83 
EAD DINSMORE, DANVILLE, ILL. 
August 38, 1908—Defendant, Frank Coombs, Hillery, Vermilion county. 
Chapter 56, sec. 16, violated. Judge Henry J. Hall, 1314 East Main street, 
Danville. Decision: Ordered awarded and adjudged that defendant, Frank 
Coombs, be fined $25.00 and costs. Amount of fine, $25.00; fine collected, 
$25.00; amount sent State Treasurer, $25.00. This expedition was the re- 
sult of the drowning of one Art Davis at Missionfield, this county. 
August 3, 1908—Defendant, George Green, Hillery, Vermilion county, [Il. 
Chapter 56 violated, sec. 16. Judge, Henry J. Hall, 1344 E. Main street, Dan- 
ville, Ill. Decision: Ordered awarded and adjudged guilty. Amount of fine, 
$25.00 and costs; fine collected, $25.00; amount of fine sent to State Treas- 
urer, $25.00. 
RICHARD DYE, JACKSONVILLE, ILL. 
On April 24, 1908, I received a letter from Mr. Oliver of Alhambra, II1., 
stating that there had been violations of the fish laws at that place. On 
April 25th I went to that place, which is a little town on the Illinois Cen- 
tral railroad, thirty miles northeast of St. Louis, in Madison county, Ill. I 
found that there were some Greeks working on a railroad contract west of 
the town. There was a little creek near the camp, too small to contain any 
fish of importance. The Greeks were supposed to have violated the law, but 
I could find no evidence of any wrong doing, and Mr. Oliver could give me 
no evidence of any wrong doing. I made no arrest and returned April 27, 
1908. : 
On May 11, I started on a trip to watch express companies, this being the 
season that companies are not allowed to ship any fish. I was in Meredosia 
May 11, in Bluffs, May 12, Naples May 13, and Valley City May 14. I found 
no fish at any of these points. There were no nets in the river at any of 
these places and no violations of the law that I could find. I went from 
Valley City to East St. Louis, IJ]. I remained in East St. Louis until May 17. 
I found fish being shipped from East St. Louis, but also found affidavits 
showing them to have been caught in Missouri. As I had no authority over 
fish caught in Missouri, I did not interfere. 
In response to a telegram from Mr. Cohen, I caught the steamer “Illinois” 
at Meredosia, Sept. 8, with orders to enforce the tag law. Found the boat 
in charge of W. M. Brown of Biue Island, Ill. Met Deputy Warden Edward 
Marsh of Chicago, Deputy Fred Jones of Blue Island and Deputy Howard 
Smith of Bloomington. We went down the river to Grafton, Ill., and re-. 
turned to Havana, Ill., Sept. 12, 1908. We had no trouble until we reached 
a point about half way between Meredosia and Beardstown, where we took 
three nets that were not tagged. We met the owner of the nets coming with 
the tags. He claimed he had not had time to put them on his nets and we 
returned the nets to him. 
At Beardstown we took 3,000 feet of net that was not tagged. This seine 
was taken forcibly from W. M. Cole. He refused to take out a license or 
tags. We went on to Havana without any further trouble and left the seine 
taken from Mr. Cole at the fish hatchery at Havana in charge of Warden 
Caldwell. I left the boat at Havana Sept. 12 and returned to Jacksonville. 
I wish to say that I find the fishermen to be a class of people not any too 
ready to obey the fish laws. They seem to think the law is detrimental to 
their interests. They do not seem to realize that if it were not for the en- 
forcement of our law and the propogation and distribution of fish, they 
would be out of business in a few years. I will close with the suggestion 
that the period of seining should be shorter and the law strictly enforced 
on undersized fish. 
