AND Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and G 
Copyright, 1904, BY Forest AND Stream Publishing Co. 
UN. 
Terms, |4 a Year, 10 Crs. \. Copy. I 
Six M.onths,;$3. - ; :(' 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1904. 
VOL. LXII.— No. 2. 
No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized mediam of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite comriuinications on the subjects to which it's 
cages are devoted. ■ Anonymous communications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
correspondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms': For single 
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particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 
We find in the New York Law Journal record of an ex - 
traordinary phase of circumstantial evidence, involved in 
an appealed case growing out of a tragedy in. the Maine 
woods. It appears that the defendant, one Terreo, had 
been convicted of the murder of Mathias Pare, whose 
death had been caused by shooting, and whose remains 
were discovered in a remote forest district of the State 
of Maine, about a month after his disappearance, after 
the melting of snows which had concealed the body. Ly- 
ing on the snow within two or three inches from the body 
was found an exploded cartridge shell, which played a 
most important part in the trial by connecting the de- 
fendant with the crime. This shell was of a size to fit the 
bore of defendant's rifle, and the State produced evidence 
of an eminent expert tending to show that, under micro- 
scopic observation the pin of the hammer of any rifle , 
left a characteristic and unmistakable mark upon the 
priming or shell of a cartridge fired therein, and that the 
mark found upon the shell in question had been made by 
the pin of the defendant's rifle, because it corresponded- 
reversely as to right and left with appearances on the 
pin and corresponded directly with appearances on the 
shells of other cartridges fired by the witness from the 
defendant's rifle. It was claimed in the application for 
the new trial that the defendant was taken by surprise by 
the scientific evidence offered by the State, and therefoi-e 
was unprepared to meet it by a scientific rebuttal. An- 
other expert in microscopy, after a system of experiments, 
now says : First, that it is probable that because: of the 
long exposure to the snow the original indentation or 
mark upon the shell would have disappeared through cor- 
rosion; and, second, that, from the comparatively lighi; 
or shallow indentation on the shell, it is probable that 
the mark was made thereon by defendant's rifle not when 
uie cartridge was loaded, but subsequently and during 
the course of experimentation by the expert for the 
prosecution. The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine grants. . 
a new trial, saying that the evidence of the prosecution'* 
expert in all probability exerted much influence upon the 
jury's verdict of conviction. 
If all the circumstantial evidence in the case is fairly 
summarized in the foregoing statement, it is truly aston- 
ishing that a man's life was placed in jeopardy upon- 
evidence so fragmentary and so remote. And it Is still 
more astonishing that, on such evidence, he was con-- 
victed. It is, on the face of it, absurd to maintain that 
any given firing pin will make exactly the same indenta- 
tion in any primer every time it strikes such primer. It. 
is equally absurd, as a proposition, that any given firing 
pin will make an indentation differing from all those in- 
dentations of the millions of other firing pins". i " ' . 7 
When it comes to a consideration of the microscopic 
effects in this connection, no general law can be formu- 
lated from a few, or even many, particulars. 'To secure 
results microscopically alike, the conditions would need 
to be immutably .constant and unvarying. In this matter 
they are not so. The micrometer will show that the 
diameters of the primers vary measurably; that they are 
seated variably. The metal is not always of the same 
density. The firing pin has an appreciably loose play 
v,'hich would cause it to vary microscopically when the 
gun is tilted one way or another in firing. The main- 
spring and lubricant act differently under different tem- 
peratures. In fact, there is such an infinite possibility' 
and probability of minute variation in the working of a 
firing pin under different conditions that ho rhicroscopic, 
judicial, general law can be justly formulated. If it were 
one of many strong links in -a chain of "circumstantial 
evidence connecting the defendant with -the offense, it 
would have a co^eroborative valtie, hut'as a "total of testi-- 
mony, it seems to us to be alrnost frivolous when acaepted 
^s legal justificat;o;n for inapQsing capital punishnjent - - 
QUEBEC GUIDES. 
The attempt to formulate a set of laws governing guide 
service in the Province of Quebec, which was mentioned 
in our issue of January 17, 1903, is still being, pushed. 
There is no doubt that by concerted action on the part 
of the various clubs in that superb game district some 
improvements can be made, either by the action of the 
clubs without the intervention of the Government, or 
else through the direct aid of the Government by the 
passing of laws based on the same ideas as our laws in 
Maine. It would not be practicable for that district to 
make laws exactly similar to the Maine laws, but it is 
hoped that some set of simple rules covering licensing 
may be acted upon. The idea had its origin with the 
Triton Fish and Game Club, and a committee was ap- 
pointed to take the matter up. Andrew Gray Weeks, of 
Boston, is the chairman, and has spent the past year in 
corresponding with the various clubs and seeking general 
information from resident sportsmen of Quebec who are 
in a position to give advice. At the recent meeting of 
. the Triton Club it was voted to continue the work, and 
since then the committee has been in correspondence 
with the Commissioners of Lands, Mines and Fisheries, 
with a view to informing themselves as to the possibility 
of a bill going through should one be presented. A sim- 
ilar attempt was made some years ago, but owing to the 
action of the opposition it came to naught. 
Should the Government refuse to take an interest in 
the welfare of visiting' sportsmen in this respect, there 
seems little doubt that the clubs will formulate a set of 
rules for their own benefit. , Among the clubs interested 
are the Triton, the Tourilli, the Little Saguenay, the 
River Noire, the Laurentides, the Stadacona, the Orleans, 
the Press, the Metabetchouan, the Penn, the Bostonais, 
the Quakquakanaksis, the Nomantum, the Ouitchouan, 
the Amabelish, and others. These clubs control a large 
portion of the tract between Quebec and Lake St. John. 
WINTER. . 
Jack Frost has placed an intensely wintry grip on the 
country at large. In New York the thermometer regis- 
tered several degrees below zero on the morning of 
January 5, the lowest temperature recorded by the 
Weather Bureau for January since i8q6. On that morn- 
ing, in sections contiguous to New York, the thermometer 
registered between 20 and 30 degrees below zero. How- 
ever, the present intense cold is near the record limit of 
New York city, which was registered on January 10, 1875, 
when the thermometer went to 6 degrees below zero. 
Other records of extreme cold are January 29, 1873, which 
had a zero temperature; January 11 and 16, 1893, when 
I degree below was recorded, and January 6, 1896, when 
the temperature was 3 degrees, below, zero. The heavy 
snow : fall of last Saturday and Sunday completed every 
essential for full wintry conditions. In New York city, 
consequent to the clogging of the streets, incalculable 
hardships and suffering were imposed on men and horses 
alike. The labors of fraction were many times 
multiplied. Heavily loaded teams were to be seen stalled 
in all sections of the city, while others made headway 
only by the extremes of straining and tugging. The 
thousands of men who are engaged in removing the snow 
are an index of the extreme of suffering which the poor 
must endure in the inclement wmtry weather. One man, 
a foreman of a gang, froze in his snow cart Many of 
the snow shovelers were badly frostbitten or entirely 
prostrated by the extreme cold, and many more were 
forced to quit work for hours to avoid freezing. A 
majority of the shovelers are poor, insufficiently clothed 
and fed, therefore far from being properly equipped for 
the exposure and labor imposed by their work. Commis- 
sioner Woodbury is quoted on this point as follows: 
"The temperature has been something frightful for the 
men. Many of them have been completely prostrated by 
the terrific cold. Some of them have been at work with 
: their toes actually out of their shoes, and have been 
-without gloves. You can imagine what work for these 
poor fellows ;means along the river front at midnight 
with' the temperature around zero. Why, early this m.orn- 
ing (January s) it was so cold that I sent one man to 
the New York Hospital from Broadway and FoLvrteenth 
Weet He was badly frostbitten. And there were plenty 
more meri who suffered in the same way," 
Those who have the necessities of life in abundance, 
yet who are disposed to repine, over their hard lot, will 
find that with the temperature at zero they have much 
for which to be thankful. 
FATE. 
This is a story of fate. 
The death of W. G. Fargo Squiers, son of LTnited States 
Minister Squiers, at Havana, has recalled to public 
attention the record of young Squiers in the Chinese 
war, and in particular his heroism at the siege of Peking. 
As told by the New York Times, after the entire European 
population and a number of Chinese converts — some seven 
or eight hundred all told — had taken refuge in the Brit- 
ish Legation, there was a dangerous shortage of food, 
especially for the Chinese part of the refugees. The broad 
streets about the legation were swept by the fire from 
barricades which the "Boxers" had erected to command, 
and though there as abundant supplies in the native and 
foreign shops opposite the legation, access to these could 
only be had across this fire-swept zone. Several attempts 
had been made to reach them, but had failed because 
the mules drawing the provision carts could not be made 
to face the fire, when young Squiers, remarking quietly, 
"I think I can make that mule go,", climbed into a cart, 
put the mule into a run, and dashed across the street in 
safety. The cart loaded with provisions, he returned with 
the same success. The perilous journey was repeated 
many times in the next few days until the legation was 
amply provisioned, and though the boy (he was not yet 
seventeen years of age) had holes shot through his hat 
and his clothes, and more than one of the coolies accom- 
panying him were killed, he escaped without a wound. 
Other exploits of daring and danger followed, and 
young Squiers was mentioned with honor in the dis- 
patches of the British and American ministers, and Presi- 
dent McKinley promised him, and President Roosevelt 
afterward tendered him, an appointment to West Point. 
Such is the first chapter of this story of fate— a story 
• of war peril encountered from which the hero emerged 
safe and unscathed. 
The second chapter consists of a press dispatch from 
Havana, on the last day of the year, which announced: 
"Fargo Squiers, the eldest son of United States Minister 
Squiers, was accidentally shot and killed to-day by Gas- 
ton Michaud, a French chauffeur employed by his father. 
Young Squiers and some servants were shooting with 
rifles at a target in the coach house of the Minister's resi- 
dence in the suburb of Marianao. One of the rifles ap- 
parently got out of order. Michaud was examining the 
weapon and recocking it, when it was suddenly dis- 
charged in the direction of Squiers, who was between 
Michaud and the target. The ball penetrated the young 
man's left lung, and in half an hour he died." 
The merits and demerits of owls and hawks came up 
again at the recent meeting of the New York League, 
and a recommendation that the birds should be destroyed 
was referred to a committee for more mature considera- 
tion. The charge against the species is that they destroy 
great numbers of game birds. On the other hand, they 
destroy also great numbers of noxious creatures;, and the 
opinion of economic ornithologists is on the whole favor- 
able to hawk and owl. Notwithstanding this, we have in 
different States conflicting laws on the subject, some mak- 
ing the killing of hawks and owls a misdemeanor, and 
others giving a bounty for their destruction. 
We hear often of the unexpected performances of the 
random shot, as well as of the Hibernian accident of 
throwing at the pigeon and hitting the crow. The acci- 
dental shots are perhaps less frequent than they seem 
to be, for it is only those which hit some mark that are 
noticed, while nothing is heard of the ones that go astray. 
In the correspondence received by Forest and Stream 
these a;ccidental shots hit a niark with what seems ex- 
traordinary frequency. A few years ago a rnother dis- 
covered the whereabouts of a long lost son through cor- 
respondence published in these columns, and on another 
occasion a lost man was found in the same wa^. 
