Letter from Jack Chisholm to Pete Buckton (humor)

Jack Chisholm, 1920s

Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

Dear Pete

Enclosed in separate crate you'll find both of the Mosquitos that attacked your Scout Patrol while you were staying at my place this summer.

I caught the female while setting a coyote trap baited with live rabbit. She grabbed the rabbit and flew up with it but the rabbit kicked and set off the trap which caught the hind foot. The mosquito would not let go and I caught her in a hand-to hand conflict and when the male came to the rescue I winged him with the 30-30. He came down crippled.

I starved both of them a week in the still so I could crowd them into a fruit jar for mailing. I thought your troop would be proud to display the hides in your trophy room. They may still show fight when you get them because the still hasn't been cleaned since last corn season.

We would have been well satisfied with the capture of these birds if only we could have got the eggs too. But the nest is pretty high up in the maple tree and I can not climb yet with my broken foot. I doubt if the eggs are fresh now anyway as it is about time for the second litter to come off.

Yours Sincerely

Jack

This letter is the purest fantasy and is written for nothing but the humor.

We don't have a still, never had one. Jack was a rabid teetotaler.

As for the mosquitos, I've heard lots of "I met a bigger mosquito than you did" stories, mostly fantasy (including the one about the guy at the Alaskan airport who accidently refueled one at the end of a long shift) and I can assure you that this not the way mosquitos are.

Mosquitos do not carry off prey, instead they land and suck blood. They're insects, generally no more than a half inch across at maximum. They lay eggs in pools of stagnant water which are not usually in trees. Etc.)

This letter was written to Pete Buckton, who was a grandchild of Dill Royle Hansen.

Jack Chisholm was a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts at about this time, and it sounds like Pete Buckton was in Scouts as well.

Jack did have a broken foot about this time. He limped a bit for the rest of his life, even after when wearing the special shoes he had to have made for his foot.

Irene & Jack
Chisholm's
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