Dear Abby: I’m a county game commissioner and my son was “acting out” by allegedly blowing up fish with dynamite in Austin Creek. Boys will be boys you know, but that would be pretty durn illegal if he done it! A policeman showed up at my door to arrest Fred, but I told ’em it was good enough that I ordered the boy to stay in his room. They took him away anyway, and it cost me $250 to bail him out after he confessed to the crime, although I says he didn’t. So while he’s waiting for trial, should I restrict his access to the family dynamite? Signed, Concerned in Cazadero
SEQUEL TO AN ARREST
Commissioner’s Son Charged With Dynamiting FishGame Warden John C. Ingalls and Constable Ben H. Barnes arrested Fred Quigley at Cazadero Tuesday and landed him at the county jail Tuesday evening. The young man is charged with having used dynamite in Austin Creek, near Cazadero, to kill fish. The case is an interesting one, and promises to develop other things equally as interesting.
Quigley is the son of a deputy game commissioner, and his offense was against the very laws his father is endeavoring to uphold. The father told the arresting officers Tuesday that he had arrested his son for the offense, had taken him before Justice E. E. Trosper at Cazadero, and the latter had informed the father that there was insufficient evidence against the boy. Quigley, Sr., said that since that time he had had his son under detention at Cazadero.
When Ingalls and Barnes attempted to take young Quigley and bring him to the county jail, the father interfered. He charges that Ingalls knocked him down when he sought to prevent the arrest of his son, and he threatened to have Ingalls arrested as soon as he reached home. He proposed to swear out the warrant before Justice Trosper. Ingalls admitted that he had pushed Quigley out of the way, but denies having struck him.
It is claimed here that after Fred Quigley was landed in the county jail he confessed to dynamiting the stream. The father claimed that his son had not confessed.
The examination of the young man was set for February 18, and he was released on two hundred and fifty dollars.
– Santa Rosa Republican, February 12, 1908