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#05-232 October 31, 2005

Pioneer Law Enforcement Chief Led DNR Into Modern Era

Few organizations are stronger than its individual members, but a former chief game warden during the formative years of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources was certainly instrumental in building law enforcement as a powerful force for conservation. This year marks the 100th anniversary of game and fish law enforcement by the state of South Carolina.

A.A. Richardson served as chief game warden for the state of South Carolina from 1913 to 1958. Born in 1881, he grew up in Beaufort and completed his college studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He earned a living farming in Barnwell and Allendale Counties for several years prior to being appointed chief game warden, directing a large corps of game wardens.

A.A. Richardson He brought to the office a fierce determination. So much so that he was severely injured the first year in office. The Chief, as he was known, was at a baseball game in his home county after several flagrant poachers in the area had made it known they had no intention of obeying Richardson or his wardens. The Chief was advised not to attend the game, but he chose to ignore that advice.

He was attacked by six men and despite the odds he was, as one newspaper put it, "efficiently making pacifists of his assailants." A friend of the Chief's intervened and held the attackers off at gunpoint. Only later was it discovered that Richardson had been stabbed in the back, with one lung punctured.

Richardson always believed that wardens had to educate as well as enforce and only by encouraging a sporting ethic, by fostering a widespread recognition of the need for protection, could wildlife truly be conserved. He spent much of the first year in office getting acquainted with individual game wardens to better understand just how effective law enforcement was throughout the state, and what he discovered was disappointing. He dramatically reduced the number of wardens, many of whom were honorary. One of the first he removed was his own father.

He asked for more wardens and they be properly paid. He insisted this would not cost the state anything, that enactment of a bill providing for mandatory fish and game licenses would provide funding.
Richardson worked tirelessly more than ten years before the state passed laws requiring fishing licenses. The gist of the campaign was such that it aided anglers, because passage of the law saw expanded efforts at rearing and stocking fish.

By the time of Richardson's official retirement in 1958, he could look back in pride to a number of accomplishments. He was instrumental in developing game wardens into a profession, with better training, uniforms and even vehicles with two-way radios.

He could also claim the lion's share of responsibility for numerous laws such as shortened hunting seasons, laws against netting and trapping game fish, and the outlawing of baiting wild turkeys. He also took great pride in that after a few short years in office, the department was entirely self-supporting financially throughout his leadership.

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