1903 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



105 



sent ,to him or his attorney, and in a 

 majority of cases the matter is dropped 

 without further proceedings. It has 

 been my practice not to encourage liti- 

 gation. If I have reason to believe 

 from the statement of a case ,that the 

 bee-keeper is at fault, that he has so 

 managed his bees that they have an- 

 noyed his neighbors needlessly. I do 

 not encourage resistance to reasonable 

 authority, but endeavor to have him 

 reform his me,thods and avoid trouble. 

 Bee-keeping is respectable, and I would 

 have it respected through a proper sys- 

 tem of management and the high char- 

 acter of its followers. 



The most important case which has 

 been referred to the General Manager 

 during the past year was one from 

 Minnesota. Mr. V. Shebat of Wabasha 

 wro,te me in July that he was likely to 

 get into trouble on account of his bees, 

 stating the case in a very clear, busi- 

 ness-like manner. I sent him such ad- 

 vice and help as I thought necessary. 

 In a hotly contested case which follow- 

 ed, he was triumphantly vindicated. 

 He was so grateful for the assis,tance 

 rendered that he wrote the following 

 to the American Bee Journal, which 1 

 hereby copy, as it states the matter 

 fully and is of enough importance, per- 

 haps, to warrant the use of the space it 

 occupies. 



STATEMENT OF MR. SHEBAT. 



"I desire to say a few words through 

 the American Bee Journal to the bee- 

 keepers of America. 



I have been a member of the Nation- 

 al Bee-Keepers' Association for I2 

 years, and for more than 13 years have 

 kept about 60 colonies of bees on a lot 

 that I own here, and have never had 

 any complaint made to me about my 

 bees doing any damage or being a 

 nuisance until this summer. 



A large church is situated on the 

 corner opposite the lot on which my 

 bees are located, but no complaint was 

 ever made that they annoyed or injured 

 anyone. This summer a large church 

 school for girls was commenced on the 

 lot adjacent ,to mine, and a city ordi- 

 nance was manipulated through our 

 city countil declaring it a misdemeanor 

 for anyone to keep bees in our city, 

 'within 600 feet of any church, school 

 house or other public building, or 



within 300 feet of any dwelling in said 

 city.' This ordinance was passed in the 

 latter parjt of July and within a few 

 days thereafter two actions were be- 

 gun against me under said ordinance, 

 and one under our state law which de- 

 clares, "any act or omission which in- 

 jures, annoys, or endangers the com- 

 fort, repose, health or safety of any 

 considerable persons, a public nuis- 

 ance." These were all criminal actions, 

 and I was arrested in each case. 



The case under the Sta,te law was 

 virtually abandoned for lack of evi- 

 dence and I was declared not guilty, but 

 the case under the new city ordinance 

 was prosecuted with bitterness and 

 venom. The trial was in our recorder's 

 court, before a jury, and lasted the 

 whole of one day. 



My aj,torney. Col. J. T. Bowditch, 

 defended me on the following grounds, 

 viz: 



1st. That the ordinance was not au- 

 thorized by our city charter. 



2d. That the city council had no 

 power to make a nuisance of any act by 

 passing an ordinance agains,t it unless 

 the act itself was in fact a nuisance. 



3d. That the ordinance in question 

 resulted in taking and damaging prop- 

 erty for public use without just com- 

 pensation to the owner, contrary to the 

 Constitution of the United States and 

 of this state; that it abridged the na- 

 tural rights of private citizens, that it 

 was unreasonable and unjust. 



4th. That if ,the keeping of bees con- 

 trary to the terms of this ordinance was 

 a nuisance at all, it was a private nuis- 

 ance, for which all persons injured 

 thereby had their ledress in the courts, 

 and was such a nuisance as could not 

 be regulated by any general ordinance 

 or law. 



These were the main pcr'rts of my de- 

 fence, but, of course, each was greatly 

 elaborated by my attonit-y. 



I am happy to ".ay the jurv returned 

 a verdict "Not Guilty," and I have 

 since received the congratulations of 

 many bee-keepers on the happy end- 

 ing of ,the vicious fight that was made 

 against me. 



My chief object in writing this com- 

 munication is to ,thank the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association publicly for 

 the valuable aid rendered me in this 

 fight, and to impress upon all bee-keep» 



