March 7, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
377 
The Death of “Von W.” 
Samuel Webber, whose death was announced 
in these columns last week, was born in Charles¬ 
town, N. H., Oct. 31, 1822, and at the age of 
seventeen he entered on a business career at 
Lowell, Mass., as a hydraulic engineer. Later he 
went to Lawrence, then a new manufacturing 
city, and in 1850 he went to Europe to recuper¬ 
ate from an illness and also to purchase im¬ 
proved machinery for the nulls of Lawrence. 
He traveled through the European manufactur¬ 
ing cities, and was a member of the jury of the 
International Exposition in London in 1851. 
Returning to Lawrence, he installed the ma¬ 
chinery he had purchased while abroad, and the 
next year was spent in connection with the Crys¬ 
tal Palace exhibition in the old Reservoir Square, 
New York City. 
In 1854 Mr. Webber built a cotton mil! at In¬ 
dian Orchard, Springfield, Mass., but four years 
later went to Manchester, N. H., where he su¬ 
perintended a large cotton mill for a number of 
years, afterward turning his attention exclusively 
to hydraulic engineering, which he followed 
until his retirement. 
Although Mr. Webber’s life was a busy one, 
his inclination turned to fishing, which was his 
favorite recreation for three-quarters of a cen¬ 
tury. Although he admitted that he had never 
killed anything larger than a porcupine, he de¬ 
voted holidays in season to squirrel and grouse 
shooting, and at the time of his death still pos¬ 
sessed a double gun which he had purchased in 
London in 1851, and with which he had passed 
many happy days in the woods. 
He fished the trout brooks near the cities in 
which he lived, and told many a pleasing tale of 
the pleasure and health he derived from these, 
his red-letter days. 
In 1876 Mr. Webber was appointed chairman 
of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commis¬ 
sion and was a worker in the cause of protec¬ 
tion and propagation at the first national fishery 
congress, held that year in Philadelphia. He did 
much toward restocking the waters of his State 
with game fish. 
He became a subscriber to Forest and Stream 
soon after it was started, in 1873, and his son 
Robert, now a successful business man in New 
York City, says he cannot remember when the 
paper and the old “Rod and Gun” were not 
prominent features of the Webber household. As 
he was personally acquainted with Daniel Web¬ 
ster, Frank Forrester, Prof. Baird, R. B. Roose¬ 
velt, Fred Mather. Charles Hallock, William T. 
Porter, Albert Pike, Philip Anthon, United 
States Commissioner Atkins and Commissioner 
Brackett of Massachusetts, Livingston Stone and 
other famous writers, fish culturists and anglers, 
it was but natural that he should write of ang¬ 
ling for his favorite journal, and this he did 
until he became feeble and passed away in the 
same peaceful manner in which he had lived. 
Legislation in New Jersey. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The bills introduced in the Senate last week 
by Senator Frelinghuysen are supported by the 
Association of New Jersey Sportsmen for the 
Protection of Game. 
These bills stop all shooting January 1 of each 
year, and open the season for the various birds 
as follows: Bay birds, August 1; English or 
Wilson snipe, rail birds, reed birds and all wild 
fowl, September 1; woodcock, October 1; quail, 
partridge (ruffed grouse) and rabbits, Nov. 10. 
The season will close automatically for the 
migratory birds (with the exception of the wild 
fowl) as these depart early for their winter 
quarters in the far South, and the law will close 
the season for all others at the end of each year, 
thus protecting all species during the season 
when weather conditions make it hard for them 
to live at best, and also protects them when they 
are mating and migrating to their breeding 
grounds in the North. 
These laws permit five months out of the year 
open season shooting in New Jersey and this is 
all the game birds can stand without annihila¬ 
tion—and sportsmen and gunners should be sat¬ 
isfied with it. Otherwise, more drastic laws 
THE LATE SAMUEL WEBBER. 
will soon be passed probably stopping all shoot¬ 
ing for a period of years. 
We appeal to all sportsmen to use their in¬ 
fluence to secure the passage of these laws. 
George Batten, President, 
Association of New Jersey Sportsmen for the 
Protection and Propagation of Game. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Feb. 29. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Duck and quail hunters who went out 
just before the close of the season were re¬ 
warded with better luck than has been generally 
enjoyed during the last few months. The duck 
hunters brought in some good strings from all 
the bay districts. The quality of the birds to¬ 
ward the end of the season, however; was un¬ 
usually poor, nearly all of them being oily and 
fishy in flavor. This feature has been found in 
the duck marshes all over the State. 
The season as 'a whole has favored men who 
shot as individuals rather than the club mem¬ 
bers, as sport on the preserves was very irregu¬ 
lar, and many of the baited ponds were avoided. 
The quail shooting early in February was very 
good. Many local sportsmen went after quail 
during the last week of the season, and all re¬ 
turned with close to limit bags. One party 
which spent about a week in the San Luis Obis¬ 
po hills reports fine sport in that district. Birds 
were plentiful, and over sporting dogs that were 
not broken to long-distance ranging they secured 
limit bags of quail each day that the weather 
was favorable to hill tramping. 
It is now definitely stated that the Fish and 
Game Commissioners will trap as many quail as 
possible in the southern country next season 
when the young birds are about half-grown, and 
will scatter them throughout the country where 
game birds are sparse. The sportsmen of the 
middle part of the State prefer their lands 
stocked with California quail in preference to 
any variety of foreign game bird, and as many 
of the most promising quail sections have been 
shot out, the arrival of new birds in August and 
September will be welcomed. The birds that are 
liberated will be protected for one or two years, 
so that they can reproduce and propagate. Wild 
turkeys will be shipped from the forests of 
Mexico and planted in the southern part of the 
State that is suitable to their environment. The 
Hungarian partridge will be among the number 
of imported game that will also find a new home 
in Southern California. 
The sportsmen of British Columbia report 
that the blackcock which were imported from 
the highlands of Scotland and planted on a 
very large estate which is under preserve rule, 
are doing remarkably well, and promise to af¬ 
ford splendid shooting for Victoria sportsmen 
in the near future. A. P. B. 
Custer’* Dog. 
Godbout, Quebec, Feb. 1 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: In your issue of Dec. 14 last I read 
with much interest the article on Custer’s dog 
in “Tales of the Plains,” and wondered if it was 
the same one that I saw at Fort Washakie in 
September, 1882. This particular one was of the 
pair that came from Queen Victoria. If it was, 
he bore a charmed life, because he and “Curly,” 
a Crow Indian scout, were the only living beings 
that escaped in Custer’s last fight with Sitting 
Bull, on the Little Big Horn River, on the 25th 
of June, 1876. 
Three days after the fight, when a scouting 
party reached the battle ground where Custer 
and the few survivors had made their last stand, 
the greyhound was found lying down near his 
dead master. A rifle bullet had struck him near 
the eye which made him blind on that side, but 
otherwise he was uninjured. He was taken good 
care of by the party and finally found a master 
in Lieut. R. E. Thompson, of the Sixth Infantry, 
who was stationed at Fort Washakie when I was 
there. It was the lieutenant himself who gave 
me the above details concerning the dog. 
During, my stay at the fort a coyote hunt was 
organized and the old hound—he was then about 
twelve years old—together with a smaller one 
owned by the lieutenant gave a good account of 
himself. The coyotes, although they made a 
good run as a rule, were very quickly dispatched 
when caught. Fifteen to twenty were generally 
killed every year in this way near the fort. I 
should be curious to know where and how the 
old hound finally found his rest. 
Nap. A. Comeau. 
