4‘4 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Old Rail Shooting Scores. 
Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. i. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I am interested by the notes on rail 
shooting which have recently appeared in your 
columns, and can* confirm some of the great 
scores that used to be made in the old days. A 
list of these, I think, would be interesting read¬ 
ing. I have a memorandum of some of them, 
cut out, perhaps, from Forest and Stream, and 
possibly furnished about 1881 by C. S. Wescott, 
who used to write entertainingly over the signa¬ 
ture of “Homo.” These scores are of rail shoot¬ 
ing had at Chester, on the Delaware River, in the 
year 1846, and again 27 years later at Port Penn 
on the Delaware River, in 1873. 
The shooting at Chester was of course done 
with muzzleloaders, and, as the dates will show, 
the time ran over nine days; The later shooting 
was done with breechloaders and covered only 
three days. 
These are the scores: 
At Chester, September, 1S4G: 
3. T. Trwin. 
8 ° 
7. 
T. M. Eyre. 
.. 90 
4. J. M. Eyre.. 
. .122 
8 . 
Mr. Matsengerl22 
4. B. Pearson. 
..101 
S. 
E. F. Eyre.. 
.. 94 
4. T. Thurlow. 
.. S3 
S. 
Mr. Brown 
.. 97 
4. E. Wells... 
..130 
8 . 
C. Price. 
.. 91 
5. Mr. Matsenger 95 
8 . 
1. K. Bonsall.107 
5. T. Odenheimerl28 
8 . 
T. M. Evre.. 
. .195 
5. It. Ford .... 
.. 87 
9. 
T. Newbold. 
.. 84 
5. Mr. Wells . 
. .154 
9. 
I. Odenh’mer.132 
5. A. Worrall. 
. .130 
9. 
W. Read . . 
. .107 
5. E. Wells ... 
..114 
9. 
G. Epley.... 
,. 85 
6 . E. E. Eyre. 
..108 
10 . 
1. Newbold.. 
,. 83 
6 . S. Smith ... 
.. 93 
10 . 
I. Bonsell. . . 
.141 
7. C. Price ... 
.. 82 
10 . 
S. Smith .... 
.103 
7. Bringhurst 
,. 91 
10 . 
E. Eyre. 
.115 
7. II. Taylor... 
.. 90 
11 . 
E. Eyre . 
.101 
7. IT. Edwards. 
. .108- 
-1917 
11 . 
H. Edwards. 
.107-: 
Grand total, 3,' 
708. 
At Port Penn, 
September, 
1873: 
8 . Mason . 
.. 72 
9. 
Young and 
8 . Flower . 
.100 
Saunders . 
. 96 
8 . Longbosham, 
..115 
9. 
Mr. Luff ... 
. 50 
8 . Baker . 
.115 
9. 
Luff, Tr. 
. 65 
8 . Saunders an 
d 
9. 
Stell and New- 
Youngs ... 
.144 
bold . 
.123 
8 . 1 hurow . 
. 87 
9. 
Fisher . 
.176 
8 . Lehman . 
. 75 
10 . 
blowers . 
.135 
8 . Stell and New- 
10 . 
Longbosham. 
.120 
bold . 
.104 
10 . 
Baker . 
8 . Fisher . 
. 89 
10 . 
Kerlin . 
. 92 
9. Kerlin . 
.220 
10 . 
Biddle . 
.104 
9. Longbosham. 
.104 
10 . 
De Camp ... 
.109 
9. Baker . 
.120 
10 . 
Young and 
9. Flower . 
.145 
Saunders... 
. 88 
9. Fisher . 
. 76 
10 . 
Thurow . 
.143 
9. Biddle . 
. 72 
10 . 
Stell and New- 
9. De Camp ... 
. 72- 
-1770 
bold . 
. 91 
10 . 
Fisher . 
. 74 
10 . 
Fisher . 
.150—1 
Grand total, 3,473. 
My memory goes back to the days of the muz- 
zleloader, and I recall very well just how we 
used to arrange matters for the shooting. I had 
a heavy hickory loading rod with an enlargement 
for the hand on the top. On the bow thwart of 
the boat just in front of where I stood were two 
cigar boxes side by side, one holding powder, 
the other shot, and in each one was a measure, 
that for the powder fixed at 2^2 drams, that for 
the shot for jkj of an ounce. In front of the 
two boxes of ammunition was an open box of 
wads, and to the right of the box holding the 
powder was a tin box of old-fashioned Ely caps. 
A tide does not last very long when the birds 
are plenty and getting up frequently, and every¬ 
thing was done to economize time and effort in 
loading. Often both barrels would be discharged 
without much more than taking the gun from 
the shoulder, and then the loading was a speedy 
matter. It always seemed to me that it took 
longer to load one barrel of the gun than it did 
to load two. Sometimes when we were pushing 
along close to a bunch of heavy reeds where the 
tide was not high enough to enable us to get into 
them, two shots had at a couple of rail darting 
for cover would be the signal for the starting of 
a dozen or fifteen more, and while one was load¬ 
ing as rapidly as he could, the pusher would 
count ten or a dozen birds darting to safety, and 
very likely just as the last cap was slipped on the 
nipple the last bird disappeared into the cattails. 
The rail of course is an easy bird to hit, but, 
on the other hand, it must be shot singly, and 
in firing a great many shots a certain number are 
sure to be missed. One can see then that con¬ 
siderable activity was required to boat with a 
muzzleloader 150 or 175 birds in a tide. 
Old Phila. 
Rail Prospects. 
Essex, Conn., Aug. 30 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: A few weeks ago in a letter to Forest 
and Stream I made the statement that I thought 
the rail would be around this year in their usual 
numbers. That this prediction was correct 
seems to be verified in this locality at least. 
A few days ago one of the men here, who 
acts as pusher during the railing season, went 
up through the wild rice beds to see if he could 
scare out any rail. He reported them to be 
around in great numbers, scaring up all of fifty 
birds. A friend of mine, too, who resides near 
the shore, reported seeing them quite often dur¬ 
ing the last week. 
The past two days, having nothing in particu¬ 
lar to do, I went the rounds of the coves here¬ 
abouts to see if these reports were true. 
One day I went to the Lord's Cove marshes 
on the opposite side of the river and found the 
birds there in great numbers. Fine, fat fellows 
they appeared to be, and with good food, such 
as the marshes now afford, they will be in ex¬ 
cellent condition by the time the law goes off. 
It was also my pleasure to see two nice bunches 
of black ducks. 
The afternoon of the 30th I went to the North 
Cove here at Essex to see what the conditions 
were. As I was late in starting, the tide hav¬ 
ing fallen considerably when I left the shore, 
and the weather being quite warm, too, (a com¬ 
bination of conditions not very favorable for 
putting up rail), I did not expect to find many 
birds. However, by going in the more open 
places where pushing was easy, I managed to 
put up sixteen birds by actual count. Most of 
them were near the meadows, showing that the 
birds were working ashore. I have no doubt 
that had I gone two hours earlier I could have 
found any quantity of birds. Should the num¬ 
bers of rail we now have here be augmented by 
the arrival of new birds we will have lots of 
them when the season opens, viz.: Sept. 12. 
G. W. C. 
A Retraction and Apology. 
Lancaster, Pa., Aug. 29. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: A year or two ago in a sermon on 
lawlessness I incidentally cited the case of Maine 
guides who I had been led to believe were fre¬ 
quent violators of the game laws. Recently 
there came into my hands printed statements 
made by yourself, Hon. L. T. Carleton and 
others qualified to speak specifically, denying the 
truth of my charge. Against such authority I 
have no case. I evidently spoke hastily and 
with insufficient evidence, doing Maine guides 
as a class a grievous injustice. I cannot in 
honor but acknowledge my fault and offer my 
sincere apologies to whomsoever they are due. 
It is due myself, however, to explain that I 
[Sept. 12, 1908. 
did not single out Maine guides as in any sense 
exclusive and exceptional examples of lawless¬ 
ness. I noted a tendency in American life from 
which capital and labor, politics and the pro¬ 
fessions are not free. I cited many instances 
of lawlessness, saying, “Are we not all of us 
in one way or another, implicated in this ten¬ 
dency ? The case of the Maine guides was 
casually mentioned. A statement torn from its 
context always gives a false impression. 
1 hose who heard my sermon will not charge 
me with speaking in the “holier-than-thou” 
spirit. Nor was I conscious of any animus 
against a class of men whom I have always 
recognized as manly in character and honorable 
in their personal dealings. 
Kindly give me space in your paper for this 
retraction, apology and explanation. 
Eugene R. Shippen. 
Then and Now. 
Galesbltrg, N. D., Aug. 21. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: When I first came to this region- 
over twenty-five years ago—the buffalo trails and 
wallows were still in the prairie and not a tree 
or bush grew anywhere; now the land is a!! 
under plow and the trees rise in every direction 
fifty or more feet high, but the air is just as 
sweet now as then and the country more lovely 
and attractive than ever. 
1 he sharptail grouse are gone, but there are 
a good many prairie chickens, the pinnated 
grouse, around here yet. Last spring was wet, 
cold and late and some broods are small and 
will not be full grown by the opening day, Sept. 
I. I believe a fair number hatched and the 
shooting will be fairly good about here. We 
have had a very dry spell lately; the prairie 
rivers and sloughs are very low, dry, indeed, 
except in the deepest pools. I have seen some 
broods of young ducks, mallard, pintail and teal 
which are the sorts mostly which tarrv and 
breed here, and one can gather some of them 
in before they get ready to go South, which they 
usually do in September. 
d he prairie chickens gather in big droves yer 
just as they used to do late in the fall. Many 
times I run across a drove of them in late Octo 
ber and November and sometimes in the winter 
as many as 300 in a flock. The weather is lovely 
for being outdoors, cool and bright with the 
praiiie biightness that New York does not know. 
Just now green corn is ready for eating. It is 
the Indian feasting time and mine too, and with 
game and all sorts of good stuff out of the 
garden, the finest cream and poultry from the 
farmers, I tell you we live high. My family 
is living in a log house on a big and beautiful 
lake in Minnesota, one hundred miles awav, and 
I have been keeping bach, all summer, and if 
there is anything I cannot cook that I like I 
do not know what it is. 
With regard to the use of the sweat bath for 
the cure of rabies by the modern medical pro¬ 
fession, you had a full statement of such treat¬ 
ment covering some three or four pages in 
Forest and Stream some years ago, and it 
proved very remarkably efficient according to 
the eminent physician who wrote the article. 
The modern sweat bath is not harsh treatment, 
is easily applied anywhere and it should be 
known to all how easy and efficient it it, thus 
robbing this dread disease of most of its terrors. 
J. P. Whittemore. 
