The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-22
TO SAVE THE FISH
Warden Curtis Wants Present
Law Amended.
Would Have Sale of Kansas Fish
Prohibited.
HARD TO GET PROOF.
Must See Man Use Spear Before
He Can Be Arrested.
Stringent Laws With Reference
to Dynamite and Seines.

ing outfits and their traps until they
have decayed in the ground, and then
il they refuse to make gentlemen OF
themselves they will be sent to the
penitentiary and serve out the maxi
mum penalty.
Mr.. Curtis is in the city today talk
Ing to members of the legislature and
he is here in the interests of the little
and the large fish who are swimming
under the ice in Kansas streams to-
day looking with suspicious eyes at
the dark forms that sneak around ov-
er the roofs OF their domicfles. There
Is something that appeals to the bet
ter nature OF mankind when a man
of Mr.. Curtis ability spends his time
day and night roaming around over
the country, plodding all night along
the winding rivers and damp creek
beds looking for the beasts who call
themselves human beings and who cut
holes in the ice to drive the swarms of
fish to a creek or river bend and then
spear them with heartless hand.
HeartIess Fisherman Ways.
Mr.. Curtis has just returned from
q weeks hunt along the southern
Kansas streams and he has found the
cruel holes in the ice and he has
found the game hogs with their fish
speared and bleeding, but the law does
not allow him to deal with the men
when they do not have the tools in
their possession.
The manners and means of these
''sportsmen" who spear fish in the
winter time all over the state is
enough to appeal to the legislature
and cause some action to be taken by
them for a remedy. The average fish
erman of this kind works in far away
places on the creeks and rivers over
the state. Sometimes he works in the
night time by torch light. He does
anything to get away from the law
and from the wardens who are always
on the lookout but who are absolutely
unable to cover the territory that the
fishermen do. They start at a point
in the river and pounding the ice they
drive the fish in Swarms up the river
to the point where the slaughter takes
place. When the sWarms have been
corralled and the fish have been cor
nered these men drop their spears in
to the water and as fast as they can
extract them they pull the Topping
struggling fish from the water and
throw them into a sack in preparation
for market. Then the spears are care /
fully hidden and the fish are piled in
to wagons and taken to the towns for
sale
There is not an ounce of sporting
blood in this class of game hog They |
rob the Kansas streams of their in
habitants for the pure purpose of MAX
ing money and the whole thing with
them is cold blooded money MAX
ing proposition. Like all evaders of
the law they sneak and skHlk dur
Ing their work and when they meet
the wardens they falsify and do anv-
thing to hide their guilt. 1t is for the
humiliation of such a class of men
and for the protection of the fast dis
appearing fish in Kansas that Mr. Cur
tbs is working today-and he has a
thousand followers in the state whose
ideas are mutual and who are aching
for some law that will deal at once
with these men who are taking an adj
vantage of an opening in the law and
discriminating the careful labors of
the fish wardens.
Wants Law Changed.
Mr.. Curtis idea is to have the law
changed in such a way that it will not
be necessary for the production of the
tools and weapons of the fish hogs in
order to make the evidence sufficient
for conviction. His idea is to amend
the present law by making it possible
to convict man who has speared fish,
who has been caught with the fish upon
him and who sells them at market
This resembles the regular game law
and would require the same action on
the part of the officials who are try
ing to preserve the game in the state
and keep it from utter determination
He would have the sale Of fish pro-
hibited entirely for five years.
The present law reads that the only
lawful way to fish is with a rod and
! line and fish hook, hand line or a set
zine. But every year there are thou
sands of pounds of fish caught in the
state by men who patrol the streams
with nets, traps. and dynamite 1t is
almost impossible for the small boy to
bend a pin and dig up worm to OBJ
tain his fun like in the times when
Whitcomb Riley was making history
And the average business man who de-
sires to stop his work and with the rod
and reel spend a quiet day on the creek
or river bank has given up his pursuits
until he can travel to foreign streams
and hook fish. This does not mean
that the streams of Kansas are losing
hn1r- CT rE fish 20
ing degree but the general influx of
fish hogs" who make it a business to
catch the fish has spoiled the sport OF
the man who fishes because he likes If
the man who feeds ten times as manv
fish as he catches and who throws
them back in the stream before he goes
home because he hates to clean them
and the fish are none the worse for the
experience. Fishing in Kansas has
grown to be a business proposition and
the recreative scent has been pushed To
other lands. There are streams in Kan
saS today that are alive with craw-
dads and water snakes-while the fish
cuddle under some protecting root
waiting for the hourly passage of the
deadly seine and the daily shock of the
little brown jug filled with lime. But
the fish of Kansas are going to have
their defenders. This line of defense
is going to be under the charge of Dep
uty Warden Curtis whose footsteps on /
the banks of Kansas streams are a
IOT CS4cDEdlAOh ana recreation
among the citizens of FinviIle.
Mr.. Curtis Remedy.
The Friend of the Fish, in an inter
view with a State Journal reporter to-
day, has some excellent ideas stored
away for the annual plea before the
legislature and they are bound to re
ceive a respectful attention from the
law makers. His proposed rules for
fishermen are as follows;
From the passage of the law until the
e \ =
to sell any fish to a market procured
from local waters. It would be allow