240 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 17, 1904. 
I see as yet no sufficient reason for believing that the 
riflemen of Kentucky habitually either barked squirrels 
or snuffed candles. It seems to me that the preponderance 
of expert and positive evidence is against the legends, 
and 1 submit that the "myth-busters" have the better case. 
Let me say that I do not doubt the sincerity of anyone 
who has taken part in the debate, and I trust that none 
will consider my argument as a personal reflection. It 
must be remembered that Audubon wrote long after the 
events; that his temperament was artistic, and that it is 
quite conceivable that his imagination was stimulated by 
the effort to recall to mind the remarkable feats of skill 
he had witnessed in his wanderings. The romance of the 
woods impressed him strongly, and it might well be that 
it affected his writings, and led him into unconscious 
exaggerations of the picturesque. Absolute accuracy in 
reminiscence is very rare. Its absence does not connote 
conscious inveracity. Allen Kelly. 
So He Got to the Wedding. 
"Hello! Is this Judge Kenworthy?" 
"Yes, and are you Charles Hughes, of Utica, New 
York?" 
"I am sir, and I wish to plead guilty to a violation of 
the game laws of this State." 
"Very well, Mr. Hughes ; I will fine you $50, and warn 
you not to repeat the offense." 
This conversation over 200 miles of wire constituted 
the trial of a rich Eastern attorney last Sunday before 
Justice of the Peace Kenworthy, of Willits. The unique 
trial by telephone was evolved in the fertile brain of Chief 
Deputy Vogelsang, of the Fish Commission, who had 
arrested Hughes on an eastbound train for killing deer 
in Mendocino county in violation of the game laws. 
The defendant had been camping near Willits for 
several weeks. It came to the ears of the Fish Commis- 
sion that he had shot deer before the season opened. 
They could not prove this, however, but one of the depu- 
ties succeeded in finding a doe hide near Hughes' _ camp. 
A warrant for the arrest of the sportsman was issued, 
but he could not be found in Mendocino county. Vogel- 
sang learned that the man was coming to this city, but 
could not find him here. 
A Mendocino county deputy heard from one of the 
lawyer's friends that he would start for the East on Sat- 
urday's overland train. Vogelsang knew that his quarry's 
name was Hughes and that he was probably on the train, 
so the officer got aboard. Hughes got wind of the fact 
that he was followed, and instead of showing his through 
ticket, paid a cash fare to Sacramento. Members of the 
lawyer's party said the man's name was E. J. Lovett. 
By process of elimination, Vogelsang finally spotted his 
game, and, with the aid of the conductors, made him 
acknowledge his identity. Officer, prisoner, and the 
prisoner's friend alighted at Sacramento and spent Sat- 
urday night at the Golden Eagle Hotel. Hughes said he 
was due in Buffalo, N. Y., to attend a wedding in which 
he was to be best man, and could not possibly return to 
Mendocino county. Vogelsang decided to do the best he 
could for his victim under the circumstances, and evolved 
the idea of a telephone trial. 
Justice of the Peace Kenworthy, of Willits, who had 
issued the warrant, was called up by telephone and the 
matter explained to him. Attorney Craig, of Willits, was 
engaged to represent Hughes, and the trial by telephone 
took place as previously mentioned. 
Hughes paid Vogelsang $50 and received a receipt in 
return. Sunday night he again set out for the wedding 
in Buffalo. The experience cost him $28 for a Pullman 
for himself and friend to Chicago, $3 for a ride to Sacra- 
mento, $5 for room and breakfast for himself and friend 
at the Golden Eagle, and $50 fine. He was greatly pleased 
at Vogelsang's courtesy in not making him return to 
Mendocino county, a'nd complimented the Fish Commis- 
sion on its vigilance. — San Francisco Call, Sept. 7. 
In Colorado Waters. 
Denver, Colo., Sept. 9.— I met Judge D. C. Beaman 
yesterday, just back from the Gunnison with Judge Max- 
well and a large bunch of other expert fly-casters, in- 
cluding John M. Walker and "Parson" Tom Uzzell. 
"Oh, we got a few little ones, but not a single big fel- 
low. Fact is, the water is too high and muddy for good 
fishing. None of us got anything worth mentioning. 
However, the stream is running down and I am willing 
to be plucked of the beard for a false prophet if you do 
not hear good reports from all along the Gunnison in 
ten days or two weeks." If such men as these score 
goose eggs, it is useless for others to make a try. But, as 
Judge Beaman says, the promise of the best sport of the 
season is in sight within two weeks, and it will likely 
hold fair clean up to October 31, when the law descends 
on all anglers. 
We out here are now in the midst of the most gorgeous 
weather brewed in the whole country. Down on the 
plains, where is situated Denver, the trees are still green 
and the grass simply exudes color; up in the mountains, 
however, Col. Frost has been putting in some bold strokes 
with his color brush and mahlstick, and the effect is 
stunning. Like the prevailing shades of feminine fashion 
the waning summer, the forests are donning delicate 
champagne tints, mode browns, and those browns that 
mix with reds and sepias. The result is gorgeous; one 
with half an eye for landscape forgets his rod and fly a 
goodly part of the time and goes mooning after some of 
the shades painted of no artist's hand save Dame Nature's. 
And more's the pity, since nearly all have had their 
vacations and returned to grind at desk and counter and 
private office. However, business— blessed, lucky busi- 
ness—took the writer to Lake Alicia last Saturday, and 
he, being forehanded, took with him his lancewood and 
book of flies— merely as a matter of good faith. The 
object of the trip was soon despatched, but the writer 
is leaving Colorado for a siege of several months, and 
the temptation to "linger and wallow in the lap of nature 
was not to be resisted. Let the reader project his astral 
body through a few hundred miles of space and come 
with me. We arrive at Thomasville, a pretty little sta- 
tion on the Colorado Midland, and, having already ad- 
vised a certain Mr. Engelbrecht of our coming, there are 
in waiting trusty saddle horses, with safest of stock sad- 
dles well cinched to their round little bodies. There is 
some baggage; this is slung upon the backs_ of patient 
and surefooted little Rocky Mountain "canaries. Halt 
a dozen compose our cavalcade. As we pass through the 
principal street of the town we raise a cloud of dust, 
causing a couple of vagrant dogs to follow and testify 
their displeasure with sundry yips and barks. Before us 
lies a mountain trail straight up eight miles. 'Tis the 
only way to reach Lake Alicia. The sun is simply cork- 
ing hot," but none seem to feel it, so pure and sweet 
and bracing is the atmosphere, like a mouthful of crisp 
champagne. A climb of two hours brings us to our. 
destination, around which is clustered a number of rustic 
cottages, accommodating a little colony of some thirty 
pilgrims. We arrive near the dinner hour, and the cheer- 
ful voice of our host bids us "wash up and come to din- 
ner." No need to ask after appetite. We follow to the 
dining room, wondering sub-cutaneously if indeed there 
will be enough to go round— considering our own great 
capacity. Fresh eggs, fresh butter— just think of keep- 
ing ten cows up at that altitude of 9,250 feet— fresh vege- 
tables and fruits of all kinds. And don't forget the fried 
trout, caught in the morning hours from the lake by some 
of the early rising guests. Only a mile from the lake is 
Foci's Peak, a wise man's paradise, 14,240 feet high. Dur- 
ing the afternoon we ascend to its summit and squint over 
into the backyard of Routt county, 150 miles away. We 
then turn our gaze on Pike's Peak, 200 miles distant ; Mt. 
Sopris, 60 miles away; Snow Mass, aptly so named; the 
Crested Butte range; Maroon Peaks near Aspen; and 
those literary sentinels of the Rockies, Mounts Princeton, 
Yale, and Harvard, east of Leadville. - 
The trout in the lake become very active as the sun 
crawls over the divide, and if you are so inclined you 
can break a spear— or your rod, for that matter— with 
some really interesting fighters of that glacial body of 
water, A large catch you will not geti if measured m 
uutttbef, but there hu mxM big lunkera th&y, and well 
If, la r.fifi na. 
[L IS I lib ill 
at others the deep troll or a bleached minnow. Our first 
effort was rewarded with a quartet whose combined 
weight marks the five-pound notch— good enough sport 
for any gentleman. Eight o'clock A. M. at this season is 
early enough to go rowing, the mornings being eaten of 
a keen desire to imitate the Arctic zone. 
Within two miles of fair Alicia is what is called a box 
canon, one of the most imposing feats of nature to be 
seen anywhere in the whole State. There are several 
caves w ithin easy reach of the "ranch," and a visit to 
these helps consume the time till the trout are again "at 
home" to anglers. How deep these caves are we never 
learned; they are just the kind of homes we used to 
people with bogies and hobgoblins and "things" when we 
were in short pants. Is it any wonder that after spending 
three whole days up here with "God's own things," we 
return to the plains at the foothills with chest inflated, 
head up, and neck arched, ready to take up the gauge of 
battle again? Colorado's mountains of gold may make 
a few men wealthy ; there is even greater treasure here— 
health and happiness for all who seek. 
Taken all in all, the passing fishing season has been 
rather disappointing. Little snow fell during the winter, 
and many Solomons presaged a dry summer. Instead, we 
have had nothing but rain and cloudbursts. The rivers 
were never so full and never so muddy. Colorado streams 
are full of trout, and it is indeed a "scrub" who cannot 
make a somewhat fair killing in a day's outing; but the 
season's average catches have been away below normal. 
Never before during a four years' residence have I been 
unable to take as many as, or more good sized trout than, 
I wanted. This season, however, I have come perilously 
close to being "skunked" more than once. And my plaint 
is the plaint of hundreds of others. Too much water, too 
much roil, too much natural food. No lack of trout. But 
they could not be tempted, in some cases; in others, could 
not be got at. Some of the best pools on the Gunnison, 
on the Eagle, and on the Laramie and the North Platte, 
have not been ruffled by a fly the whole season because 
of high water. But I am advised of a general recession 
of waters now, and small flies and bleached minnows 
ought to do the business in the big streams till the middle 
of October at least. 
Speaking of the last named two streams, Messrs. 
Bryan Haywood, Harper M. Orahood, J. C. Bailey, and 
George Orahood, all cracker] acks with the fly, are just 
back from a five days' circuit of the two rivers. "Nary 
a nothing," says Bryan to me, says he; "but the water 
will be fine next week, and you will have the sport of 
your life if you time your visit the middle of the month." 
So with ginger and blue quills, march browns, alders and 
golden-ribbed hares' ears, No. 12 and 14, we— that is, our 
wife and ourself — are promising ourselves a five days 
wagon drive from Laramie to John and Jack Hunter's 
two places on the North Platte, thence to King's ranch at 
Binghamton, thence along the Wood's Landing road to 
Wood's Landing on the Laramie, stopping at divers 
places long enough for morning and afternoon casting; 
last back to Laramie. The other half of "we" is provided 
with overalls, elk-soled boots, well hobbed with soft nails, 
a sweater and perfect tackle. She has never cast a fly, 
her knowledge of these "critters," beyond "shooing" a 
certain pestiferous brand outside the pale of the screen 
doors every summer, being nil. But there are no roses in 
her cheeks; she wakes each morning reluctantly and be- 
gins the day with the plaint, oft-repeated, "Oh, I am so 
tired." This is to be our real honeymoon outing, though 
marriage is an old song with us, and, thank God, its 
music is the sweetest we wot of; our wanderings promise 
to take us to all sorts of out-of-the-way places between 
here and Southern California. We have set no limit to 
our tramp— just going to keep going like a pair of sure- 
enough runaway kids till the roses bloom in her cheeks, 
till she is no longer "so tired," till her eyes grow brighter 
with the fire of youth, till her facial contour again 
assumes the curves and dimples of young maidenhood. 
Of the incidents of this trip I may have more to say in the 
columns of Forest and Stream from week to week, if 
ye discriminating editor does not consign my stuff to the 
tender mercies of the office cat and the bl«e pencil. 
I fear there is more of rumination and anticipation in 
this petooat-t'j than of niwii But thft sirt-loffifttlufi flf tc« 
Wiwfit to fiatUPeV lend n\\>Mm thy thuMght'i fa WuTidui'. 
HiVif \tti\M ift illfWwS History nIVi so many arfesti 
and convictions been made and had for violations of game 
and fishing laws, and there are still four months to run. 
My memory is not so weak but I can hark back to the 
time when I read a book by a game hog now reformed. 
The scene of his carnage was Florida, and he proudly 
burdened his song with boasts of going forth to kill and 
destroy and maim game and fowl and fish daily. That 
was more than a score of years ago, when Florida's sup- 
ply of game and fish seemed to me inexhaustible. But 
the acts of this prince of game hogs and his disciples 
soon wrought so that the legislators of the "Flowery 
land" had to Safeguard their game and fish in many ways 
to save the seed. Colorado has come near to the same 
fate. Even the passage of four years has reduced the 
goodness of the game grounds, of the fishing streams. 
Out last Legislature saw tile writing on the wall and 
made some really- good laws. They were stringent, par- 
ticularly against "foreigners" and sporting goods men have 
been known to inveigh and allow as how many eastern 
sports have refused to seek big game here because, for- 
sooth, they had to pay a license of $25 for the privilege 
of shooting a single deer with horns in a season. Doubt- 
less some of the sporting goods men have failed of sales, 
which is only matter of individual concern. But there 
is another side to the question— one that concerns vitally 
the people of the State and the'eountry at large. While 
the figures are not complete, the present year's work not 
being ended, a comparison is cause for gratification and 
encouragement. Game and Fish Commissioner Woodard 
gave the figures to me. During 1903 there were twenty- 
six arrests and convictions under the game law and three 
under the fish law. This law went into effect_ on July 12 
of that year, but it was practically inoperative because 
of lack of physical equipment until 1904. During 1904, 
and up to September 1, there have been forty-three arrests 
and convictions under the game law and thirty-one arrests 
and twenty-nine convictions under the fish laws. Mr. 
Woodard "is confident that fully as many more arrests and 
convictions will be secured before the close of the year. 
Some idea of the difficulty of the task of the State's game 
wardens may be obtained from the fact that the entire 
work is done by fourteen paid game wardens (five chief 
wardens and nine sub-wardens), scattered over a terri- 
tory almost as big as New England and New York com- 
bined. Wisconsin, with one-fifth the territory to patrol, 
has sixty-seven paid game and fish wardens; Illinois 162. 
As to the working of the "one man, one deer" law: 
in 1902 621 deer with horns, which means a male deer of 
a year old or over, were snipped out of the State from 
Debeque, Rifle, Newcastle and Glenwood Springs. In 
1903, since the new law went into effect, 80 deer were 
shipped out of the State. As a result of the stoppage of 
the wholesale slaughter of these animals, the number of 
one-year-old deer is already on the increase, says Mr. 
Woodard. And it is said that before long elk will be 
found again in the mountain fastnesses. 
"Of couse it is a hardship on the New York State fel- 
low who used to come here and bag three deer to be 
allowed to kill only one," said Mr. Woodard. "But he 
is only party of the second part, and a very secondary 
part, too. What we are after is the conservation of the 
game of the State. The resources of Colorado are, first, 
precious metals; second, agriculture; third, game and 
scenery. The way the devastation of game has been go- 
ing on, the only thing we'd have to offer the sportsman 
wayfarer in a few years would be scenery; and no one 
would come thus far to shoot the grandest inanimate 
scenery. So these laws were made; and they appear to 
be pretty good, too, though perhaps at fault in some de- 
tails. If, however, they preserve and perpetuate our big 
game they will have served a most useful purpose. That 
is what we are trying to do." 
W. F. Givens, of Florence, game warden, has made the 
record so far. His salary is $100 a month and one-third 
of the fines imposed. The records show that his income 
since June 1 has been between $300 and $400 a month. 
He takes his wagon, starts down stream,_ and lets no 
guilty one escape, whether he be in possession of under- 
sized trout or caught casting after 8 P. M. He is credited 
with nine arrests and nine convictions in one week. 
Charles. A. Purington, in the Loveland district, arrested 
fight "swell 1 " anglera from Denver and convicted seven 
jif ilicm nfiov the m&m kind m fojwl, battling, ."Tin 
!i ttihev mm* net vet i&nypssi it i mm ilsFJa the 
local angling flvmanfetit, and he avowed His tjeterttiltwtlofl 
