More about Sam Fullerton, Minnesota State Game Warden

"There IS more to this tale, but things just fizzled away as they often do in this sort of situation. Tempers flare, you get some chest-beating and sabre-rattling from both sides, then they come to their senses and cooler heads prevail. This game warden had a real spotty career it seems and I don't get the impression that small-town MN had much use for him or his deputies"....

That was the comment Larry left on the 'Game Warden Hubris' post about a potential uprising around Sauk Rapids..☺  We were talking about a civil servant named Sam A. Fullerton who sounded to us like an amazingly self-important guy.  
WELL! It's WAY beyond either Larry or me to leave something alone when we sniff a good story.  Poor Sam...lol

There's a mystery right away with this article Larry found, published the very NEXT day (12-8-1898) in the Princeton (Mn) newspaper.  The location mentioned is 150 miles northwest of Sauk Rapids, and now the men were shooting deer "for the market".
"Executive Fullerton has decided not to try to arrest them", as they'd fled to the reservation.  Hmm!  So, which town was it?







Now this article is a riot--evidently, people were catching on that Warden Fullerton was over-stepping somewhat. A whole TOWN was in cahoots against his authority.  The headline was pure genius...

THEY'RE BABES IN THE WOODS

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Game Warden Fullerton's Deputies Not Popular at Kelliher.

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EAT VENISON FOR VEAL AND THINK IT'S GOOD.

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Trio of Deputies Have Been Butt of the Village for a Week.

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Three of the deputies of State Game Warden Fullerton are just now living the strenuous life in the vicinity of Kelliher and the residents of that section are having more amusement out of their visit, if all tales be true, than they have had for some time past.

Some time ago, the local paper at Kelliher published a story to the effect that there was some illegal hunting going on around the vicinity of Kelliher.  The intentions of the editor were no doubt the best and the article was published in the greatest good faith.

The eagle eye of Game Warden Fullerton grabbed the news at St Paul and a short time ago three deputies arrived to keep their eye on things.

Game wardens are not popular in that section.  The treatment they have accorded people of that vicinity has been at times beyond the point of justification and the bouquets which Mr Fullerton and his deputies get when they come to Kelliher are not nearly as profuse or handsome as those that characterize a Chauncey Olcott* matinee.

The three gentlemen sent up this time, however, appear to be particularly easy.  The good people in that section have already sold them venison for veal, dined them on bear meat and given them a good time and they are said to still have their mouth open and be running easy.  Under the provisions of a state law, they have no right to pitch their tents on any property without the consent of the owner.  They have several times been compelled to move camp because they were held to be trespassers and at last account they were still being driven about from one place to another.

Last Sunday they ate dinner at a Kelliher hotel where the bill of fare was an open defy.  The menu announced moose meat, venison, partridges, and several other things that were out of season and is said to have been especially arranged to make it uncomfortable for the game wardens.  The first of the week a settler sold them some dressed venison and told them it was veal.  They cooked it, ate it with a relish and are said to have stated that it was very choice.  The residents of the section that the wardens are watching are said to be doing everything possible to give them a good time and the deputies pronounced them to be an unusually well-behaved and orderly lot.

*Chancellor "Chauncey" Olcott (July 21, 1858 – March 18, 1932) was an Irish American stage actor,songwriter and singer.

Born in Buffalo, New York, in the early years of his career Olcott sang in minstrel shows and Lillian Russellplayed a major role in helping make him a Broadway star. Among his songwriting accomplishments, Olcott wrote and composed the song "My Wild Irish Rose" for his production of A Romance of Athlone in 1899. Olcott also wrote the lyrics to "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" for his production of The Isle O' Dreams in 1912. selected recordings of Chauncey Olcott

From an issue of the Winona paper on December 8, 1895.  Game Warden Fullerton was a scourge even then.  

(Hmm...recognize schputt when ya see it? ☺)

Evidently, Mr Fullerton came down hard on prairie chicken poachers.

This was in the Winona paper on July 28, 1898.

Whew.

Was this ALL Sam Fullerton did for the State of Minnesota? Oh no--by 1911, we found he was promoted to the State Fire Marshall's office. This was part of an article about cases of arson for insurance in northern Minnesota...but the newspaper was torn and shredded on that page.  

If you're interested, tho, go HERE.

1898--Game Warden Hubris

Larry found this incendiary article last week in a San Francisco newspaper of December 4, 1898.  I'm sure it went out on the wire and was picked up because it supported the impression that Minnesota was one of some unsettled, dangerous places 'up north'.  And, why not make the headline as scary as possible?
Was the deputy thoughtless, or stupid?  Obviously, things escalated quickly, but damn.  It was December and the Ojibwe had to eat, too.  Besides, fourteen against one seems like a foolhardy ratio...
                                            .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
THREATENED UPRISING OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS

Resist Arrest by a Deputy Game Warden for Having Shot Deer Out of Season.

St Paul, Dec. 3--Another uprising of the Chippewa Indians is threatened.  The Game Warden at Sauk Rapids has had a fight with fourteen red men, whom he attempted to arrest, in which he was badly whipped, and State Game Warden Fullerton has ordered that the Indians be taken into custody, be the result as it may.  The Indians declare they will resist all attempts to capture them and will organize a rebellion.
The Sauk Rapids deputy met the Indians in the woods, and as each one was carrying the carcass of a deer he attempted to arrest them on a charge of having violated the game laws. In the fight that followed the deputy was severely punished and his rifle taken from him.  The Indians warned him against  following them _____ they would never be taken alive, and threatening to begin shooting the moment a posse appeared in sight.  
Game Warden Fullerton has notified the authorities that he will pursue the Indians with a posse, and serious trouble is feared.

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Ok--here's a quote from the Wikipedia article about the Ojibwe (Chippewa) people:

"Often, earlier treaties were known as "Peace and Friendship Treaties" to establish community bonds between the Ojibwe and the European settlers. These earlier treaties established the groundwork for cooperative resource-sharing between the Ojibwe and the settlers. The United States and Canada viewed later treaties offering land cessions as offering territorial advantages. The Ojibwe did not understand the land cession terms in the same way because of the cultural differences in understanding the uses of land. The governments of the US and Canada considered land a commodity of value that could be freely bought, owned and sold.

The Ojibwe believed it was a fully shared resource, along with air, water and sunlight. At the time of the treaty councils, they could not conceive of separate land sales or exclusive ownership of land"..... 

...or the right to limit hunting for food, either.

I wonder what happened next, don't you?