Beaver Dam Club & 1909 MS Supreme Court Ruling

[scaupman]

I was researching the history of the Beaver Dam Club (BDC), located near Tunica MS, and found this interesting summary of a ruling by the MS Supreme Court in 1909 - see photos below.

The court records indicate that BDC was first established in 1882 by 18 non-resident members, most of whom were gentlemen living in Memphis TN. The club was not incorporated, but merely an association of gentlemen organized for the purpose of hunting and fishing during proper seasons.

The club leased 3 acres of ground in Tunica County upon which it had a club house, kitchen servants’ rooms, and outhouses, all on the eastern bank of Beaver Dam Lake. The club also leased a 10-foot strip of land along the east bank of the non-navigable Beaver Dam Lake, which they believed entitled them to hunt anywhere upon the lake.

The Tunica County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance in November 1907, making it unlawful for any person which is not a bona fide citizen and resident of Tunica County to hunt and kill game of any kind in or on any of the waters or lakes known as meandered Lakes and providing a penalty for violation.

Thomas N. Buckingham was subsequently arrested for shooting ducks on Beaver Dam Lake, but the County Court found him not guilty, and the state subsequently appealed the ruling to the MS Supreme Court. The MS Supreme Court ruled that the County Board of Supervisors had no authority, on the subject of game and fish, to prevent members of a club, owning a leasehold interest in the shores of land under a lake for shooting game there in season.

I have hunted waterfowl in a wide variety of locations in Canada and the US, and also have visited many other historically important waterfowl hunting areas in both countries, as a university professor conducting research on variety of waterfowl species. At many key waterfowl locations that I have visited, there has been some historical animosity between local hunters and traveling non-resident hunters; thus, I suspect this animosity (e.g., competition for hunting spots?) was present in Tunica County, especially with Memphis being nearby. Accordingly, I wonder, if the failure of anyone to respond to Nash Buckingham’s advertising in the local area, for the return his lost Bo-Whoop Fox shotgun, was related to such animosity against outsiders?

I have not had time to research Thomas N. Buckingham, but wonder if Thomas is a misspelling of Nash's first name, Theophilus? If anyone knows, please respond - thanks.

Note - click on the photos to expand for reading.

[scaupman]

pages 850-853.

[scaupman]

Index, page 947

[ROMAC]

Great reading and very interesting thought regarding Bo-Whoop.

[Sporrns]

Great reading and very interesting thought regarding Bo-Whoop.

And definitely not beyond the realm of possibility given the social strata of those potentially involved. Kevin

[MARSHFELLOW]

Thanks Al, fascinating.
tjw

[Researcher]

The letter Nash wrote to John Bailey about the loss of Bo Whoop mentions three towns along U.S. 79 northeast of Stuttgart, AR, Ulm, Roe and Clarendon. It was still on the fender near Roe, but Nash didn't miss it until they got to Clarendon. A long way from Tunica County, Mississippi.

[scaupman]

Dave - Ok, I remember now that they were hunting near Clarendon that day -not Beaver Dam Lake.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/201 ... -20160127/

[AAHESpecial]

A most interesting article. The singular earlier convictions of the local hunters probably reflect some resentment
against any out-of-state hunters banded together in a Mississippi leased club.

However, Nash Buckingham lost his HE Super Fox in 1948. Before that, he hunted with a 34 inch Parker.
It is most likely that he did not attract that much local attention 30 years previous to the loss of "Bo Whoop",
and the court had long previously settled the case.

[Stan Hillis]

Great reading, Al. Thank you for providing what you found through your research.

There will, and probably always has been, animosity from some locals concerning out-of-state hunters and fishermen. I have seen it, personally. OTOH, there are those who recognize that the income from out-of-state, traveling sportsmen helps local economies considerably, and out-of-state license fees do the same for state coffers. However, in the first decade of the twentieth century there was likely little appreciation for "outside money" being added to local economies. When ducks were a staple food of many meager families there was considerable resentment by any locals who felt like those "rich, traveling hunters" were competing with them for food, or dollars from market hunting. Keep in mind that in this era market hunting was still legal and being practiced without any enforcement by authorities, the Migratory Bird Act not having been enacted until 1918. This is all not surprising to me, but the settlement of the court case is very interesting.

Concerning BoWhoop (I), and the failure to return it when, and if, the finder ever really learned who it belonged to, any thoughts on that will always be purely speculative. I am just extremely pleased that it was finally "outed" in Savannah, that I was able to spend an afternoon with it there, that it had been preserved so well since it was lost (with the exception of the broken buttstock, of course, which may well have happened when the gun fell from the car fender), and that it is now preserved for posterity and may be viewed by anyone interested. It's a great story, with a great ending, IMHO.