The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-21
WILLIAMS BOY HAD NO RIGHT
 TO HAVE GUN
Game Warden Smiths InVesti- gation Brings Strange Facts
 to Light in StPatford Tragedy.
Boy Was Not Yet 16, and Under Law Should Not Have Been Licensed.
Especial to the Farmer.) )


 Stratford, Oct. 21.-Game Warden Wilbur F. Smith for Fairfield Coun- ty was in town yesterday investigating the circumstances surrounding the death Of Winfield Williams, the boy who is believed to have been shot ac- cidentally by his own gun on the Housatonic River last Saturday morn ing. Warden Smith found comp1- cated situation, the result of cond1- tions which will undoubtedly be cor rected in the future.
 : On September 21s Town Clerk liar old c. Lowell issued a hunters license to Winfield, Williams, who said he Der 21. At that time the town clerk was ignorant of the fact that the last legislature had amended the game and fish laws so that no hunter under 16 years of age could receive 8 1- cense. The session laws did not reach the town clerks of any of the towns in the state before the middle of Sep tember. It was then a question in the mind of the town clerks whether the licenses they had already issued could be recalled Game Warden Smith was notified by his deputy in Stratford, Arthur Parrott that four boys under the legal age were hunt ing on licenses issued by the town clerk. Deputy Warden Parrott was instructed by his superior to notify the town clerk that licenses issued to boys under -16 were void and that any boy hunting on such license was liable to arrest under the same con ditions which would obtain were no license issued Warden Parrott so notified the town clerk.
 Distrusting his information Town Clerk Lowell took the name of the sec retary of the Game Commission from his license book and tndited a letter to Hart Gear who had retired as member of the commission in July and whose reply was therefore unoffi- cial.
 This letter came last Saturday too late to affect the situation for the Williams boy had already gone out with his gun and had reached that bourne from which unfortunate hunt CTS never return.
 Early in the morning he had called up the town clerk and had asked him if it would be legal for him to hunt on that day. He was told to go ahead and he left in the boat which sh ortly afterwards became his tuner al barge. The license issued to the boy was not legal permission to hunt in the State of Connecticut Had the town clerk refused to allow the boy to hunt on the license that day and had ordered him to wait until the matter had been settled by higher au-, thority 1t is probable that the fatal ity would not have followed
 County Game Warden Smith has found that licenses have been issued to boys under legal age in the towns of Shelton, Fairfield, Easton and Bridgeport besides the town of Strat- ford. That the town clerks of these towns issued licenses contrary to the law is evidence that the responsibil- ity does not lie alone at their doors. The fact that most of these licenses were issued before the session laws Ireached the town clerks relieve them of any moral responsibility in the case. The fact that the county game warden took pains to notify town clerks in cases which were reported to him relieves his department of re- sponsibility. The town clerks will plead that in almost every instance where radical changes are made in affected takes pains to fully inform town officials of their duties under the changed laws. That this was not done is not the fault of the newly appointed members of the fish and game commission who assumed office long after the legislature had ad- journed is the claim made by them. It is up to some higher authority to fix the blame if any is to obtain in the case.
 The letter of the former secretary of the Game and Fish Commission Wnlcn ugureS Tn the case Tn an unofh- cial way. is the heart of the whole matter. This individual was address ed by the town clerk of Stratford in the belief that he was the secretary 1 of the existing board of commission CTS and his letter in reply, while stat ing this fact may have misled the town clerk. It was regarded by him as authoritative at any rate and the information it gave was regarded as trustworthy. It may be the subject Of investigation later.