blow of his fist," and I pointed to Tom Davies. 
"I've seen him do it three times down in Wisconsin," 
said Henry. 
"It's just here," said I. "There isn't going to be any 
fighting in this house to-night unless we all take a hand 
|in it, and if we do I tell you as a friend to keep away 
from that Welshman." 
"Buried was the bloody hatchet; 
Buried was the fearful war club; 
Buried were all Warlike weapons, 
And the war cry was forgotten; 
Then was peace among the nations." 
Just what delayed the fiddler is lost in memory's fog, 
but the lads and lasses were impatient; a thought struck 
my old bosom-block Henry. Could the landlord get a 
fiddle? The landlord could, and did. Behold Henry 
seated on a chair on top of a table, tuning up I Such tun- 
ing and such playing! He was not Ole Bull, but he came 
as near to him as he could. I can see him now, beating 
time with his boot — which had been cut open to allow his 
frozen toe to expand — and calling off: "First two for- 
ward I" etc. After a while the missing fiddler arrived and 
relieved Henry without any perceptible improvement in 
the music, but there was an era of good feeling, and it 
was 
"On with the dance I 
Let joy be unconflnedl 
No sleep till morn, 
When Youth and Pleasure meet." 
Wo went through Pleasant Grove, where we met Hiram 
Gilmore, of Potosi, who gave us late news of our families, 
and on the 28bh we stopped at Dscorah, la, ; we struck 
the Mississippi at Clayton City, with sick horses; they 
would neither eat nor drink, and what the matter was I 
don't know, only that we were delayed. From there we 
took the ice to Cassville, Wis., where we stopped all night 
and then struck out for home, which we reached just 
after sundown on the last day of the year, and, as the 
King says in Hamlet: 
"At night we'll feast together: 
Most welcome home." 
Fred Mather. 
Alvah Dunning.— Can any one tell where a letter will 
reach Alvah Dunning, the old Adirondack guide? His 
headquarters have usually been about Racquette Lake and 
the Fulton Chain. On Oct. 13 I mailed a letter to him at 
Old Forge, with a request to the postmaster to forward it. 
This is a common thing to do in the case of well-known 
Adirondack men, and letters are taken in the woods by 
the first guide going that way. The letter was returned 
to me last week, unopened. I wish to write Alvah up 
some time. Few men in that region are better known 
than he, and no doubt some kind angler will see this and 
put me on his moccasin tracks, if he is still in the land. 
F, M. 
Concerning a Bull. 
The Pacifio-Union Cldb, San Wra.nciaco.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: For a double-disCUIed "bull" please see Fred Mather's 
article in your issue of Nov. 7, third column, where he says Biron 
wrote "Love's Labour's Lost." It's a good thing, perhaps, that 
Byron and Shakespeare are dead ! Alsf ays your reader, nevertheless, 
but in pain, ' 
[Mr. Maiher does not say that Byron wrote "Love's Labour's Lost." 
Hu quotes something aaid by Biron, one of the characters in "Love's 
Labour's Lost," The San Francisco writer appears to have heard of 
Byron and of Shakespeare, but to be insufficiently unfamiliar with 
the latter to set up in business as a critic] 
Codfishing Near New York. 
CODFISHING, the like of which has never before been 
known to exist in this vicinity, is at its height at the pres- 
ent time. Never before in the memory of the proverbial 
oldest inhabitant have the cod been caught in such large 
numbers or so near inshore. In former years the boats 
went to the Fishing Banks or beyond for cod; this year 
they are caught in immense numbers from rowboats in 
Rockaway Channel, less than half an hour's row from 
Sheepshead Bay and Rockaway, while at Broad Channel 
and the other fishing stations on the Rickaway trestle a 
few can be picked up. 
This unusual fishing has attracted many fishing parties 
to these waters. One party of six came all the way from 
Peekskill, N. Y. They were out with Jerry Greenwood 
on the Annie C. last Thursday, and in less than two hours 
caught 79 cod and a number of ling. On Wednesday, 
with a party of two, Jerry got 61; and on Sunday, with 
five in his party, he caught 41. On Election Day, while 
J. R. Keatmge, Will Fox and myself were shooting from 
a rowboat, the Greenwood boys fished less than a quarter 
of a mile away, and in about one hour caught 89 cod. 
These fish were all caught in Rockaway Channel, east of 
Rockaway S^'oal^, easily reached by row or sailboat from 
Sheepshead Bay and Rockaway. 
Skimmers are used for bait, and a good way to keep 
the fish around a boat is to smash a few skimmers and 
throw them overboard. This attracts the fish and keeps 
them around. Codfishing is not bad sport at all if one is 
warmly dressed and on board one of the fishing boats, 
which are large and comfortable. These boats can be 
hired at Sheepshead Bay for $8 per day. 
Considerable shooting can also be had here, if one is 
not too particular. Eaormous flocks of gulls fly from one 
bar to another, and occasionally flocks of ducks can be 
seen. G. F. Diehl. 
Shb&pshoab Bat, Li L 
ANGLING NOTES. 
"Getting Even." 
A WEEK or two ago I referred in this column to the 
desire of game law violators, when convicted, to "get 
even" with those who bring them to justice. There have 
been cases where barns have been burned and farm stock 
mutilated in the process of getting even with some faith- 
ful officer who has done his sworn duty; but never in the 
wildest flights of my imagination did 1 dream that a 
grand jury could be prostituted and used as a vehicle in 
an attempt to get even with a faithful, efficient and hon- 
est game protector. 
The Grand Jury of Warren county. New York, last week 
handed in the following recommendation: 
"Lake George, N. Y,, Nov. 14, 1896 —The Grand Jury 
of the County of Warren, by a majority vote of its mem- 
bers present at the November term of the Supreme Court 
for said county, recommend that William H. Burnett be 
removed from all public office in the county of Warren. 
"George W. Bratton, Foreman." 
For the first time in my life I am ashamed to admit 
that I live in Warren county, if such a recommendation 
can be handed in by its Grand Jury without a protest 
from the people, who know the history of affairs leading 
up to the recommendation. 
A newspaper editor asked the clerk of the court what 
the recommendation meant, and the reply was "that it 
was an old grudge of the foreman against Burnett." 
Who is Wm. H. Burnett and what has he done that 
the foreman of the Grand Jury should have a grudge 
against him? 
Nineteen years ago Burnett was elected game constable 
of his town, qualified by swearing to do his duty, and 
from that time to this he has been doing his duty honestly 
and conscientiously as game constable, deputy sheriff, 
agent of the Society Tor the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals, special State Fish and Game Protector, etc. 
Before his day no one dared to attempt to enforce the fish 
and game laws in his town, and the first arrest that he 
effected showed the stuff he was made of, for his prisoner 
assaulted him with a gun; but he brought the man and 
gun to justice's court, where the prisoner was convicted 
and fined. 
From that day to this the fight has been going on — 
Burnett and law and order on one side, the game law vio- 
lators and disorder on the other side. Among the first of 
the game law violators to fall into Burnett's hands for 
taking black bass on their spawning beds out of season 
was George W. Bray ton, whose name is signed to the 
above recommendation as foreman of the Grand Jury. 
Brayton pleaded guQty before Justice Runger and prom- 
ised to obey the law in future, whereupon he was fined 
$10 instead of $40, as he might have been; and according 
to his own declaration to officer Burnett, repeatedly made, 
he has been breaking the law ever since and assuring 
Burnett that he is not smart enough to catch him in the 
act. Burnett has come so near catching him on two or 
three occasions that Brayton has escaped only by the skin 
of his teeth. A year ago last spring Burnett found Bray- 
ton fishing on the shore of Canoe Islands in Lake George. 
At least he saw somebody through his field glasses, and 
from the position of the boat he concluded that it was 
Brayton, for his favorite method of breaking the law is 
to snatch bass from their spawning beds, the most con- 
temptible of all game law violations. Burnett, with 
assistants in another boat, reached the island and rowed 
around it in opposite direction to catch whoever might be 
between them. The boat they were in search of proved 
to be Brayton's and Brayton was in it, but he rowed away 
rapidly as soon as he saw the first of his pursuers. 
Where Brayton's boat had been, a bamboo fishing pole 
was found bobbing in the water with a 4ilb spawning 
black bass on the end of the line. The bass was unhooked 
and released by the protector. From the bank a similar 
pole projected, the line hanging near a bass bed and the 
laook baited with a mass of worms. Burnett captured 
the fishing tackle and was morally sure that it belonged 
to Brayton, but he could not swear to the fact, as he did 
not see it in Brayton's hands, Brayton's boat was the 
only one anywhere near where the tackle and hooked 
bass were found. Only this last season Burnett saw Bray- 
ton's boat anchored near a bass bed and rowed to him; 
Brayton rowed away. That morning Burnett had seen 
two big bass on a spawning bed at the point where Bray- 
ton's boat had been, and after Brayton departed he 
looked for the bass and they were gone too. The officer 
had no power to search Brayton's boat, and once more he 
escaped. 
Several timed Burnett has chased Brayton to his cottage 
in his boat, positive in his conviction that Brayton had 
bass in his possession illegally (once he threw the bass 
overboard and Burnett got the fish as he followed, but he 
did not see them leave Brayton's boat), but he lacked the 
power to search the boat. At the landing Brayton called 
to his cottage to have hot water brought, that he might 
scald Burnett. His usual method of threatening Burnett 
is with a club — but Burnett would care neither for clubs 
nor hot water if he had the legal right to search Brayton's 
boat when he found him fishing in the close season. 
Brayton has other methods than the one adopted as 
foreman of the Grand Jury, Norman Brown, a Lake 
George guide, complained to Burnett that he saw Brayton 
take bass from the spawning beds and carry them away 
in a bag. Brayton heard of it, and calling Brown to his 
dock as he was rowing past, he denounced him as an in- 
former and struck him in the face with his fist. Brown 
is over sixty-five years old, but he returned the compli- 
ment by striking Brayton over the head with an oar, 
felling him to the ground. 
Burnett's offense consists in doing his sworn duty as a 
special officer of the Lake George Fish and Game Pro- 
tective Association. He is absolutely honest, conscien- 
tious in the extreme, would not misrepresent for all the 
wealth of the world, a model, fearless, faithful officer, 
who has done his duty all these years as no other man 
could do it under the circumstances, absolutely just to 
all and enforcing the law as he finds it, and this is his 
reward at the hands of the Grand Jury — to further the 
malice of its foreman, who has been a persistent game 
law violator. 
How is it possible that such a recommendation could 
be spread on the court records? We do not know the 
secrets of the Grand Jury room, but we do know the wit- 
nesses called to see if something could be raked up 
against Burnett, and all, with but a single exception so 
far as known, were men that Burnett has at some time 
or another arrested or had trouble with in connection 
with the game laws. A fine lot of witnesses to call to 
testify concerning an officer 1 Burnett will continue to 
do his duty as a special game protector, for this is only a 
new phase of the annoyance he has been subjected to for 
years because he fearlessly enforces the laws without 
favor. I have often told him that figuratively he takes 
off his hat and makes a salute every time he mentions 
the laws of the State, so great is his respect for them. 
He has been threatened with all sorts of bodily injury, 
and perjury has been resorted to in order to disgrace 
him in the eyes of the people; but to-day I doubt not that 
he stands higher in the estimation of all law-abiding 
people in the community than those who have attempted 
to besmirch him, although one of them happens to be 
foreman of the Grand Jury. I have treated the matter at 
considerable length, that those who are not familiar with 
the rough road that om- fish and ganie protectors are 
obliged to travel may see that it is not a path of roses. 
This particular case is an outrage, pure and simple. 
Burnett is not in the least vindictive, and never bears 
malice for those who try to injure him because he does his 
duty. Once the law is vindicated, he will treat game law 
violators to the best he has, and employ them and aid 
them in every way when, as he says, "they have turned 
from the errors of their ways," There is no man living 
with whom life, property or reputation would be safer if 
placed in his keeping than with William H, Burnett. 
The foregoing had been written when I met ex-District 
Attorney H. A. Howard (six years district attorney of 
Warren county) as I was going to the post office. He 
asked me if I was going to take notice of the outrage 
upon officer Burnett, and I replied that I had written an 
accoimt of the recommendation and what led to it for 
Forest and Stream. I returned home and soon Mr. How- 
ard sent me the following letter. I have no doubt if I 
should take the letter to every prominent business man in 
this town he would read and indorse it. Also since writing 
the note about Burnett a judge of one of our courts informs 
me that the recommendation of the Grand Jury is a crim- 
inal libel, and the foreman has by his act subjected him- 
self to indictment therefor. 
Glbns Falls, N. Y,, Nov. 16— ,4, N. Cheney, Esq.—De&r Sir: I have 
been personally acquainted with William H. Burnett for nineteen 
years last past, during which time at diflerent periods he has held the 
ofiBce of game constable, deputy sheriff and an officer in the Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. During these nineteen 
years I have had occasion to employ him in a great many civil and 
criminal cades and have ever found him earnest, honest and fearlesa 
in the discharge of hia duties. In my judgment we never had a more 
upright, able and hard-working official in Warren county. Respect- 
fully, etc, H. A. Howard, ex-District Attorney Warren Co. 
An Sib. Brook Trout. 
The last big brook trout from New York waters that I 
recorded in this column was one of 7Jlbs. from a pond in 
Essex county. 
This fall a trout of 81bs. was picked up dead on Loon 
Lake, in Franklin county. The fish had been killed 
evidently by an animal, probably a mink, as a hole was 
eaten in the side of its head. The trout has been sent to 
be mounted, and will then be placed in the Loon Lake 
House, where there is now a mounted trout of 6^1bs., also 
picked up dead on Loon Lake. This last-mentioned fish 
was for some years the record trout of the State. 
Sunapee Smelts. 
Last week I was at Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire, the 
home of the Simapee trout, landlocked salmon, brook 
trout and landlocked smelts. Walking on the beach with 
Commisioner Wentworth, we picked up a number of 
smelts thrown up on the sand by the liigh winds and 
water. There were two sizes, one from If to 3in. long, 
the others 3 to 3^in. long. The first seemed to be fish 
hatched last spring, and the others hatched the spring of 
1895, The latter had undeveloped spawn, and they would 
have spawned next year or when two years old. 
A. N. Cheney. 
Speckled Trout in California. 
San Francisco, Cal, Nov. 10. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In 1890 Mr. Geo. Stiles obtained some Eistern 
brook trout {Salvelinus fontinalis) fry from the Nevada 
Fish Commissioner. They were planted in Webber Lake 
and Lake of the Woods, in Sierra county. Another plant 
was made in the latter lake by the California Fish Com- 
mission in 1891. 
Some of these fish weighing li and 2lb8. were taken 
in 1893, and in 1895 specimens weighing Slbs. were taken. 
The California Fisn Commission sent a messenger to 
Lake of the W oods in September last in order that large 
specimens of this variety might be obtained for the 
aquaria of the Home Products Exposition, held in this 
city at that time. He was assisted in taking the fish by ' 
Capt. S. F. Burton, of Webber Lake Hotel, a seine being 
used for their capture. Forty-five fish were taken, averag- 
ing over 4lbs. each. No small fish were taken The 
largest specimen was a male weighing Gjlbs. and measur- 
ing 19.J- in. This large male and four females were trans- 
ported to San Francisco and shown at the exposition. 
Lake of the Woods is a small body of water, covering 
only a few acres. It is located one and a half miles from 
Webber Lake, at an altitude of 7,000ft. The lake is 
fed by springs, the only overflow being a small stream 
during the early summer montns. Tuere are no other 
flsh in this lake. 
The Eastern brook trout have been generally introduced 
in Nevada and California. They have not thrived in the 
immediate coast streams of this State, but have done very 
well in the mountain lakes and streams of both States. 
They seem to have done especially well and afford the 
best sport in the waters of the Yosemite National Park. 
H. F. Emeric, Pres. 
New Jersey Coast Fishinj^. 
AsburyPark, N. J., Nov. 31,— Surf Ashing still attracts 
a great number of anglers daily. No matter how incle- 
ment or boisterous the elements, the more enthusiastic of 
the fraternity are sure to be on hand. Although the sea- 
son is extremely late, still-fishing for plaice, ling and cod- 
fish is good. What matters it though hands become 
numb and noses red, the assurance of the presence of the 
finny tribes is sufficient stimulus to keep the boys in line. 
Two nights during the present week I, in company with 
others, have fished until after midnight, with the pier 
glistening in the bright moonlight with frost till as long 
