818 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Homs versus Pedicles 
The Famous Dickinson Pennsylvania Deer Case 
FRANK G. HARRIS, President of the Springs Rod and Gun Club 
On November 20, 1911, Doctor B. M. Dickin¬ 
son, a prominent Pittsburgh physician, shot and 
killed a buck deer on the Allegheny Mountains 
in Clearfield County, Pa., and not far from the 
Camp of the Crystal Spring Rod and Gun Club. 
This club owns 420 acres of land on the moun¬ 
tain, has a membership of fifty men, all of whom 
are reputable citizens from different parts of 
the state, and Doctor Dickinson at the time this 
deer was killed was a member of this club. 
After the deer in question was killed, several 
members of the club helped to hang it up and 
it was carried to the camp and hung up by the 
horns on the front porch where it hung until 
the evening of the 21st, when it was presented 
to Doctor Dickinson, who was a new and popular 
member of the club, and taken by him to Clear¬ 
field and to his home in Pittsburgh, he having 
arranged a week ahead to leave the camp at 
that time. 
On Tuesday, November 21, the day after the 
deer was shot, two game wardens, Harry Hum- 
melsbaugh, a regular warden, and Jo Kurtz, a 
member of the state constabulary, came to the 
club house where the deer was hanging, got their 
dinner and went away. The wardens testified, 
both at the hearing before Justice Barclay and 
at the trial court, that they made a careful ex¬ 
amination of the deer on the porch and decided 
that it was an illegal deer, and that it was their 
purpose then to return later and arrest Doctor 
Dickinson for the crime. Nothing further was 
done in the case by the Game Commission for 
some time, when Lieut. John E. Walsh of the 
State Constabulary, stationed at Butler, Pa., was 
sent to Pittsburgh, to examine the deer in ques¬ 
tion, and if found to be an illegal deer to arrest 
the doctor. After an examination of the deer 
at the home of Doctor Dickinson, the lieutenant 
notified him that the deer was a legal deer and 
refused to arrest him. The doctor then sent 
the head and scalp of the deer to the Carnegie 
Museum to be mounted. Shortly after the deer 
was delivered to the museum, one of the em¬ 
ployes named Link called up John M. Phillips, 
a member of the game commission living in 
Pittsburgh, told him that Doctor Dickinson had 
left the head of an illegal deer there to be 
mounted. Phillips, who claims to be a famous 
hunter of big game, and a co-author with Horni- 
day, then got busy in order to bring the offender 
to justice. He called to his assistance Dr. Joseph 
Kalbfus, -the Chief Game Warden, Secretary to 
the Game Commission, Executive officer and 
General Manager of that body. Kalbfus came 
at once to Pittsburgh and Doctor Dickinson was 
sent for and met these officials at the Duquesne 
Club. Here Dickinson was informed that he 
was guilty of killing a male deer not having 
horns visible above the hair, and against the 
dignity and peace of the great Commonwealth. 
He was informed that in order to avoid the great 
expense of a trial and the publicity attending 
it, he had better pay his fine of $100, and settle 
( the case. The doctor asked for a little time to 
consult counsel and he then would tell them 
what he -would do. After consulting his attorney 
the doctor informed Phillips that he would stand 
the Game Commission a suit; told them who 
his attorney was and that when they got ready 
to arrest him to arrange with his attorney. 
Doctor Kalbfus then came to Clearfield, in 
June, 1912, -more than six' months after the deer 
had been killed, and swore out a warrant before 
Justice John C. Barclay, charging him with hav¬ 
ing killed a “male deer having horns not visible 
above the hair,” as prohibited by the 18th section 
of the Act of 1909. At a subsequent hearing 
before Judge Barclay, which was attended by 
Phillips, Kalbfus, nearly all the game wardens 
in the state and several scientific gentlemen from 
the state museum at Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and 
elsewhere, who testified that the deer in question 
was a spring fawn; and that what Doctor Dick- 
ins-on saw on this deer’s head were not horns, 
but pedicles, and that a deer never had horns 
until after he was a year old, no difference how 
long his pedicles were. In defense -of Doctor 
Dickinson some eight members of the Crystal 
Spring Club and several of their guests testified 
that the deer in question -was at least a year 
old, that it (had horns at least two inches king, 
visible above the hair, and -that the deer was 
hung up in the woods and at the camp by the 
h-orns, where it hung in full view of the wardens 
or any one else who cared to examine it. 
After hearing the testimony the Justice con¬ 
victed Doctor Dickinson and sentenced him to 
pay a fine of $100, and all costs. Doctor Dickin¬ 
son promptly took an appeal to the Courts of 
Clearfield County. After several months the 
case came up for trial, when Cole and Wood¬ 
ward, attorneys, moved to quash the indictment ■ 
on the ground that the Act of 1909 under which 
the defendant was indicted had been repealed by 
the Act of May, 1911, which provided that one 
male deer could be shot having horns “two inches 
above the hair,” and changing the time of the 
open season; and the defendant not having been 
tried, convicted and sentenced before the repeal 
of the Act under which he had been indicted- 
Judge Searle of Wayne County, specially sitting, 
in an able opinion, promptly quashed the indict¬ 
ment, when the Commonwealth took an appeal 
to the Superior Court. After some weeks the 
Superior Court reversed the lower Court and 
sent the case back to Clearfield County for trial. 
RUFFED GROUSE, STRUTTING. 
(From Life) 
Specimen Illustration from “ American Game Bird Shooting.” 
