88 
that the woods were full of sound, and the snow on the 
trees was sifting down. It was an ideal day for still-hunt- 
ing. So after spending a lazy morning in a five-mile circle 
toward Moccasin Lake and back, we returned to camp, 
where partridge stew and potatoes and onions and sweet- 
cake and stewed apricots called us to over-eat. About I 
o'clock, as we had seen no tracks in the lowlands, Henry 
and I went up on the first ridge of the Cow Mountains, a 
mile back of the camp, and immediately began to find a 
succesion of moose tracks, criss-crossing each other so 
that to follow any one track was impossible. For the 
poetry of hunting give me fresh snow on a hardwood 
ridge, where the woods are open, and the wind sings in 
the birch trees. I followed Henry in a happy daze, that 
not even the labor of climbing, or the whacks of the white- 
wood branches could dispel. 
Now presently, about forty yards to the left of us, a 
large black animal rose up out of the snow and stood on 
long, gray legs, listening and looking. Then another and 
another, and we had run into a bunch of three small 
bull moose, almost before they heard us. A hasty glance 
along the rifle barrel, a single shot, and a two-year-old 
bull moose crashed to the ground, dead. The other moose 
did not seem to know just what to do about it They 
stood around in an undecided way, but finally, in half a 
minute or so, trotted off loose-jointed, and disappeared 
among the trees. The meat question was settled for this 
camp. An old bull is tough. A cow is always respected. 
A young bull was just what we needed. 
Now, was not that a better ending to the matter than a 
long chase would have been, finding a little blood here 
and there, starting the poor brute from his despairing 
bed, following till the early fall of night, and perhaps a 
dismal sleep-out in the snow? Yet the boys of the thirty 
caliber, who never saw a moose, will laugh at me. 
The rifle I carried was sent to Henry by a gentleman 
who lives out in Indiana, and I suppose there is not 
another one like it in the United States or Canada.- It 
was made by the Winchester Company, and its caliber is 
.577. It takes the famous Ely cartridge, burning 160 
grains of powder, and the bullet weighs something oyer 
500 grains. As Henry says, when a bullet from this rifle 
strikes a moose anywhere between the tail and the ears, 
you don't need to follow that moose any further. He 
dies right there. This rifle, which is a single shot, weighs 
%y 2 pounds, and I could hit the size of a silver dollar 
with it at ioo feet. I noticed afterward that the bushes 
and branches of the thick woods did not seem to impede 
these bullets any. There was only one trouble with this 
rifle. Being specially built, not enough allowance had 
been made for the withdrawal of the cartridge head 
through the breech, and occasionally a shell would stick. 
I do not know what the gentleman out in Indiana paid 
for this rifle, but anyway he is accustomed to having his 
ideas carried out, and, maybe, now that he has broken 
the road, other people can get a large game rifle of re- 
spectable size without sending to England for it. The 
cartridge this rifle takes is the one which all the world 
except the United States have been using for large ani- 
mals ever since the time of Sir Samuel Baker, who 
designed it. ( 
When we went back to camp and showed Charlie a 
bunch of moosehair, he hardly believed we had got a 
moose so soon'. But he had rested a strained tendon 
enough so that the next morning we started out in the 
full-fledged business of getting a big head. Indications 
all pointed to the fact that the moose had taken up their 
quarters on the high ridges, where the moosewood and 
other shoots gave them ample early winter feed. 
Theodore and Jerry went along with us as far as the 
meat moose, to skin it and bring in as much as they 
could carry. We stayed with them till they had a fire 
started, and had settled down to business, and then 
Henry, Charlie and I departed, to search for the big- 
headed moose. 
The rifle Charlie was carrying deserves to be described. 
This same gentleman who had the .577 Winchester made 
is a connoisseur of weapons. In England they long ago 
found out that the .30 calibers were uncertain on large 
game, and several makers are building high-power rifles 
of larger bore. Our good Indiana friend has a .375, taking 
a 320-grain hollow-point bullet. He asked us to try the 
gun. Charlie carried it. I commend this little story to 
Mr. Emerson Hough, who, as these lines are written, is 
pursuing the majestic moose up on the Tobique, in the 
company of Adam Moore. Mr. Hough _ has a vast and 
varied experience with guns, but he is just meeting his 
first moose. He has some .30-40 cartridges with hollow- 
point bullets, and by these he sets great store. If he hap- 
pens to get a moose out on open ground, where he can 
pick the spot at which he fires, he may stop his game with 
one shot. If the moose is hidden by busnes, so that 
nothing except his antlers and his hindquarters can be 
seen, or a mere black spot that represents an undeter- 
mined portion of moose anatomy, Mr. Hough may learn 
a few things about small bullets that will contribute to the 
literature of sport. 
Henry, Charlie and I had gone perhaps a mile beyond 
yesterday's moose, and were going down the other side of 
a big ridg.e. The world .was a mass of moose tracks 
everywhere. 
"Here is a likely place for a moose," said Henry, as we 
came on a whitewood thicket covering many acres. 
Scarcely had we gone fifty yards before all three of us 
saw a movement beyond two big birch trees, and on one 
side, towering above the bushes, rose the sweeping antlers 
of a very large moose. How splendidly they swung! 
The moose had risen and was listening. He was broad- 
side to us, but his body was completely shielded by 
trees, only the faintest glimpses of his bulk being visible. 
Charlie saw a black spot and fired, The moose gave a 
mighty spring and was gone. You can hardly appreciate 
what a tangle of fallen trunks, bushes, spruce, birch and 
roundwood growth, we had to struggle through. As I 
was only a spectator in this controversy, I lagged be- 
hind. Away went Henry and Charlie, and soon 150 
yards ahead, I heard the crashing of the .375 — the 
wickedest sound I ever heard in the woods. Crack, crack, 
crack, and finally, as I ran and scrambled breathless, I 
saw a big dark object standing, and heard Henry say to 
Charlie, "Oh ! let up on the poor brute. He is done for." 
But it was nearly a minute before the enormous moose, 
yielding to the infinite disarrangement of his interior, let 
go and tumbled down the hillside, taking a big dead stub 
with him as he fell. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
There were five awful wounds in his body, four of which 
you would have expected, any one of them, to produce 
instant death. I have seen a great many moose, but 
this had the biggest body of any I ever saw. His 
shoulders lacked just an inch of being seven feet high. 
His antlers, which did not spread wide for their size and 
weight, were 54 inches across. He was a monster. 
The first shot had fortunately caught him through the. 
small bowels, so he could not run fast, and the others 
had gone through the ribs forward, just where the story 
books say they should go. 
But listen now to this. As soon as Henry began cutting 
into the neck to remove the head, he discovered a r large 
discharge of pus from an old wound in the breast of the 
moose. Examining this, we found a piece of jacketed 
bullet sticking in the skin of the bell, a part of which 
had been cut off by the bullet in its flight. In the left 
half of the breast was a bullet hole; and dissecting into 
this, we found more pieces of jacket and spatters of 
bullet. The missile had struck the point of the shoulder, 
but had not broken it. It had lifted the flesh from the 
bone, and had penetrated the body of the moose, outside 
the bone, about four inches. The larger part of the bullet 
had already been removed by the stream of pus. Only 
spatters of it remained. The shoulder was perfectly 
efficient, and the forearm of the moose beautiful in its 
tremendous strength. "I guess this is one of Ad. Moore's 
wounded moose," remarked Henry, grimly, as he in- 
spected the old wound. "Here's more small-bore work 
for you!" And then Henry told me a happening of this 
fall, that all the New Brunswick guides are laughing 
about. 
A gentleman who went out with Adam Moore fired at a 
moose with a small caliber, emptying his magazine and 
knocking the animal down. They had to go around a 
little pond to get to the dead moose. Seeing that he was 
plainly beyond this life, they started around the pond, 
and when they got there, the moose had concluded to try 
this world again, and had disappeared. They tracked 
him a long way, but never got him, and he probably 
joined the host of educated moose, or died as scores of 
others do, by slow degrees. 
Next week I will tell yoiu some more things that hap- 
pened. Frederic Irland. 
A Maine Moose Case. 
Boston, Jan. 27. — Fish and Game Commissioner Henry 
O. Stanley, of Maine, was in Boston last week. His 
term of office expired Jan. 1, but Governor Hill has re- 
appointed him for the usual term of three years. Mr. 
Stanley has served on the Fisheries and Game Commis- 
sion of that State for over thirty years, and has won the 
good will of everybody. Indeed, there were other candi- 
dates for his place, but the more prominent declared that 
they were not seeking the position, if Mr. Stanley wished 
to succeed himself. His early service on the Commission 
was in company with the late E. M. Stillwell, than whom 
no man ever worked harder for the good of his State in 
the defense of fish and game. It may justly be claimed 
that the foundation of game protection in New England 
was laid under the efforts of Mr. Stillwell, seconded by 
Mr. Stanley. Both were poorly paid, and stood the brunt 
of blame and curses in their early attempts at enforcing 
a system of game laws which has caused the multiplica- 
tion of deer a hundred fold, and saved moose and caribou 
from extinction. Mr. Stanley early took great interest in 
the propagation of fish in Maine, at a _ time when the 
system was in its infancy. It is only justice to his efforts 
to state that the presence and success of landlocked sal- 
mon in more than fifty of the lakes and ponds in his native 
State, is due to the efforts of Henry O. Stanley— efforts 
made at a time when he was poorly paid, and received but 
little encouragement from anybody. 
The difficulty in securing convictions in cases of in- 
fractions of the game laws in some of the Maine counties 
are considerable, to say the least. This has always been 
especially true of Washington county, a county where the 
game wardens have been defied, and in one well-remem- 
bered case, one was shot and died from the shooting. 
Judge Whitehouse, who has been holding court in that 
county, created a sensation Tuesday when he declared 
that the verdict of the jury in the celebrated Libbey 
moose case was entirely wrong. In closing court, Judge 
Whitehouse s*aid: 
"All jurors in attendance are entitled to the thanks of 
the court for their faithful, intelligent and impartial ser- 
vices in the trial of all civil actions, but my feelings of 
courtesy do not so obscure my judgment or sense of 
justice as to include the last criminal prosecution for the 
killing of the calf moose. That verdict was so clearly 
wrong, that if it had been rendered in a civil action, it 
would have been promptly set aside by any tribunal in 
New England having jurisdiction in such cases. _ But I 
believe it is one of those compensations of advancing age 
that there are mellowing influences that carry with them 
greater charity and toleration for the opinions of others, 
and I am constrained to think that the jury believed they 
were justified in rendering that verdict." 
The prosecuting attorneys are very indignant at the 
verdict; declare that it is demonstrated that Washington 
county juries will not bring verdicts of guilty in game 
cases, and it is intimated that important game cases may 
hereafter be tried in neighboring counties. Howard J. 
Libbey, of Columbia Falls, was tried for causing the death 
of a calf moose, contrary to the game laws of the State. 
A good deal of importance is attached to the case since it 
was the first one tried in that county, if not in the State, 
under the new law imposing a fine of $500 for killing 
moose illegally. It seems that the case was very plain. 
The hide and' part of the meat of the calf moose was 
found in Libbey's barn, while the head was found in the 
woods, in close proximity to where Libbey had legally 
killed a bull moose, which he took to Boston to sell, and 
also near to where somebody had killed a cow moose. 
The parts of the calf moose were found under the hay in 
Libbey's barn, while more moose meat was found on his 
premises, although he had taken the bull moose to Bos- 
ton whole. The parts of the calf moose were found 
during Libbey's absence in Boston. All this appeared in 
the testimony. The defense was a denial of all knowledge 
of either, the cow or the calf moose on the part of Libbey, 
with the suggestion by Libbey's attorney that some one 
tFW I, 1902. 
had put the parts of the calf moose in his barn. County . 
Attorney McKusic flatly accused Libbey, during his cross 
examination, of having talked the matter over with pne 
of the jurors. Libbey denied this, but finally admitted J 
that if he had talked the matter over with one of the 
panel, which he did not think he had, it was not done ■ 
with a view to prejudicing his case. The jury was out ■ 
only five minutes, when the panel came in with a verdict 
of not guilty. The case will go up, and the full bench will 
be asked to set the verdict aside. County Attorney Mc- 
Kusic has one or two other cases of breaches of -the game 
laws, one a case of deer dogging, which he has not pushed, ] 
doubtless feeling that it would be of no use before juries 
like the one before whom the Libbey case was tried. 
Special. 
A Hunting License Blackmail 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In an editorial of the Forest and Stream of Jan. 18 j| 
you speak of Mr. Carleton, of Maine, as making much 
of the fact of the non-resident hunting license being in 
force in many States. You mention this system as 
enforced in Arkansas as being in effect chiefly for the " 
purposes of blackmail by various county authorities. 
The following is an instance (as I should call it) of 
blackmail. The victim is a man I know quite well. I 
give his account just as he wrote it over his signature: 
. "I was born in Milton, Queens county, Nova Scotia, 
and lived there until I was sixteen years old. My 
parents still live there. On Aug. 10 last I went into a 
hospital for a surgical operation. I was there four 
weeks. After I" came out and was able to travel, on the 
advice of my physician, I went to Nova Scotia to re- 
gain my health and to visit my parents. While there I 
was invited by John Randall (who was making meadow 
hay some fifteen miles over in the meadows) to go * 
with him and spend a week camping out. Thinking it 1 
would do me good, I went. I took my camera, but did J 
not take a gun. I hired Willard Freeman to go as cook 
for me. My father, Peter Starratt, and my brother, 
Harry Starratt, also went. I went for my health. My 
father and some of the others left the tent to look for 1 
moose. I was not able to. All the week we were out 
none of the party either saw or heard a moose. Imagine 
my surprise when I got out to my parents' house to have 
a summons served on me and my brother (who lives in * 
New York) for hunting moose without a license. My 
business called me immediately to Boston. So I did 
not wait for the trial, which was almost a week later. 
Well, they tried my brother and me. They acquitted my 
brother, but fined me $50 for hunting without a license, 
$30 for a license and $6.50 for costs; total $86.50. 
"Lawyer L. A. Lovett, of Liverpool (in which place 
the trial took place), wrote to me and asked if I wanted 
him to appeal the case, as he would act as my attorney 
and that I would win if I appealed and took it before a 
jury (as it was a magistrate who imposed the fine). He . 
asked me to send him the $86.50 and also $25 to cover 
probable cost of next court; total $111.50. I did as he 
advised. James Hunt acted as game warden, with 
Church Freeman as his lawyer. My attorney, instead 
of serving summons on Hunt and Freeman for the ap- 
peal, told Freeman that he should appeal the case. The 
latter said, All right.' This was in October. Court 
opened Nov. 5, and when Lovett arose to present my 
case, Freeman jumped up and said that as no summons 
had been served on Hunt and himself, it was illegal. ■ 
Lovett and he had some words about it, but Judge 
Forbes decided that he would not try the case, but take 
It under advisement. Along about the last of December 
he decided against me and had a license sent me, which 
I received Jan. 4, 1902, after the open season on all 
game had closed. 
"I can prove (if given a chance) by my father, Will- 
ard Freeman, John Randall and my brother Harry, 
that I did no moose hunting in Nova Scotia. I had a 
certificate, sworn to by my physician and signed before 
a notary public, as to my condition (physically) at the 
above time. This was sent to my lawyer as evidence 
that I was in no condition to hunt moose if I wished. I 
am well aware of the meanness of some of the natives 
of Milton, and their disreputable actions. I know of 
what I speak as I was born and reared among them. 
But I did not suppose that any judge would sustain I 
them in their actions. I have never violated the laws 1 
of this or any country, and I claim that I was unlaw- j 
fully treated, and I wish to show my brother sportsmen 
the Nova Scotians and their laws in a true light. I am 1 
ready to back up the above charges in full detail at any I 
time to all who may call on or address me. 
"Charles E. Starratt." f] 
S9 North Market Street, Boston, Mass. 
The above statement of Mr. Starratts shows how non- : 
residents can be blackmailed in some parts of the country. 
I will give my first experience of "The land of Evan- 
geline." 
Some years ago two of us planned a trip after 
moose. I carefully read the game laws of Nova Scotia. . 
We knew we would have to take out a hunting license. | 
We had (as we supposed) engaged some Indians as 
moose callers. We were assured we could get everything . 
in Digby in the way of provisions and hunting licenses. , 
When we landed in Digby our Indians did not show up; 
one had been bought off by some jealous local huntdrs, 
and the other was drunk (perhaps through the same 
source). We bought a couple of written documents 
(paying $30 each for the same) from a man who was or 
had" been a game warden. The amount we paid we were 
told would be sent to Halifax (which I understand was 
done). We bought our- provisions in Digby, and the : 
result was that we decided to bring them with us on any 
future trips. Mr. Starratt speaks of the meanness of cer-J 
tain Nova Scotians. I will vouch for his statement 
from personal experience. There is a certain class of 
Nova Scotians who ought to be sent to fight the Boers. 
The Boers would treat them about as they deserve. 
This class is composed of the native hunters. (I will not 
call them sportsmen.) They kill all kinds of game in 
season and out, and market what they kill. They howl 
against the non-resident sportsman who goes to the | 
