Jan. 7, 1911] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
5 
FARMER BILLINGS’ OTTER. 
“Wallace Dixon, trapper, residing in Bard- 
well, Bradford county, discovered signs of an 
otter in a stream near his home, something he 
had not seen or heard of in many a year,” said 
Col. Parker, who keeps track of the doings of 
hunter folk in this State and tells about them. 
“So he lost no time in setting his long idle otter 
trap. 
“Orville M. Billings, farmer, and a leading 
citizen of the Bardwell neighborhood, knew 
nothing about otter signs or otter, and wasn’t 
aware that Wallace Dixon had set a trap for 
one of those creatures along the Bardwell 
Creek. The morning after the trap was set he 
discovered a large sleek and exceedingly angry 
animal trying to make headway across country 
handicapped by a steel trap on one of its fore- 
legs. 
"Farmer Billings determined to kill the ani¬ 
mal. He got a club and approached the beast 
with much confidence and too little watchful¬ 
ness, for before he fairly knew what was going 
on the otter had taken firm hold of his leg and 
with a peculiar twist had flopped him flat in the 
snow. 
“As Farmer Billings describes it, the ding 
thing was onto him and all over him, it seemed 
to him, before he had time to think, gnawing 
and clawing and snapping and snarling and 
growling, ‘like a consarned wildcat an’ mad 
dog both together.’ 
"Soon as he could think a little Farmer 
Billings made up his mind not to kill the ani¬ 
mal but to get away from there as soon as he 
could. He kicked and pounded and thumped 
until he managed to make an opening of suf¬ 
ficient size between him and the otter to, enable 
him to get to his feet. Then he turned to 
leave the otter to itself. 
“The otter took positive hold of the farmer’s 
leg again and absolutely refused to let him go 
away. Farmer Billings couldn’t go without his 
leg, and so he was forced to stay there and 
rescue the leg if he could. Farmer Billings was 
of the opinion that the work of rescue lasted 
more than a quarter of an hour, but whatever 
the exact time might have been, the snow was 
covered with the mingled blood of the farmer 
and the otter when the work was done and the 
otter lay pounded out of existence. 
“Shouldering the hard won trophy, Farmer 
Billings limped with it to his sled, tumbled the 
animal and the trap into it and drove home, 
where he was promptly put to bed and a doctor 
was sent for. 
“When Trapper Dixon went out that morning 
to look at his otter trap, hopefully, but not 
confident, he was rejoiced although his trap 
was gone. He knew that the trap wouldn’t 
have gone away of its own volition, and he 
knew there was no likelihood that any other 
animal than an otter could have got into it and 
walked off with it. So Trapper Dixon started 
on the trail, feeling more .elation that any 
trapper in that part of the Keystone State had 
had occasion to feel in many a year. 
“He followed the trail a long way and at 
last came to the spot where the maker of the 
trail had been intercepted by some one, saw 
the sanguinary evidences of the otter’s struggle 
with that some one, and woke to the melancholy 
fact that the some one had not only gone off 
with the otter, but with -the trap as well. 
“‘But I’ll foller him up,’ Trapper Dixon de¬ 
clared. ‘I’ll foller him and ,git that otter and 
that trap if I have to foller him all over the 
State of Pennsylvany.’ 
“Farmer Billings lived only two miles from 
the scene of his interference with the handi¬ 
capped wild beast and Trapper Dixon trailed 
him straight home. The doctor in the mean¬ 
time had been there and patched Farmer Bill¬ 
ings up. But the farmer was far from feeling 
well. 
“Trapper Dixon went into the house and 
without delay said to Farmer Billings that he 
had come after that trap of his and the otter 
that was in it. 
“ ‘And I’m obleeged to you like everything, 
Farmer,’ said he, ‘fer stoppin’ of ’em as they 
went.’ 
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“Farmer Billings thought the matter over a 
little and then he remarked in effect: 
“ ‘Well, Dixon,’ said he, ‘if that’s your trap 
you are welcome to it, but all I’ve got to say 
is that you’re mighty careless leavin’ it layin’ 
around where critters like that can git into it. 
If it hadn’t been for me there’s no fellin’ where 
that pesky beast would have lugged it to. And 
in rescuin’ that trap I came ding nigh to havin 
my last job. You can have your trap and wel¬ 
come, and you’re lucky. You want to be more 
careful with it.’ 
“Farmer Billings had the trap brought in 
from the woodshed and it was handed over to 
Trapper Dixon. 
“ ‘But where’s the otter?’ he wanted to know. 
“ ‘If that’s the critter that was in the trap,’ 
replied Farmer Billings, ‘I’nYgoin’ to keep it 
for my trouble. It’s mine, for I ketched it.’ 
“And although Trapper Dixon sued Farm<_.' 
Billings before Squire Capwell to recover the 
otter, Squire Capwell decided that the farmer 
had a right to the animal, according to law and 
equity, and he sold its pelt for more than 
enough to get him a new suit of Sunday-go-to- 
meeting clothes to take the place of the suit the 
fight with the otter put out of business.”—The 
Sun. 
GULLS SHOT BY ALIENS. 
During the past two weeks several foreigners 
have been shooting sea gulls along by the dike 
near the Newark Bay lighthouse, says the New¬ 
ark Call. They use a gull for a decoy which 
was trapped by them and to its leg is fastened 
a line that permits the gull to fly about fifty 
yards. When the end of the line is reached one 
of the three men pulls the bird- in, and its strug¬ 
gling antics attract other gulls, which are shot 
by the two men in hiding. They kill the gulls 
for their wings. Several attempts have been 
made by sportsmen to apprehend these men, but 
so far it has proved a failure. They work on 
the low tide and are prepared to get away by 
using a rowboat. It is to be hoped that the 
fish and game commission will put a stop to the 
violation, even though it might be necessary to 
station a warden in the vicinity. 
THE FISHERMAN’S TEST. 
“How do you know,” this man asked of the 
man hauling on the seine, “whether the fishes 
you catch are up to the limit fixed by the law ? 
Have to put a tape line on some of them?” 
“Well, no,” said the fisherman, “we don’t 
exactly have to go to that trouble. We have an 
easier way of measuring them than that. 
“Every fisherman has sawed in the seat of 
the boat little notches of the right distance 
apart to indicate the lawful length at which fish 
may be taken, and when he takes out of the 
net a fish that doesn’t look much too long he 
lays its nose against one of these notches and 
its tail against the other. 
“If it touches the notches, why, into the bas¬ 
ket goes the fish; but if it doesn’t, why, then the 
fish goes overboard.”—Waterloo (Ind.) Press. 
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Uncle Lisha’s Shop. 
Life in a Corner of Yankeeland. By Rowland E. 
Robinson. Cloth. 187 pages. Price, $1.25. 
The shop itself, the place of business of Uncle Lisha 
Peggs, bootmaker and repairer, was a sort of sportsman’s 
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"to swap lies.” 
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