Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1901 — Fined For Having Seine. [ARTICLE]

Fined For Having Seine.

Sidney B. King, of Princeton, Ind., deputy fish commissioner, slipped into town a day or two ago, and had a number of search warrants issued to search for fish seines. One, 25 or 30 yards long, was discovered in the possession of Sidney M- Holmes, tenant of Dr. Hartsell’s farm, west of town. The seine was seized and Mr. Holmes put under arrest. The trial was held Wednesday evening before Squire Troxell. It was a clear case and there was no alternative except to assess the penalty the law provides. The fine" and costs amount to $32.25. Of this amount S2O must be paid to the state fish commission, as part of the fund for enforcing the fish law. The fine, proper, is $5 which is as small as the law allows. This part of the penalty the justice suspended “during good behavior.” The costs were also made very low, but at the best the bill will be a pretty heavy one for Mr. Holmes The seine is one that he procured under the law, as it was before the new fish law was passed, last winter, and for which privilege he paid the license fee the law required. He has not used the seine since the new law went into effect, and did not know that the law required him to destroy the seine. Still another man, Joseph Ellis, on one of the Makeever farms, was found to have a seine, and his trial is set for 9 a.’m. Friday. It is likely that there will be other cases similar to these, and if any of our Indiana readers have any fish seines in their possession, we hope they will make a bonfire of them immediately.