He Got Half the Fine

1895

A man who had been on a hunting trip in the forests of northern Maine vouches for the entire truth of the following story, as he had it direct from the sheriff:

A man who lives in the Mount Katahdin region went into the office of a justice of the peace and inquired about the penalty for hunting deer with dogs, and very particularly as to whether one-half the fine did not go to the informer.

The justice consulted the game laws and assured him that it did.

"Very well," said the man. "I want to complain of myself and settle."

The justice could not back out, and so gave the transgressor "a clean bill of health" upon payment of one-half of the penalty.

It seems that the man got wind of the fact that a game warden had got the "drop" on him on his deer poachings with his dogs and was only waiting an opportunity to arrest him; hence his shrewd bit of diplomacy. — Portland (Me.) Argus.