The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-08-04
THE BOYS SHOT MOOSE
And There Seems to Be No Reason Fo,
Sending Them to Jail.
(Kennebec Journal. J

A great deal is being said about the
case of the students who shot moose at
eCancomgomoc lake, and the facts in
regard to the case seem to be not fully
understood. They are, according to
good authority as follows: A party of
seventeen young men and three instruc-
tors from the Gunnery, preparatory
school at Washington, Ct, are in the
Maine woods this summer, not Tor the
purpose of hunting and fishing, but for
carrying on the summer school, fitting
the boys to enter college in the fall, some
of them to enter at Harvard.
Two of the boys, Walter g. Merritt, son
of G. H. Merritt of Danbury, Ct, and
Stanton W. A. Forseman of Williamsport
Pa, were looking for bear which was
known to be near their camp. While on
the bear hunt, they suddenlyscame direct
| ~ upon moose, and in their excitement
and fright, fired and killed the creature,
before really knowing what they did.
The boys, realizing what they1had done,
made a bungling attempt to conceal the
creature by sinking it in the lake. This
! was a failure; the moose rose to the sur
face and foated to the shore, and later
| the wardens found the carcass, half de-
youred by the very bear that caused all
| the trouble.
When the wardens question Prof. Clark
who has charge of the party of boys, he
said he did not believe that any of his
charges were the guilty parties, but if
any of them were guilty, they would
! frankly own it,. The boys on being cues
toned confessed the whole transaction.
As is we'll known, they were taken to
Dover, before a trial justice, and bound
over in the sum of 500 each, to appear
the first Tuesday in August before the
supremegjudicial court.
| The authorities say that, unless the
boys had made voluntary confession of
killing the moose, they never could have
been convicted, as there was no evidence
whatever.
Now, some people demand that these
boys shall be given the full penalty of the
law, which is four months in Jail.
Speaking in regard to the matter, Mr.
| Carleton said: II believe the story that
these boys thave told. They are not boys
OF wealthy parents, the Merritt boy, whose
father is hat manufacturer, Is of
course supported by his parents, who are
| by no means wealthy people, and the
Forseman boy is an orphan, and is being
educated by his uncle, who is the attorney
general of Pennsylvania. I have talked
this matter over with Governor Powers.
and he agrees with me that it would not
be forwarding the ends of Justice to
severely punish these two boys, who in
| their fright and excitement shot moose.
The case is entirely different from one
where men, hunting for such game, shoot
a moose in close time, and In such a case
as the last, would be the last person to
show leniency. So far MS am concerned
before would be a party to putting
| these boys in jail even for a day, 1 would
resign my position. should not think
that l was doing right in any sense of the
word, to take any action that would put
these boys in position where a iail SEN
tence could be charged against them for
their whole lives. / believe the story of
the boys and that they shot the moose
upon the spur of the moment because of
fright, and with no intention of breaking
the law"