156 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



or a total of between four and five hundred 

 thousand pounds, as the annual production 

 of wax. California, in a good 3'ear, is by 

 all odds in the lead for amount of honey 

 produced. In a fair season it will ship 

 from its own border three to four hundred 

 cars. The next best State, probably, 

 would not aggregate above 50 cars. — En. J 



And the I<ord God said vinto the woman, What is 

 this that lh( u hast done? And the woman said, The 

 serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. — Gen. 3: 13. 



This woman, according to her own story, 

 was beguiled by the serpent. That was 

 her excuse. By her own confession she lis- 

 tened to the serpent. She stopped to talk 

 with him. I presume we have no right to 

 take it for granted she knew he was a ser- 

 pent and an enemy to mankind. There is 

 hardly a question, however, but she knew 

 she was doing wrong. The garden did not 

 belong to her. She and her companion 

 were permitted to live in it. The great 

 Ruler of the universe, who made not only 

 the garden, but these two, the parents of 

 the human race, had given orders what she 

 shotild do and w-hat she should not do. 

 This she confesses in her talk to the ser- 

 pent. But she /is/rned to him, and was per- 

 suaded to disobey. Some of the friends 

 keep telling me, when I talk as I am going 

 to talk to-day, that there is no serpent — 

 that there is fio prince of darkness who is 

 constantly seeking to destroy mankind. 

 They say it is only a myth or the work of 

 the imagination ; yet these same people 

 agree with me generally, and say I am do- 

 ing lots of good in warning people regard- 

 ing the pitfalls that beset humanity. 



We were all startled by the announce- 

 ment in the papers of Jan. 30, of the escape 

 of two noted criminals and murderers from 

 the jail at Pittsburg. I wish to consider 

 the matter a little; and in order to get it 

 before you, permit me to copy an editorial 

 from the Cleveland Leader of Jan. 31: 



A CASE OF SENTIMENTAL SYMPATHY. 



The Governor of Pennsylvania recently granted a 

 repntve to two despeiale criminals who w^ere await 

 ing execution for muider. They had killed, or helped 

 to kill, a grocer in litisburg because he did not q^ iet- 

 ly submit to the robbery of his store and dwelling. 

 Then the desperadoes killed a police officer who tried 

 to arrest them. 



Both of these men had long careers of crime. They 

 were known to be daring, resource! ul, and dangerous 

 in the extreme. They could never be of an) use to 

 the world while living, and i heir decreed punishment 

 was eminently just But because a sentimental young 

 woman of Pittsburg, perhaps improsed by the'state- 

 ments current regarding the courage, ai dacity, and 

 ingenuity of the murderers, who are bro hers, or pos- 

 sibly influenced by the comeliness of the more experi- 

 enced of the criminals, asked thai their death be de- 

 layed, the Governor put off for more than a month 

 the date of their execution.' 



That proved to be time enough for the desperadoes 



• It Kpems that even the Governor of the great State of 

 Pennsylvania was slightly " beguiled " also. 



to complete their task of sawing the bars of their cells, 

 obtaining revolvers from some confederate, and add- 

 ing a sensational e.scape from jail, accompanied by at- 

 tacks upon two guirds which came barely short of 

 murder, and showed the utmost indifference to the 

 taking of more lives of honest men. Now the mur- 

 derers are at large, armed and more utterly callous 

 than before, if that were po.ssible. as to brutal crimes 

 of whatever nature. They can commit a long series 

 of outrages upon good people and their property be- 

 fore they come to the end of their bloody story, w'hich 

 can hardlv be any thing else than violent death. 



Every officer who may try to do his duty if he gets a 

 chance to attempt the arrest of either or both of these 

 desperadoes will risk his life. Several honest m n 

 are likely to be killed before the murderers end their 

 woik of rapine and assassination. Fresh tragedies 

 are confidently expected by experienced police officers. 



Is it not clear that sympathy for convicted murder- 

 ers can be overdone ? 



At the time the above editorial was writ- 

 ten, nobody knew how it was possible for 

 these desperadoes to get out as they did; 

 but a dispatch in the papers of Feb. 1 

 throws some light on the matter: 



Butler, Pa., Jan. 31. 



With half a dozen or more bullet wounds in their 

 bodies, Edward and John Biddle, the murderers who 

 escaped Irom the Allegheny County jail in Pittsburg, 

 Wednesday, were captured by officers after a desper- 

 ate standing fight in a sleigh on the road between But- 

 ler and ^ ew Castle this evening. 



Mrs. Kate ^ofHe, the wife ot the jail warden who 

 supplied them with saw- and revolvers and then ran 

 away with them, was caught with them. When the 

 officers began firing on them she implored Edward 

 Biddle, the murderer with whom she was infatuated, 

 to shoot her Throwing her arms from around his 

 neck, he refused, and turned to battle with the officers 

 who had brought the two to bay. She then fired a bul- 

 let into her own breast. All three are now in this ci y. 

 Doctors say that they will die. 



I am going to take the liberty right here, 

 dear friends, to read a little between the 

 lines concerning the communications that 

 have appeared lately in regard to this mat- 

 ter. Of course, I do not know the full par- 

 ticulars, but I think I can guess pretty 

 nearly the state of affairs, as I have had 

 some experience and some acquaintance 

 with those in our jails as well as those out- 

 side. This Mrs. Kate Soffle, the wife of 

 the jail warden, was "'beguiled''^ by a 

 "serpent" in the shape of Edward Biddle. 

 Both of the brothers were under sentence of 

 death. Their previous historj' indicateil 

 that they were desperate men; and if there 

 was any hook or crook by which they could 

 elude their keepers the3' wotild do it. Their 

 previous record of crimes shows it plainly 

 enough. I can imagine the notorious Ed- 

 ward saying to his brother, "Look here. 

 Jack, we are in a tight place. Unless we 

 can bribe or make friends with somebody 

 to help us, there is no hope. Drowning 

 men catch at straws, you know. That good- 

 looking woman, the wife of the warden, I 

 imagine as she looks at us, is already 

 touched with a feeling of sympathy. If I 

 had a little more time before our execution, 

 and fortune favored us, I think I might 

 make friends with that woman, and get her 

 to provide us the means of getting out." 



The Bible teaches us on everj' page that 

 God helps those who call on him in time of 

 need. May be you think I am taking a lib- 

 erty when I suggest that I have reason to 

 believe Satan, in like manner, helps those 

 who belong to him in like manner when 



