The record-union., 1895-12-17
POOR DEVILS OF MARKET HUNTERS
The Kind of Artillery That Some Of
Them Employ.
Arrest of Two Men While Slaughter
ing Ducks With Good-sized
Howitzers.

| Two of the class known as "bull
hunters that have been destroying
game by the wholesale in the river
bottom section north of this city have
come to grief.
County Game Warden Helms, acting
| temporarily as Deputy for the State
Fish and Game Commission, returned
yesterday from Nicolaus, Suffer Coun-
| ty, with the weapons of destruction
which he took from Ben May and a
man named Carroll, whom he detected
in the act of slaughtering ducks with
four gauge cannon mounted like shot
guns. The men were released on bail
pending their trial for violating that
awful provision of our "odious Eng
lish game law" which prohibits the use
of any weapon larger than ten gauge
on wild game.
Some time ago Fish and Game Com
missioner Morrison received informal
ton that up in Suffer County the
bull hunterS-men who use these
big gauge guns and employ oxen with
which to sneak on the game-Were
operating on a big scale, slaughtering
ducks by the thousands by means OF
the howitzers used by their class, and
he determined to put a stop to their
Illegal work, if possible. Deputy Helms
was sent up there, but the yandalS
evaded him. Again he made the jour
ney, but he could not get near enough
to 1.-The poor devils of market hunters
TO catch them at their work.
His last trip, however was a sue
cessful one. He went out the other
night to the locality where the fellows
were operating, built a blind and hid
therein during the night. Early the
next morning the bull hunters came on
the ground and began slaughtering the
ducks with their cannon, and then
Helms bounced upon them. They tried
to reach their wagon in order to hide
their unlawful guns, but the officer was
too quick for them and took them into
camp, as it were.
The prisoners were taken before the
nearest Justice of the Peace and Helms
communicated by telephone with the
District Attorney at Yuba City. The
latter instructed the magistrate to ad-
NIT May and Carroll to bail in the sum
of 500 each pending their trial.
Then Helms had the two howitzers
which he captured placed in his wagon
and brought them to this city yesterday
and turned them over to Commissioner
Morrison as evidence against the pris-
oners.
And such guns! They weigh about
thirty pounds each, and the barrels are
so big that one can insert four OF his
fingers in the muZzles of either of them.
They are rugged with big leather straps
to enable the hunters to carry them
when the men leave their wagons to
pour handfuls of shot among the unsus-
pecting ducks With these miniature
cannon 1.-The poor devils of market hunt
ers" are enabled to slaughter anywhere
from fifty to one hundred ducks at a
single discharge, and they consider it
no trick at all to kill several hundred a
day right along.
May, one of the men arrested, is
said to be the boss of the Suffer County
outfit, and that he supplies the weapons
| of destruction and hires his artillerymen
for a dollar a day.
Another of these "poor devils who
lately concluded a term in the chain
gang in this county is somewhere in
that vicinity also slaughtering game
with a weapon similar to those cap
tured by Helms. He has two sets of
barrels fitted to his gun, however, and
when he sees anyone coming near where
he is shooting he hastens to his wagon,
puts the 4-gauge barrels into an iron
box, locks it, and puts on his 10-gauge
barrels, which are the largest allowed
by our n-American" and ubiquitous"
game law
Commissioner Morrison realizes that
| it is a difficult matter in some commu-
mites to find citizens independent
enough to convict this class of lawless
fellows, but he intends to push the case
against the Suffer County men with all
the vigor possible.