The Bemidji pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Beltrami County, Minn.) 1896-1917, 1900-10-18


employ deputy game wardens" to
travel through their respective coun-
ties, organizing Bryan and Lind clubs
Besides this, each deputy game ward
en- was assessed part of his monthly
salary to support the reform" press
i bureau.
4 One Republican deputy was retained,
4 F.. o. Stevens Of Detroit, Becker coun-
ty. Mr.. Stevens was obliged to con-.
+. tribute a percentage of his salary to
the reform" bureau, to hold his job,
i but when it was demanded of him, as
4 a condition of his remaining on the
i force, that he get out and poll the
county in the interests of Lind, he re-
signed. Even the employees at the state
j fish hatchery. drawing $40 month
4 wages, were obliged to assist iii
I"greasing the wheels
4 And in return for this expenditure,
4 what are the benefits derived by the
taxpayer? During the recent close"
Il season, the violations Of the game
u laws were open and fragrant. Every
hotel and restaurant in ST. Paul and
| Minneapolis served prairie chickens
during the month of August. Mayor
Smith Democratic) of st. Paul, stated
/ that the enforcement Of the game law
Iunder the present administration was
rotten" and Uri Lamprey, the well
known Democratic attorney of st.
Paul, expressed the opinion that II
would take ten years time to repair
the mischief for which the present
game warden is responsible.
4 Bus the commission was obliged to
i make some showing. On the first day
of the shooting season, Saturday, Sept.
list, Rev. Alexander McGregor of St.
4 Paul went out hunting and bagged
sixteen prairie chickens AS they would
4 spoil If carried until Monday he sent
4 them In satchel, checked as baggage,
to St. Paul. His little son called for
the satchel, and was arrested with IT
Il In his possession by an "alert" game
| warden, and was bound over to the
i grand jury on charge Of shipping
chickens contrary to law--an offense
i which the law plainly does not con-
template in such case. The district
court promptly dismissed the case.
i A couple of weeks ago an old man, a
4 Polander, ignorant of the laws, GUS
i toms and even the language OF the
! land, was fishing for bullheads and
1 catfish, with net, in the Mississippi
4 river. Three valiant deputy game
i wardens went out in a launch, armed
! with shot guns, two cases Of beer and
4 bottle Of cocktails. They confiscat-
4 ed the old mans net, and when he ex-
4 $postulated ne was shot and killed. The
4 Ramsey county grand jury has In
i dicted his slayer, Deputy Game Ward
a en- Edward Corbett, for murder in the
4 first degree. $.s.
4 This. then, is the record Of the game
Il and fish commission under the re
4 form management: Fish, chickens,
4 deer and moose slaughtered out of sea-
i son; S25, 900 of the peoples money
squandered I; a f1fteen-year-old boy
4 wrongfully and illegally arrested for
4 carrying some chickens his father had
i shot and y an inoffensive old man
4 killed.
aDon't Go Back of the Red Line"
This remark of Public Examiner
Pope to the expert accountant who
4 investigated the books Of the city OF
Mankato, will pass into history. When
! the expert was about to commence his
4 work. Gen" Pope called him to one
side and said:
"You will find a red line in the
4 books; don't go back of it, as I, my
self, audited the books up to that date
4 and found them correct.
But the expert did "go back OF the
i red line" Furthermore, he found that
4 back of the red line" the books
| showed a peculiar shortage-S5oo.oo
| was missing from the public library
/ fund without any record of 1t. An IN
/ vestigation on the outside showed that
it had been borrowed" by Mr. Pope
/ while he was president of the library
board, and neither back nor before the
| red line was there any record OF that
sum having been repaid. In fact, no
1 one knew of the loan. AS result OF
! the experts going back of the red llne,
the city attorney of Mankato was dl-
rected to commence proceealnss
| against Mr.. Pope for the recovery Oh
| the S50000 and interest for the time ne
| had held it-about five years. MT.
| pope settled the matter by paying
| back the $4,000 with interest. would
4 It have been repaid yet if the expert
had not "gone back of the red line
| Even the Democratic papers OF Mr.
Pope's town condemned his action as
illegal and peculiar.
] Is still a Vacancy.
The vacancy in the department OF ed
| ucation caused by the resignation OF
| state Superintendent Prendergast has
not vet been filled. Gov. Lind appoint
| ed a gentleman named Lewis-who had
no other experience than teaching In
a small schoo1--to fill the place, but
| county superintendent all over the
| state are aware of his Incompetence.
This is one of the departments with
which the general public is not brought
| in close contact, hence its workings
pass unnoticed, save when some glaring
| mistake is made. Mr.. Lewis has dis
! tinguished" himself by two of these
/ The first was by an effort to hold dis
trict" summer training schools for
/ teachers. After one trial this was
abandoned and the former plan of
! holding them in each county was re-
sumed. His second effort was when he
accused five teachers in Douglas coun-
ty, who were taking examinations for
| certificates, of Cheating" This was
! Indignantly repudiated by the Douglas
county superintendent of schools "a
| DemocratJ, and Mr.. Lewis very will
ingly dropped the hot end of the poker.
sRen,ember the TySine."
But it is in the management Of the