1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



221 



We can say as Ave did in that April number a 

 year ago, not, we trust, in any spirit of boasting, 

 but as what ought to be known to all who read 

 these personals : 



" We can confidently appeal to the bee-keepiuo: pub- 

 lic who have known our course, to bear us out in the 

 assertion, that we have never personally assailed any 

 one, but liave often under circumstances of threat pro- 

 vocation, retrained from using very damaging facts 

 against those who have assailed us." 



We could no longer pursue the same course, 

 and now, in vindication of our departed friend, 

 Ave must show some of the "treacheries" alluded 

 to in the March number. 



To obtain a license under our patent— after l>e 

 had been notified by my son (the late J. T. L. ), 

 and myself, tliat he Avas infringing on it — Mr. 

 King rei)resented his business as so extensive, 

 that the one-twelfth, Avhich he proposed to pay, of 

 the net proceeds of his sales of hives and rights 

 in our territory, Avould probably exceed all our 

 OAvn. In TUTiEE YEAiiS Avc received as our share 

 of his sales, tes-.s than the price paid- for some sin- 

 gle counties in t7ie L'lngstroth patent/ and found 

 besiiles. that we had lost by hampering ourselves 

 in making sales*'' many times more than the 

 license fees. Some time after Ave licensed Mr. 

 King to use the notches in his frames, he substi- 

 tuted mortices for them, patented these in com- 

 bination Avith some other devices, and claimed 

 that he could use them vi'ithout our license. f 



By the terras of our license Mr. King Avas ex- 

 pressly guaranteed from all our claims for Im 

 heavy infringemenis under hi>< first pa'ent. Now 

 even if the decisions of the court had sustained 

 his substitution of a mortice for a notch, could 

 Mr. King after all the benefits he derived a< our 

 expense from the license, have honorably refused 

 to pay the petty fees'? After many intimations 

 liowever, that he no longer felt bound by his 

 license, he at last writes us the foUoAving letter : 



New Tokk, Ilatj 30, ISTO. 

 Messrs. L. L. Lats-gstroth & Son, 



Dear Sirs : — An apology is due you for delay iu 

 replying to your last, which was receiA'ed during my 

 absence west, but ray brother informed me tliat lie 

 replied briefly about our press of business. I still 

 entertain the higli esteem for the senior member of 

 your firm, and hope to receive the photograph J I once 

 before requested, as I hope to have the privilege of 

 showing in our Journal that we render honor to whom 

 honor is due. In reference to the report, I tlnally got 

 time or rather took time (a day to look over the 

 books, as we have not trusted to a clerk to record all 



* Parties with Avhom we were negotiating, when 

 they learned tliat King Avas licensed in our terri- 

 tory, declined to purchase, or did it only at reduced 

 prices. 



•f For the facts more in detail, see p. 219 of the 

 A. B. J., April, 1871. We have the best leiral 

 authority for the assertio'J that both slot and mortice 

 are infringements of our patent. Neither are original 

 witk King— the first having been used in Kelly's 

 patent, December 8th, 1857, and the other, in W. A. 

 Flanders', May 9th, 18C7— Avhile King's bears date 

 September 8th, 18G8 ! 



{No photograph or biography was ever furnished 

 by us. Our friend. Rev. E. Vanslyke, without our 

 kuowledge, supplied both. 



on a pasre as in other matters, lest an oversight mijrht 

 occur that you niiirht think intentional), for I am 

 so jealous of my honor, that I have in opposition to 

 my brother, reported for two years under an arrany:e- 

 ment that ceased when Ave ceased to make and sell 

 hives with notches in the to]) bars, as is proved by 

 several letters of yours which have been forwarded to 

 us without solicitation (only assent). 



But he has now met me with a more powerful argu- 

 ment. Heretofore I could say that no chan,i;e from a 

 notch to mortice was contemplated Avhen the ar- 

 rangement was made, but now while admitting my 

 auswer he says it was understood that others Avoukl 

 not be permitted to peaceably infringe upon your 

 patent, but you have permitted them, Avithout moles- 

 tation, to appoint agents to sell infringing hives in 

 your territory, and this fact discharges us lionorably, 

 Avhile the fact that Ave have for years ceased to use the 

 notch, legally discharges us from the arrangement. 

 I cannot answer this argument and have therefore 

 taken the position kindly but firmly, to cease sending 

 you money for what we do not use. I presume you 

 have too much wisdom and honor to threaten and 

 abuse in a pretended rage, and as I ha\'e only now 

 informed you of this position, upon receiving your 

 reply and closing up the arrangement, kindly we will 

 remit for the report made out a few days since to that 

 date. 



Yours as ever very trulv, 



H. A. King & Co. 



This letter insulting us by presuming that Ave 

 had too much Avisdom and honor to threaten and 

 abuse in a pretended rage, my son — avIio until 

 the very close of his life sought to stand between 

 me and business troubles — showed only to his 

 mother, and after expressing his views of the 

 Avriter,'said he Avould try to c dl upon him inhis 

 journey East. My reply to this letter explains 

 why he did not. A detailed account of all the 

 relations between Mr. King and myself would 

 show that it Avas written under a deep sense of 

 accumulated wrongs — it is enough to say that 

 while this last insult to me and my departed son 

 was quivering in my heart, I duly complied with 

 all the forms of courteous address, in Avhat was 

 intended as a last ajipeal to any sense of honor 

 or justice iu Mr. King's breast. I give the letter : 



Oxford, Ohio, June 27, 1870. 

 Messrs. H. A. King & Co., 



Gentlemen: — My son (J. T. L.) died in Massa- 

 chusetts on the 14th, — just eight days after leaving 

 home. His health has been failing for more than a 

 year, but be coutinued to do business until the day he 

 left. He had catarrhal consumption as well as heart 

 disease. He was fully aware of his condition, and 

 entirely resigned to the divine Avill. His Avite found 

 your letter of May 30th in his pocket, and says if he 

 liad not been so very feeble, he would have called on 

 you when passing through New York. 



In answer to one remark in your letter I Avould say, 

 that neither my son nor myself have had the means 

 or health, to prosecute tlie numerous parties in- 

 fringing on our rights, and have been compelled to 

 suffer wrong, without any power of redress. 



I am too feeble to discuss the question whether 

 under all the circumstances, you ought to account to 

 us any further. At the time of making the arrange- 

 ment with us, you were aware that your first patent, 

 in which you used the separated frames and shailovv 

 chamber, was an infringement on our rights. Bear- 

 ing this iu mind, do what you think to be houorabie 



