B12 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 27, 1902. 
§^ni$ §^g Hni §mh 
— « — 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and ijiKiAit. 
An Iowa Game Law Case» 
The Waterloo, Iowa, Courier of Dec. 19 reports : The 
Supreme Court yesterclay handed down a number of de- 
cisions. One of the most interesting was the case of the 
State against Harry E. Fields, of Cedar Falls. In this 
famous case, which was for the killing of six quails last 
winter in the closed season. Justice J. H. Hildebrand, of 
Waterloo township, before whom the first trial w^as held, 
found Fields guilty in spite of his claim, substantiated by 
the testimony of Prof. M. F. Arey of the Iowa State 
Normal School, that he killed the birds to mount as speci- 
mens for the museum at the State school. Fields ap- 
pealed the case to the district court. The case was heard 
before Justice Hildebrand, Feb. S, 1902, and before 
Judge Blair at the March term of the district court. In 
the district court, Justice Hildebrand's decision was re- 
versed and F'ields was cleared of any intention to violate 
the law. The State, while not able to further prosecute 
the defendant, carried the case to the Supreme Court. 
Now Judge McClain of that court rules against Judge 
Blair and in favor of Justice Hildebrand. One of the 
regretable features of the case is that Fields gets off 
without any punishment. Had he not been declared in- 
nocent by the district court he Would have been obliged to 
have paid $20 fine for each bird killed, besides the costs. 
But there is this consolation, that a precedent has been 
established depriving any illegal hunter from setting up 
the claim that he is a taxidermist when birds are found 
in his possession which the law protects durmg certain 
seasons of the year. 
The Register and Leader of this morning gives the fol- 
lowing concerning Judge McClain's decision : 
In the case of the Stale against Harry E. Fields, the 
Supreme Court decided yesterdaj' that game birds can 
not be killed in the closed season for purposes of tax- 
idermy or other scientific purposes. Fields was con- 
victed" before a Black Hawk County justice of killing 
quail in the closed season. He appealed to the district 
court, his defense being that he was a taxidermist en- 
gaged in collecting and mounting specimens for the State 
Normal School Museum. The district court found him 
not guilty. Section 2551 of the Code for the protection 
of game birds prescribes periods during which the kill- 
ing of game birds is prohibited. No exception is made 
permitting them to be killed for any purpose, but section 
2561, referring to certain harmless birds, other than game 
birds, prohibits the destruction of them or their eggs, 
except for the use of taxidermists. The Supreme Court 
rules, however, in an opinion by Judge McClain that the 
exception in section 2561 does not apply to section 2551. 
License as a Remedy* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There appears I0 be tw^o ends which-may be attained by 
a law requiring license of sportsmen from outside the 
State of Maine. One is to restrict and retard the visits 
of many of these same sportsmen by adding a good sized 
license fee to their already heavy expenses and thereby 
help to free the woods of hunters. This will allow those 
persons who are mentioned in article under "Hunters' 
License" in Forest and Stream, of Dec. 6, to have the 
woods of Maine for their own use providing they pay the 
price. 
This is rank selfishness and is intolerable to true men. 
The real object to be gained by a proposed license law 
is the better protection of the game now existing and 
the further propagation of any and all species of game 
which may be made to thrive in the forests of Maine, 
To this end, the forests must be carefully watched and 
protected from fires. Rifles and guns should be pro- 
hibited by fishing and camping parties in the summer 
time, and finally the slaughter of game in close season, 
and most odious of all the butchery of deer by the score 
and hundreds by paid hunters hired by_ lumbermen to 
supply logging camps during the whole winter, should be 
stopped. 
It is of no use to attempt to make little of this latter 
evil and point out that it is only in exceptional cases that 
it occurs. I have personally seen the evidence of it my- 
self even in the small bit of the State which has come 
under my immediate notice, viz., heaps of rotting deer 
hides in close proximity to old lumber camps. In ex- 
planation of our question of what this means, we are told 
by our guides and by residents who live near these lum- 
ber camps, of as many as 60 or So deer being killed in 
a winter and consumed by the loggers who rarely have 
any other fresh meat furnished them. These are facts. 
Now, why do not these guides or residents prosecute 
the law breakers? Because living as they do in the im- 
mediate neighborhood, a bullet or the burning of barn 
or house would be the result. 
As I said before these are facts gathered in visits to 
Maine during the last ten years. Why should it not be 
so? Who is there to prevent it? The game commission- 
ers of Maine and their assistants are doing a good work, 
all that a few men can do or be expected to do, and I 
believe the most efi'ective work is being done in creating 
a public sentiment in the right direction, but there is need 
of a much greater number of executives in the prosecution 
of the game protection interests. What can one game 
warden do toward protecting the great territory which 
he is now expected to cover in the little time and with the 
little pay allotted to him. And just here is where the 
license fee or the fund derived therefrom, may be di- 
rectly and profitably spent. 
This is the outline of the proposition: The establish- 
ment by the game commissioners of Maine of a thor- 
oughly organized, well equipped, intelligent and honest 
body of traveling game and forest wardens, Avho shall 
traverse during the entire year the wild region of the 
State, by twos for mutual protection and defense, and 
also for more efficient work. The State of Maine has an 
abundance of strong, courageous and capable men» so 
there need be no ladr of materisl. 
They would be really an organized forest police, not 
with settled beats so that lawbreakers might watch and 
know when to expect them, but rather with routes 
mapped out by their chief which might be known only 
by the head of the department. They would be expected 
to drop without warning upon loggers, trappers, hunters 
and fishermen's camps at all times of the year and make 
careful watch for evidence of law breaking which they 
could obtain for themselves. 
Moreover, the same men should not travel the same 
country all the time, but by being shifted from one dis- 
trict to another, as with city police, would have no fear 
or favor in any particular locality. These wardens 
should have a 3'early salary sufficient to attract and hold 
the best men. They should make reports of all their do- 
ings and experiences in the game country which would 
furnish a most valuable fund of information to the gaiiie 
commissioners of the State. 
I have merely outlined above a few of the various 
duties which would fall upon such a band of men. They 
must also be numerous enough to efficiently cover the 
State. The number would depend somewhat upon the 
amount of fun available. It is reasonable to believe that 
seventy-five to one hundred thousand dollars would not 
be too little to expect from moderate licenses, say $5 for 
non-residents and half that amount for residents of the 
State. I do not believe that the latter should be over- 
looked in helping to pay for what conduces directly to 
their own interests. This amount would be directly in 
addition to the regular State appropriation along this 
Ime. 
Above all, sportsmen should be shown that the license 
fee is not enough to prohibit or prevent any, but is to be 
used for one and only one object as outlined above, that 
is the direct protection of game and forests by men who 
are fully in the spirit of the work and 'give their entire 
time to the cause. I may say also in conclusion that I 
believe this is a plan which ought to be put into practice 
in. every State where game is to be saved. Good laws are 
all right, but amount to nothing unless there are a suffi- 
cient number of men to directly enforce those laws, and 
sportsmen must pay the bills. Therefore I say, license 
the hunters. L. A. J. 
Rhode Island. 
Massachusetts Association. 
f 
Two Important Meetings, 
Boston, Dec. 20. — Editor Forest and Stream: On 
Thursday, Dec. 18, the Executive Committee of the 
Massachusetts Central Committee for Protection of 
Fish and Game, met at the Copley Square Hotel. The 
chairman, Mr. H. A. Estabrook, of Fitchburg, pre- 
sided. 
That the anti-sale law' on partridges and woodcock 
should be continued was agreed by every one, and it 
was voted to endeavor to secure its enactment as a 
permanent statute the coming winter. 
Mr. Wm. B, Phinney, of Lynn, who has been re- 
elected to the Legislature, and expects to serve again 
on the Fish and Game Committee, expressed the 
opinion that the law had been highly beneficial in 
preserving the birds, and should be re-enacted either 
permanently or for a term of years, and there is no 
doubt regarding the stand he will take; and he said 
he believed several of the members of that committee 
who have been returned would take the same view of 
the subject. But the attitude of the Executive Com- 
mittee is one of determined effort in behalf of the 
measure, and Heman S. Fay, Esq., of Marlborough, 
was 'unanimously chosen as legal counsel. 
Your readers will remember that he Avas counsel 
for the committee in 1899-1900, Avhen the sportsmen 
fought and won the hardest battle in the history of 
game protection ever waged in this State. 
While the Committee hope it will prove easier to 
get a renewal of the law, it is deemed the part of 
prudence to be prepared for a contest. Chairman Col- 
lins, of the Commission, was present, and is in heany 
sympathy with us. 
Fie expressed his disappointment that the Legisla- 
ture last winter did not enact a law giving deputies 
the right of search, and it was voted that counsel draw 
up a bill of such a character as would be likely to re- 
ceive the approval of the incoming Legislature ai d 
report the same to the Committee at its next meeting. 
It was voted that an effort be made to secure a 
re-enactment of the deer law, so as to prohibit their 
killing for a period of five years more. 
Mr. A. C. Sylvester, president of the North Attle- 
boro Association, said hordes of hunters were in the 
woods of Bristol county from Dec. i to 15, and he 
condemned the present law for that county in severe 
terms. The impression prevails that sportsinen there 
have had enough of it. Let us hope so. Mr. Sylvester 
stated that the associations of the Blackstone Valley 
in Rhode Island will attempt to get a law against sale 
of woodcock and partridge in that State, which would 
be an advantage to sections of Massachusetts border- 
ing on Rhode Island. 
Capt. Collins also mentioned the difficulty met by 
wardens frequently in securing warrants for the ar- 
rest of offenders. It seems many of the judges are 
not deeply impressed with the importance of a rigid 
enforcement of the game laws. In one instance, where 
by the statute a fine of $10 is fixed, the judge made it 
$5. This raises the question whether or not judges 
are amenable to the law. 
The Committee adjourned to meet at the State 
liouse on Monday, Dec. 29 at 2 P. M. 
Association Meeting. 
Immediately after the adjournment of the Execu- 
tive Committee at 6:30, the members of the Associa- 
tion sat down to dinner. In the absence of President 
Reed, Vice-President Wm. S. Hinman occupied the 
chair. 
Dr. E. W. Branigan, chairman of th^ Nominatmg 
Committee, presented the list of officers for 1.903, to 
be balloted for at the annual meeting, Jan. 14. For 
Prew4§Rt, J. It< lRee4, Esq., is nomwJtted, a,^ s^re most 
of the present board. The following names were 
added to the membership list by unanimous vote: M. 
A. Spear, A. S. Brainier, Hon. Wm. S. McNary, Leroy 
S. Brown, II. Noyes Whitcomb, president of the En- 
glewood Club, all of Boston; Fred E. Gillis, of Box- 
ford; Dr, Samuel H. Talbot, Cambridge; John C, 
Phillips, N. Beverly, O, K. Gerrish, Lakeville; B. M. 
Rockwood, Franklin. Mr. Charles C. Russell, presi- 
dent of Greenfield Sportsmen's Club, was elected a 
corresponding me m b e r . 
Dr. J. T. Herrick opened the after-dinner speaking. 
He assured the members that the Springfield club, of 
which he is president, is active in securing the en- 
forcement of the laws in that section, and that it is 
in hearty sympathy with the State Association. He 
reported that everywhere he went he heard the work 
of the Association commcn_ded in the highest terms. 
President Sylvester said it gave him great pleasure 
to bring the greeting of the 300 members ot the iNortu 
Attleboro Association, He spoke in detail of the 
good work of that club in liberating quail and stock- 
ing the streams, as well as in educating the whole 
community to take an active interest in protecting and 
propagating fish and game and the enforcement of the 
laws. So much good has the anti-sale law done, not 
a man can be found in his section who is not in favor 
of its continuance. 
Mr. A. B, F, Kinney expressed the opinion that not 
a man could be found in Worcester who would care 
to oppose the re-enactment of the law. 
The testimony of all the speakers was that the law 
had been the means of adding materially to the num- 
ber of birds in the covers. 
Henry H. Kimball, Sec'y. 
People and Incidents of Interest. 
[By a Forest and Stream Staff Correspondent.] 
On my arrival in Buffalo last Tuesday morning I found 
the mercury making love to zero, which made the big 
round stove in Le'Valley's store a new friend of the 
Avarmest kind and one I regretted having to leave so soon, 
more especially so from the fact that that stove has been for 
many years the center piece of more game and fish his- 
tory than falls to the lot of many of its kind._ It is' here 
that Major Phipps and his coterie of friends have 
weighed and measured game and fish from the Atlantic 
and the Pacific, from the waters and woods of Canada 
and Florida. Mr. Le Valley should write a history of 
men he has hunted and fished with around that dear old 
stove. Fish stories are not killing, on the contrary,_ they 
lighten the weight of years, the seared period of lite 
loses its seriousness around such stoves. Mr. Le Valley 
himself is a fine exemplification of this, so let them flow, 
the fish gets heavier_and makes a prettier fight with each 
telling. 
It was here that I first heard of the laxity with which 
the game laws of New York State are enforced, a de- 
plorable fact which reaches across most , of the State. 
Buffalo, with its fine contingent of sportsmen, should 
wake up to the times' crying necessities, and enforce the 
game laws, . ^ „. 
While in Rochester it was my good fortune to be enter- 
tained by Dr, Durand, of foot power boat fame. I found 
the Doctor full of his practicable, well-tested and clearly 
proven theories and delightfully entertaining on the sub- 
ject; he only needs to meet j'ou "face to face" and you 
are his. A visit to the Genesee Valley Club revealed 
much to the interest of visiting and local sportsmen. A 
beautifully mounted specimen of the tarpon surmounts 
an open fire-place, and other trophies are not lacking. 
A particularly interesting feature is a collection of Chi- 
nese firearms and field guns, captured during the recent 
yellow plague. It would take a page of Forest anj) 
Stre.\j[ to do justice to this mixture of ancient and 
modern, aggressive and defensive thought; suifice it 
to say wdien one Chinaman exhausted his supply of am- 
munition he had to take to the woods, 
A grilled chop and tea furnished reminiscent moods, 
and boyhood days came to us again and again, until I 
regret I can only continue in thought; however, there 
arc deeds in men's lives of so rare and tender a sort that 
the world would be much better should they know of 
them and in a degree emulate them. 
Imagine the blood-letting sportsman on his way home 
at I A. M., when the thermometer was below zero, he-ir- 
ing a wee small voice by a big tree in a lonesome neigh- 
borhood plaintively wailing "meaw, meauw." His big burly 
rigure stops ; he removes his warm gloves and feels around 
until he finds a half-grown kitten in the last stages of 
emaciation, gathers it up in the warm folds of his gen- 
erous coat and carries it to his study, only to find it past 
his skill to help, except by kindness, warmth and then 
chloroform. With dimmed eyes he warmed it and it slept. 
I only remarked, "Doctor, didn't you prolong its agony ? 
A dash on the frozen walk would have been quick and 
effective." '"True," said the Doctor, "but I couldn't bear 
the thud," 
In Syracuse I had the pleasure of meetmg Mr. W. A. 
Able— most everybody knows Mr. Able, but those who 
don't ought to. In him I found the sportsman of a gen- 
eration agone and of to-day, surely a happy condition 
only attained by the ordinary observances of God's laws 
to man. Mr. Able has a fine collection of forest and 
stream prerequisites of ours and other times, one of the 
most interesting is a gun with a romance. 
This gun is a double-barreled flint-lock, with solid 
silver mountings, a rarely pretty, graceful affair, not 
weighing over seven pounds. It was made in the year 
18 10, in a basement at the corner now occupied by Von 
Lengerke & Detmold, on Broadway, New York, for a 
Frenchman who emigrated to this country for reasons 
best known to himself. He afterward settled on the 
shore of Cayuga Lake, and three years after\vard died. 
During the many years (forty-seven) which his faithful 
widow survived him she had the servants remove this 
gun from its case and polish and oil it twice a year. Its 
beautiful state of preservation to-day would indicate that 
sentiment and affection so tenderly bestowed by her hg._d 
lost none of its sacr^ijoess iti the hatic^s of qti^ef^- TbJ» 
