Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-29
|MITCHELL'S PROWESS WITH GUN
RIVALED BY SKILL WITH CAMERA
Attorney Generals Trigger
Finger" as Lawyer Also
Steady in Aim.
Collection of Heads and PeltS
Gathered From All Over
Continent.
BY REX COLLIER.

President Hoover has placed the adj
ministration OF justice III the hands OF
Youthful looking cabinet officer whose
trigger finger is steady. whose aim Is
unerring and who always gets his prey
be it combine formed to defraud the
Government or a mountain lion in the
Rockies.
Attorney General Mitchell's proves
as a nimrod Of law enforcement was
demonstrated to the satisfaction OF the
United States Supreme Court and
critics during his term as solicitor gen.
eral. His reputation has grown in the
short time he has been head Of the De-
partment of Justice.
Mr.. Mitchell's attainments as hunt
er of big game are not so widely known.
The reason for this is apparent. He
never notifies the newspapers when he
is about to penetrate the wilderness, he
does not take a press agent along with
him and he makes his return quietly,
however successful.
Warehouse Filled With Trophies.
Yet he has to his credit at least one
specimen of every variety OF big and
little game native to the North Ameri-
can continent-from grizzlies to rabbits
and il you don't believe 1t you can go
to Minnesota and take q look at the
warehouse full of heads and peltS COM
posing his collection of trophies
Mr.. Mitchell was tracking big game
in the Colorado mountains as early as
1850 years before Roosevelt went
there in search of mountain lions. 1t
was Just about this time that he bagged
a law degree at the University Of Min
nesota. after giving up the chase for a
eoia of Vale He n11tt MIR.
suit of a B. S. degree not because 1t
proved too elusive for him. but because
it did not hold his interest.
Law Runs in Family.
Besides, law seemed to run in the
Mitchell family. William Mitchell, faith
er of the Attorney General, was a JUS
tice OF the Minnesota Supreme Court in
those days and the son fell heir to the
legal instincts which had made his
father famous at the bar.
Just as he turned from science to law,
when he found the former palling on
him, so Mr. Mitchell laid down his
rife and took up a camera. when he
discovered there we're no other species
of game on which to test his skill with
a gun. His collection of moose, lion and
bear heads had grown so large and the
difficulties Of preserving them had be-
come so great that he was forced to
place the entire lot in cold storage. He
reasoned 1t would be useless slaughter
of wild life to continue killing game,
once his trophy bag was filled.
Camera Stalking More Exciting.
st find it much more exciting now to
20 hunting with a movie camera" At
torney General Mitchell said. my
camera trophies are not hidden away
in q warehouse, but are always at hand
to revive interesting memories and pro-
vide entertainment On dull evening.
1T use regular professional equipment
on these camera hunts. It's real sport,
trying to photograph wild animals In
their native hauntS. With q rine, you
can get close to your quarry before you
are discovered, but when you have to
handle a heavy motion picture camera,
it's a difficult feat to approach within
lens range"
Mr.. Mitchell,s most recent camera
expedition was to Alaska. He went there
last year and made camp on the Kenai
Peninsula, near Cook Inlet. Unfortu-
nately, 1t rained most of the time he
was there, and rainy days are not so
good for camera work. He was keenly
Remarkable Films Taken.
: He has taken remarkable action films
of bears, mountain goats and other big
game in the Canadian Rockies. Mrs.
Mitchell and their two sons have ac-
companied him on many Of the picture
hunting trips.
The Mitchell boys. like their father,
are crack shots with rife and adept
at handling the movie camera. Will
liam, the older son, was graduated from
Harvard last June, and Bancroft IS
studying there now.
"I haven't forsaken my rifle alto
gether," the Attorney General said.
"Duck hunting is fayorite sport with
the boys and me. I may not find time
to take my camera far from Washing
ton for some time to come, but I can
always hunt ducks in nearby waters"