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On the morning of Sunday,
April 5, 1914, Game Protector Samuel Taylor of Boukville, New York in upstate
Madison County joined forces with Game Protector John Willis of Oneida to
patrol along the banks of the Mohawk River. The purpose of their patrol was
to check for illegal duck hunting. Soon they heard shooting in woods east
of Riverside Park. Investigating the shooting, the protectors saw several
men shooting birds. One of the men was in possession of a shotgun; another
was picking up dead birds. After following the violators for a time, the protectors
finally stepped out in front of the party, instructing them to surrender and
advising them that they were under arrest. At that time, the man carrying
the shotgun fired, striking Game Protector Taylor in the chest and abdomen.
He fell to the ground mortally wounded. Protector Willis drew his service
revolver and returned fire, failing to hit the assailants. Urgently, he did
his best to get assistance for his fallen partner. In the age before radios,
this was not easy to do. Despite John Willis' heroic efforts, shortly after
midnight on April 6, 1914, Sam Taylor died at Oneida County Hospital. His
assailants were never brought to justice.
In a footnote to this
incident, the desperate nature of the illegal hunters at this time is evident
in another shooting incident involving Special Game Protector Bert J. Anson
of Utica, New York. ("Specials" as they were called, were volunteer game protectors
appointed by local protectors or politicians. The title continued to exist
into the early 1970s, when the position was discontinued). On November 1,
1914, Mr. Anson "...was assaulted by two foreigners..." Perhaps due to a higher
sense of alertness after the murder of Sam Taylor, Special Protector Anson
was able to protect himself, killing one of his assailants and dangerously
wounding the other. An inquest held by the coroner found him "blameless" in
this incident. Unfortunately, this was not to be the last deadly episode of
the era.
On Thanksgiving Day,
November 27, 1919, John H. Woodruff of Scotia, a young newly-married Game
Protector, bid his young wife good-bye and proceeded to patrol in and around
Schenectady County outside Albany, the state capital. While not much is known
of Mr. Woodruff's personal life, it is known that he was a dedicated Game
Protector. He "...was zealous in his prosecutions of men caught violating
the state law." It was stated that "...hunters of game out of season hated
Woodruff." This Thanksgiving Day, his wife would be the last known person
to see him alive.
When Protector Woodruff
did not return home, an intense search was organized in an attempt to determine
his whereabouts. Despite the efforts of the searchers, John Woodruff could
not be found. The search was discontinued, with the young Game Protector's
fate a mystery.
On April 4, 1921, nearly
a year and a half after he disappeared, John Wodruff's remains were found.
The grisly discovery was made by George H. Barrett of Rotterdam who had been
in the woods hunting arbutus near the bed of a creek near Nine Mile Bridge
on Amsterdam Road. Protector Woodruff's body "...lay doubled up in a shallow
hole in the creek bed, all but the lower portion of the skull covered by flat
stones. The entire top of the skull, which had been detached from the rest
of the body, had been smashed in by a heavy weapon in the hands of a powerful
man." These were the words of Coroner A.G. Baxter. The Game Protector's revolver
was missing.
Because so much time
had lapsed, clues to John Woodruff's murder were few. His wife told authorities
that her husband's life had been threatened at least once. "In the summer
of 1919 he received a letter," the contents of which "he refused to disclose
to her." In fact, he destroyed the letter before his wife could read it, an
unfortunate incident since it may have provided a valuable clue to the identity
of his murderer. Game Protector Woodruff's murder has never been solved.
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Unfortunately, the Long
Island region was not to be exempt from tragedy regarding the work of the
Game Protectors. William T. Cramer was appointed to the position of Game Protector
in Nassau County on January 11, 1917. A short stocky man of determined bearing,
Bill Cramer is described in the 19th Annual Report of the Conservation Department
in 1929 as a "highly efficient" Game Protector. He is further described as
"... a lover of nature..." who "...derived pleasure from protecting the wild
life of the forest, field, and stream."
Indeed, Game Protector
Cramer seems to have greatly enjoyed his job. A photograph taken on May 23,
1923, shows him standing proudly near the shores of Cayuga Lake in upstate
New York, along with other Game Protectors, burning 23 illegal nets seized
for illegal fishing activity. That he was in the picture at all is remarkable
considering the facts of October 1, 1922.
Back in his home territory
along Jamaica Bay in Queens County, in what was then known as Horstmann's
Woods, on a fall Sunday morning, Game Protector Cramer encountered Antonio
Marino and Fillipo Garraputo shooting protected songbirds. In attempting to
arrest the two men for this as well as for hunting without a license, Protector
Cramer was knocked down by a blow to the head with a shotgun wielded by one
of the game law violators. Not satisfied with laying his scalp open with the
blow, the assailants then shot Protector Cramer three times in the back of
the head and neck with a .38 caliber pistol. Despite his wounds, the Game
Protector was able to draw his own revolver and shoot one of the assailants
in the hand and the other in the groin just as they were preparing to shoot
him again. Having been wounded themselves, the assailants then fled. With
two bullets embedded in the back of his head and another in his neck that
glanced off of a cervical vertebrate, Bill Cramer was not expected to live.
Somehow, Game Protector
Cramer recovered from these serious wounds; living to see his assailants brought
to justice. Marino and Garraputo had left the state after the incident in
order to avoid arrest. Upon returning to New York, however, they were arrested.
Garraputo died of unknown causes before he could be prosecuted. Antonio Marino
was tried, and convicted of assault in the 2nd degree, and sentenced to five
years in prison on December 26, 1923. Perhaps if assailants of Game Protectors
had been dealt with more harshly, the final incident involving Bill Cramer
might have been avoided. Continued.......
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