Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1897. 
Terms, $4 a Ybam. 10 Cts. a Copy. 1 
Six Months, $2. j" 
j VOL. XLVIX.— No. 8. 
( No. 846 BaoADWAT, Nxw "Yomk 
One grumbler in camp will destroy the pleasure 
of the whole trip. The man in camp is a very 
different being from the man in society, as a rule, 
therefor^ look well for genial companions, as very 
much of the pleasure of the trip depends upon it. 
It may be a delicate subject, but should be talked 
over earnestly, and squarely, by parties starting 
out on a camping tour for the first time. It will 
go a long way toward preventing much unpleas- 
antness, if you have a clear understanding that no 
petty quarreling, grumbling or fault-finding will 
be indulged in by any member of the party. This 
kind of an understanding will put each man on 
his guard ; in other words, put him to thinking, 
and by just thinking a little, many trifling affairs 
could be turned to fun that might otherwise irri- 
tate. Col. Horace Park. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
The statement in the papers called forth by the recent 
stage robbery in the Yellowstone Park, that this is the first 
hold up that ever has taken place there, is untrue. Stages 
have been robbed in the Park at least twice in the past, 
though these occurrences took place at long intervals, and 
the perpetrators, in one case, we recall, were apprehended 
and punished. The first incident was when Handsome 
Charley, otherwise known as Long Eed, with a companion 
held up the stage between Gardner and the Mammoth 
Hot Springs. If we recollect aright, the total amount of 
their plunder was about $15, and for the oflfense Charley 
at least spent fifteen months in Deer Lodge. The pay he 
received for the year and a quarter's work cannot be con- 
sidered munificent, even if we take into consideration the 
fact that his board and lodging cost him nothing. Occur- 
rences such as these are unfortunate, because they tend to 
keep up in the East the notion that the West is still wild 
and woolly, while as a matter of fact it is deplorably com- 
monplace and tame. A man is much more likely to be 
held up in the streets of JSfew York than in the Yello\v- 
stone Park. 
Speculation as to the outcome of the Massachusetts anti- 
birds' plumage law has been set at rest by a decision just 
rendered by Attorney- General H, M. Knowlton. The 
law, which is Chapter 524 of the statutes of 1897, provides 
that "whoever has in his possession the body or feathers 
of any bird whose taking or killing is prohibited by Sec- 
tion 4 of Chapter 276 of the acts of the year 1886, or wears 
such feathers for the purpose of dress or ornament, shall 
be punished as provided in said section." The Attorney- 
General contends that the birds whose killing is prohib- 
ited by Section 4 are, and only can be, birds which are 
within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and subject 
to the protection of her laws. The birds referred to ifi. the 
anti plumage statute are the same; and hence he says: "I 
am of the opinion that the Statutes of 1897, Chapter 524 
is not to be construed as prohibiting the having in posses- 
sion or the wearing of the body or feathers of birds taken 
or killed without the Commonwealth." 
Taking into consideration the spirit, text and enforce- 
ment of the Massachusetts game law, we are inclined to 
the opinion that the Atiorney-General's interpretation of 
the new statute M'ould be sustained by the courts. For 
many years Massachusetts, while seeking to protect her own 
game, has thrown the doors wide open for the market re- 
ception of game from the rest of the country at all times and 
seasons. Like the District of Columbia, New York, Mis- 
souri and some other States, she sordidly, brutally, shame- 
fully ignores the rights and interests of others. Boston is 
as New York, Washington and St. Louis, a dumping ground' 
for the game of other States unlawfully taken and dishon- 
estly exported. The game law of JMassachusetts being thus, 
in letter and spirit, confined strictly to prohibiting the sale 
of Massachusetts killed game only, we take it that the 
anti-plumage law must be interpreted as having a like 
restricted purpose. And more is the pity, since, on the 
testimony of Chief Wade of the State Police, the actual 
working of the law has been to bring practically to a stand, 
still the bird-feather milhnery business. In other words, 
if properly worded the law would accomplish precisely 
what its promoters intended it to eflect, namely, it would 
stop the sale of birds' feathers. If Attorney-Generai 
Knowlton'3 opinion shall go unchallenged by appeal to 
the courts, the law, «*s it stands, will be worse than a farce' 
and it will remain for the honest promoters of an honest 
anti-plumage law to renew their efforts at the next session 
of the Legi^ature. 
An interesting trespass case has come up in this State 
which has a direct bearing upon the point of law discussed 
by Mr. J. S. Van Cleef recently in our columns, respecting 
public fishing rights in private waters. A clause of the 
fish law provides that when private waters have been 
stocked by the State they shall thenceforth be free to the 
public for purposes of fishing. Mr. Van Cleef has pointed 
out that this would be an invasion of vested rights which 
probably would not be upheld if brought to test in the 
courts. The case in point, which ofi'ers an opportunity for 
making just such a test, is the suit instituted by Mr. George 
J. Gould, as owner of Furlough Lake in the Catskill 
Mountains, against Hiram and Aaron Graham, of Harden- 
burgh, for trespass on the lake for fishing. The case came 
up before Judge Hill, of Pine Hill, last week, and the de- 
fense w^as a general denial and the allegation that the lake 
was first stocked by the State, and that therefore the 
right to fish in it belongs to the public. The trial was 
postponed. 
The anti-hounding deer law, which goes into force in 
the Adirondacks this season, has been received in various 
sections of the North Woods with approval and disap- 
proval. Antagonism to the statute is found mainly, of 
course, in those sections which have been resorted to by 
visiting sportsmen for deer hounding, and is based largely 
upon an apprehension that the enforcement of the law 
will deter many visitors from making their customary Ad- 
irondack excursions, and that instead they will go to 
Maine or Canada or elsewhere wherever the chances of 
killing a deer with or without hounds may be considered 
superior to those of New York. There is no question that 
in some measure at least this apprehension is well 
founded. We have knowledge of a number of deer 
hunters accustomed formerly to visit the Adiron- 
dacks who are planning to go deewhere and who have 
engaged their guides in Maine or New Brunswick. In 
some parts of the Adirondacks where opposition to the 
new order of things is most intense the antagonism has 
been manifested in a general defiance of the deer law. 
We have received and published communications showing 
that deer have been killed out of season with little regard 
for legal restrictions, and we have conversed with those who 
ha ve been in the Nor th Woods and who have the same story 
to tell. It is reported that all available game protectors of 
Major Pond's staff have been sent to the Adirondacks to 
enforce the anti-hounding law, now that the open season 
has come. It will doubtless require all the vigilance and 
circumspection and ability of the force. to execute the law 
jn those districts where it is unpopular. 
If Justice of the Peace E. Biller, of Glenflora, Wiscon- 
sin, held forth in the classic purlieus of the Bowery, he 
would, we are sure, be termed a peach. Justice Biller has 
got his name in the papers because of his connection with 
a deer-hunting case in Chippewa county. The facts as dis- 
closed on the trial were in brief as follows: On June 9 of 
this year John Fintzen, of Glenflora, visited the house of 
a Mr. Howell, where he remained over night preparatory 
to going deer hunting the next day. He told the two boys 
of the household, one thirteen and the other eleven years 
old, of his purpose, showed them his Winchester rifle and 
promised that if he got his deer he would give them half 
of it. On June 10, returning from his deer hunt, he told 
the boys that he had killed a young buck, took them to 
the place where he had left the deer, and skinned it and 
divided it up while they stood by watching him. He 
then gave the boys one-half of the venison and 
parted from them, first cautioning them against say- 
ing anything about what he had done. The game war- 
den, having been notified by Mr. Howell, the father of the 
boys, arreeted Fintzen and brought him up before a justice 
of the peace at Bruce. Several continuances were secured 
by the defendant; and the warden, learning that Fintzen's 
friends were determined to secure an acquittal, discon- 
tinued the action, and procuring a warrant from the court 
at Chippewa Falls, rearrested him for trial there. Mean- 
while, Justice of the Peace E. Biller and his brother, Con- 
stable Biller, of Glenflora, approached the two boy- 
witnesses with bribes and threats; and fearing that hy 
these iaducements they might not be prevented from tell 
ing the truth on the trial, the Biller who is a justice of 
the peace wrote this letter to their father: 
" Glevflora, Wis., July 26.— Mr. Howell, Friend and Brother; As I 
may not see you, for my sake as a brother in F., L. and T.. do all in 
your power to help John Fintzen in his trouble. Post them boys up 
so they can have their story well learned. Tell them to say in a few 
chosen words, that they never saw him have in his possession or 
shoot a deer. Yours in I. O. O. F., E. Billkb. 
In spite of the exertions of this unworthy public oflElcer 
to induce the boys to perjure themselves in Fintzen's 
behalf, all the facts of the case, including Biller's own 
activity in it, were developed in the course of the trial at 
Chippewa Falls, and Fintzen was convicted and sentenced 
to sixty days in jail. The case discloses not only a woful 
condition of public sympathy with respect to the violation 
of the game laws in Chippewa county, but a much more 
serious demoralization as exhibited by this man Biller, 
in comparison with which game laws and their observe 
ance are of altogether minor importance. A community 
sunk so low as to have for its presiding justice an individ^ 
ual of Biller's stamp is less in need of game wardens than 
of missionaries and schools and churches. For the good 
name of the county, the prosecuting attorney or the 
Grand Jury should take action in the case of Biller, J. P. 
The recent tour of the New York Fish Oommissioiierg 
through the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence River, 
for the purpose of selecting grounds to be purchased by 
the State for public camping sites, has so far come to 
naught. The Commissioners found no difficulty in select' 
ing desirable sites, but they have not as yet been success- 
ful in coming to an agreement with the holders on the 
important question of price. Landowners appear to be 
possessed of a notion that as the State is the purchaser 
they may improve the opportunity to get fancy prices for 
what they have to sell. The Commissioners, on the con^ 
trary, are disposed to do business for the State as they 
would for themselves, and on like business principles. For 
the time being, then, the St. Lawrence park interests are 
in abeyance, but in time, it is altogether likely, the State 
will acquire its lands on reasonable terms. 
The satisfaction and benefit of an outing do not depend 
upon long distance traveled, nor large expense incurred i 
If you cannot afford the time to go far, nor the money for 
an expensive trip, take the short one and go cheaply i 
Make the most of such outing opportunities as may present 
themselves. Many of us would get more enjoyment out of 
this beautiful world if we took the good things legitimately 
within reach. The actual trouble with many men who pro^ 
fess themselves irrevocably chained to business is that they 
have not .the will or the resolution to relax the confinement 
when they might. There is a false estimate which leads 
one to believe that if he steps aside from the rut and the 
grind, things will incontinently go to smash; and so the 
unhappy victim of the delusion plods along year after 
year and knows neither the sheen of the bass in the land- 
ing net nor the velvety feel of a bird's plumage brought 
from flight to hand. It is a notion foolish and cruel, be* 
cause it cheats one out of so much of the good of living. 
He finds a larger and fuller and richer life who takes his 
share of the innocent pleasures of woods and streams and 
plains and mountains. 
The Chicago Fly-Casting Club's tournament last week 
was notable for the character of the work done, and the 
promoters of the tournament are deserving of much credit 
for their exertions and of congratulations upon the success 
of the meeting. The record achievement was that of Mr. 
W. D. Mansfield, of San Francisco, who in the long-distance 
fly -casting over-topped his own previous performance of 
lOSJft., with a noble cast of lll^^ft. The work done on the 
Garfield Park lagoon last week sets the pace for fly^caatulg 
emulatio*. 
At the Sportsman's Exposition in Madison Square Gar- 
den, last March, Mr. T. B. Mills, in single-handed fly^ 
casting for distance, made a cast of 110ft. 9 Jin., but the loss 
of his fly prevented his scoring the performance as a world- 
beating record. Mr. R. C. Leonard has cast lllft. in prac- 
tice, and Mr. Cooper Hewitt 112ft, in practice; neither of 
these count as against Mr. Mansfield's public cast of lllift, 
which stands as the best of record. 
