Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1891-06-20

twelve feet long with triple nooses, one in
the middle well bound for securing fast
ening on the jagged wall coping, and an
other at each end, answered for a ladder.
A hand cart, the wheels wound with straw
and rags to prevent noise and lessen the
trail, with fourth man beside it as a sem
tinel, was brought along for carrying away
the plunder. The three who entered the
grounds had long, 1.-THE poles, each a
''buils-eye" lantern, and between them
sulphur or some such stuff and matches
for making smudges. They knew every
inch of ground 'beaten" the day before:
and also that the clamor and fright had
broken up the rucks or coyeys into de-
tached files of pheasants, and that these
would retreat as high as possible among
the branches of larch and fr. The fog,
too, was in their favor. All night long
they had methodically hunted out certain
them, smudged them into half insensibili-
ty and deliberately knocked them from
their perches, dispatching them the mo-
ment they fell by sinking their beastly
thumbs in the brain of the befuddled
birds. The work of gathering those
which had been stolen from the bag" the
previous day was left until the break of
day, and was just about completed as l
had come upon the scene Dozens went
over the wall into the waiting cart in the
few minutes of my investigation. The
poles, the lad and the little old man fol-
lowed. AS the bur1y fellow + had eaught
followed these, and he was still astride the
wall where he had pounded the glass away
and daubed covering of hard clay. l
asked him how many they had probably
taken. Illus doa'nt rightly know" was
his modest and hoarsely whispered rejoin-
der; '"Ekes there be nigh onto forty
brace!" Then pulling his forelock and
winking wisely he disappeared. The
noosed rope slid gently after him l. and. l.
heard the swishy sound OF the straw
wrapped wheels grow fainter, end finally
silent, as l set out on my return to the
castle the way come; the meanwhile ru-
minating on the many ways still open to
the nobility of this land to be, without eff
fort to themselves, of vast humanitarian
service to the gentle English peasant of
the poems and books.
Few people in America, or for that mat
ter here, have any adequate idea of the
tremendous sums annually expended in
the preservation and taking of game in
England, Ireland and Scotland. On a
former occasion l had need to secure the
figures for Scotland alone. Hunting and
fishing with. attendant expenses annually
cost British sportsmen in Scotland twenty
million dollars What must the sum total
consequently be for the three kingdom.
Here then is at once found the real origin
of poachers and poaching. Every Briton
is born sportsman. Hence with every
square rod of ground under lease as a
shooting" and every lineal rod of shore
of beck. burn, river, loch or harbor under
lease to somebody as "fishing," millions
are debarred by the severest game laws in
the world from any use whatever of the
rod and gun, save by stealth and illegality.
Almost every one of these millions be-
comes quasi poacher, on opportunity, as
against the few thousands of privileged
class, and not unwilling poachers' agents
in the disposition OF consumption of the
illegally secured booty.
Low as is the scale of the professional
poacher, it must not be supposed that he
is prescribed outlaw. British newspa-
pers always discuss him from his humor-
Gus side. His vocation is everywhere
known among villagers and country side
folk, and there are none so dastardly as to
give him into the hands of officers. i
personally know of many instances where
poacher graduates have become game keep
srs. Other game-keepers often seek their
| friendship, rather than their enmity, thus
reducing ravages to the lowest limit. And
there are we'll authenticated cases where
| MILFORD himself has hobnobbed with them
| for lessons in cunning and woodcraft
Two of the most noted and incorrigible oi
British poschers infest the lochs and deel
| forests in the vicinity of Fort William
| Scotland. One is named Macewan. anc
| the other, confirmed tramp poacher, il
| known about the region of Doch Eli a
"Drousy Mogins." Macewan seems un
| vanauishable In 1888 Lord Abinger o.
| Inverlochy House obtained an interdic
| against him. He Immediately secured it
removal for fifteen pounds, a part only o
| the proceeds of two days shooting il
Lord Abinger's preserves, since which
time his operations have not been inter
| fered with. His greatest revenues arr
however secured by night sweeping" b.
seines of the pools of the river Lochy
hundreds of grilse or young salmon ant
! some sea-trout always being secured
"Drousy Mogins' is more of poacher an
| gler, and less of a pirate. He wanders a
| will among the Grampian trout-stream
| supplying the tables of the nobility witt
the choicest trout from their own streams
| and has been offered fabulous sums for
glimpse of his marvellous "fiies." But
| year since Lord Morton sent a youn,
| poacher resident on his Ardgour estate +
Cameron of Loeb Ell, begging him to EN-
ploy him as gillis in order to suppress
his genius for poaching. An entire vol
ume might be filled with similar incident
and illustrations.
Poaching is carried on among the vas
deer forests and in stream and poo
"sweeping" by net in most lawless an,
defiant manner. 1t is simply impossibl
to provide sufficient game-keepers an
gillies to protect the forests from the in
roads of poacher ''stalkers;" and tn
poachers of fish are SO thoroughly organ
lied and-in sudden conflicts with water
bailiffs handle the latter so mercilessly
that the bailiffs usually seek seclusiol
rather than the marauders.
Genuine cunning, patience with marvel
GUS moor and wooderaft are therefor
more orten found in those poachers VIII
| hang about the outskirts of well stocke'
"shootings" and preserves, alert as spar
| row-hawks or moor-buzzards for poults o
every description which have marke
value. Pheasant and grouse poachini
bring the most profitable returns. Asid
from the night raids described above, tn
ingenious device is resorted to of fitting
gamecock with artificial spurs, and stealth
lily placing him alongside the pheasant co
vert. The pugnacious pheasant cocks in
stantly respond to the game cocks crow
ing challenge, and often three or fou
brace of pheasants are thus taken. Again
| III Luc ulkuWdl5 ucdE
bred they may often be seen scratching
and rolling in the dust of the road. Tn
poacher provides himself with corn ker
nels into which short bristles have beeI
inserted. These are greedfly devoured
and the birds, choking to death in tn
hedges, are quickly and quietly dispatched
Grouse are taken by being shot from be
hind stone walls, an entire brood oftei
being picked off at time, if the poaehe
keep himself out of sight; with fine hal
snares set on the moor hillocks. in tn
sruns" around them, and between th
strests" among the heather; and just bs
fore daybreak, by silk drag-nets wit
glazed bottoms, on moors which are syl
: tematicslly burnt, an entire covey ofte
: being bagged at one sweep.
But the most detestable of all Britis
, poachers is that wholesale thief, who h,
: no soul for nature love, whose artifc,
= are never marvelously ingenious for Il
g sake of the art in them, and who new,
9 possesses even the slight attractiyeness
: sunny and genial vagabondism. This