45C 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 16, 1911. 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of 
entertainment, instruction and information between Amer¬ 
ican sportsmen. The editors invite communications on 
the subjects to which its pages are devoted. Anonymous 
communications will not be regarded. The editors are 
not responsible for the views of correspondents. 
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six months. Foreign subscriptions, $4.50 a year; $2.25 for 
six months. Subscriptions may begin at any time. 
Remit by express money-order, registered letter, money- 
order or draft, payable to the Forest and Stream I’ub- 
lishing Company. 
The paper may be obtained of newsdealers throughout 
the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Foreign 
Subscription and Sales Agents—London: Davis & Co., 
1 Finch Lane; Sampson, Low & Co. Paris: Brentano’s. 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
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A discount of 5 per cent, is allowed on an advertise¬ 
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Advertisements should be received by Saturday pre¬ 
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THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE FIREARMS LAW. 
The Sullivan firearms law has been in effect 
in New York State for a fortnight. Its mean¬ 
ing is uncertain and the law is, therefore, un¬ 
popular. Learned jurists have attempted to ex¬ 
plain its provisions, but their views differ ma¬ 
terially on important points. Citizens have in¬ 
dignantly protested that the law violates their 
constitutional rights. The press has devoted 
columns to comment, editorial and otherwise, 
for and against the measure. Seldom has a new 
law caused so much confusion as this one. 
In New York county the grand jury has re¬ 
fused twice to indict men who were charged 
with buying guns. As both were aliens, they 
were liable to a penalty of several years in 
State’s prison, since by the language of the 
statute the possession of any firearm by an alien 
is made a felony. One of the men had pur¬ 
chased a shotgun which he intended to present 
to a relative on his return to Italy; the other 
bought his gun, intending to hunt rabbits when 
the season opens. This, under the forest, fish 
and game law, he is permitted to do, provided 
he obtains a shooting license. Non-residents 
and aliens are required to pay $20.50 for a 
license to hunt, but although the Sullivan law 
and the forest, fish and game law conflict on 
the point mentioned above, it is not probable 
that any license holder will be disturbed. 
If, however, a sportsman from abroad brings 
his guns with him into this State, he will be¬ 
come technically guilty of a felony the moment 
he steps ashore, but with the precedent already 
established by the grand jury, it is believed 
that an honest declaration by such visitors of 
their intentions will be accepted by officials who 
have the enforcement of the law in their charge. 
In other words, if an alien brings a gun with 
him, intending to hunt in New York State, he 
may be required to take out a license at once, 
which he can quickly do—during office hours— 
at the City Hall or County Court House; if it 
is his intention to hunt game in another State 
or in a Province of Canada, a license to do which 
he cannot obtain outside that State or Province, 
then his word must be accepted in good faith. 
No person under the age of sixteen years 
may, under the Sullivan law, hunt, shoot or pos¬ 
sess any firearm, airgun or spring gun. 
As to revolvers and pistols, the law makes no 
distinction between flintlock relics and modern 
target pistols. Retail dealers possessing a license 
to sell are required to keep a complete record 
of every sale, and they can only sell to license 
holders. To carry, own or keep a revolver or 
pistol at home is only allowed license holders. 
The license fee is $10, and if a person who has 
a revolver at home, and became, technically, a 
felon on Sept. 1, applies for a license, the official 
to whom he makes application may refuse or 
grant the license, at his discretion. 
The Sullivan law, it is claimed, was intended 
to prevent the lawless element from obtaining 
or possessing deadly weapons, but Magistrate 
Butts says that in his opinion “the act was never 
intended to subject a person to prosecution for 
a crime who, not habitually carrying a revolver, 
provided himself with one in an emergency to 
protect his person, or who possessed and carried 
a weapon to be used under reasonable suspicion 
that his home was to be invaded in the night 
by burglars. 
“The person,” he continues, “who habitually 
or otherwise carries a revolver without a license, 
and who can give no satisfactory or reasonable 
explanation for carrying or possessing one, may 
be guilty of a misdemeanor. But as it is law¬ 
ful to protect one’s person from felonious as¬ 
sault and one's property from felonious appro¬ 
priation by burglars, such rights cannot be 
taken away or limited by any legislation. When 
such emergencies arise the possession of or the 
carrying of a revolver without a license does 
not, it seems to me, render such person liable 
to be convicted of a misdemeanor.” 
There are in the State a large number of men 
who are fond of revolver and pistol practice. 
To them such arms are not weapons, and they 
are never used for any other purpose than inno¬ 
cent practice. They are never loaded save dur¬ 
ing this practice, and they are carried in hand¬ 
bags or kit bags to and from the ranges where 
they are shot. An immense amount of money 
is invested in these expensive toys, and the 
profits in the past have been divided by their 
manufacturers and the retail dealers of whom 
they were purchased. The law requires owners 
and intending purchasers of these, as well as 
other firearms, to possess permits which must 
be shown the dealer before he can make a sale. 
If the intending purchaser be a visitor from New 
Jersey or Connecticut, and wishes to carry the 
revolver home with him on his return, he, too, 
requires a $10 license before he can make the 
purchase. And a stranger may find it difficult 
to secure the assistance of some one who will 
vouch for him. 
While the new law may have been drawn with 
the intention to curb lawlessness and secure the 
registration of firearms, it is faulty in many re¬ 
spects, and works injustice to many persons who 
are innocent of all wrong. 
C. H. AMES. 
Charles H. Ames, whose name for very many 
years has been a familiar one to readers of 
Forest and Stream, died in Boston last Saturday. 
Mr. Ames was a man of high culture and 
broad views, and was especially interested in 
natural history and all matters pertaining to it. 
On such subjects and on matters dealing with 
the ethics of sportsmanship he was a frequent 
contributor to the columns of Forest and 
Stream, and besides this wrote many charm¬ 
ing narratives of his outdoor experiences. To 
keen powers of observation and a remarkable 
facility of happy expression he united close 
powers of reasoning and a disposition which was 
kindly sympathetic and cheerful to an unusual 
degree. Besides being a delightful writer, he 
possessed a singular personal charm, and this 
was apparent not only in ordinary social inter¬ 
course, but also in his letters. His enthusiasm 
for outdoor topics and his sympathetic nature 
led him into correspondence with many of 
Forest and Stream's contributors. For many 
years before the death of Manly Hardy, Mr. 
Ames was his close friend and a frequent visitor 
at his home. 
As the years went by, Mr. Ames’ business 
occupied more and more of his attention, and 
his opportunities for writing on many subjects 
close to his heart became fewer. Only a very 
short time ago a personal letter received at this 
office told of his regret that he could not 
write more often, and expressed the hope that 
before long he would be able to arrange his 
business matters so as to have more leisure to 
devote to the out-of-door subjects in which he 
was so keenly interested. 
For many years Mr. Ames had been associ¬ 
ated with the firm of D. C. Heath & Co., as its 
secretary, and as a publisher he was remarkably 
successful. lie was born on Boscawen, N. H., 
in February, 1847, and was graduated from 
Amherst College in the year 1870. In Septem¬ 
ber, 1887, he married in Lakewood, Ill., Miss 
Henrietta Burton Hunt, who with four children 
survives him. 
On Saturday last Mr. Ames had returned to 
Boston from New York, and while lunching at 
the City Club he fell dead without any warn¬ 
ing. It had been known for two years past that 
he was suffering slightly from heart trouble, and 
it was thought that when his death came it would 
be sudden. 
Mr. Ames was interested in many good things. 
He was a member of the American History As¬ 
sociation, American Economical Association, 
American Ornithologists’ Lffiion and American 
Forestry Association, was a member of the Ap¬ 
palachian Club, the Sierra Club and the Maza- 
mas, and of many social clubs. 
A woman who advertised a large number of 
aigrettes for sale in one of the daily papers has 
acquired wisdom, but not wealth. A game pro¬ 
tector called to see the aigrettes, which were 
offered to him at a low price by the woman, who 
said a friend in South America had sent them to 
her to be sold. The magistrate before whom 
she was arraigned held her for trial. 
