American Bee Journal, 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEE CULTURE. 



Vol. XII. 



CHICAGO, MARCH, 1876. 



No. 3. 



The Bee Queen's Temptation. 



Since our last issue, Mrs. Ellkn S. Tup- 

 PER, long known as a writer on bee 

 culture, has " fallen like a star from 

 heaven." 



On the 38th of January Mrs Tupper 

 was arrested for forgery. It appears that 

 she has freely used the names of her re- 

 latives and friends, and in addition, 

 forged the names of leading citizens of 

 various cities of Iowa, from the name of 

 the governor of the State, down ; as well 

 as the names of leading men in the East- 

 ern States. Her forgeries will foot up 

 somewhere from fifteen to twenty thous- 

 and dollars, and perhaps more. A cor- 

 respondent of the Chicago Tribune, from 

 Des Moines, under date of February 3d, 

 says: 



There have been notes and drafts to 

 about $2,000 protested and dishonored 

 here for want of funds in bank. What 

 has she done with this money ? She has 

 not expended it here, as her property 

 is incumbered by mortgages, covering it 

 all, and collections against her have been 

 difficult for some time. She has not ex- 

 pended it in living or about her premises. 

 It is supposed she has sent the money 

 away for some other purpose. She was 

 arrested at State Centre, and removed to 

 Monticello. Her daughter, Kate, went to 

 her, and, when she arrived, she gave Kate 

 a letter, requesting her to read it alone. 

 It was a long letter, reviewing her strug- 

 gles in life to raise her family and main- 

 tain them, and inclosed two notes, which 

 she said, were given under circumstances 

 that she must keep secret. One read as 

 follows : 



Des Moines, Ia., December 1, 1875. —Thirty 

 days after date I promise to pay Mrs. Ellen S. 

 Tuppor, or bearer, the sum of §1,000, with interest 

 at 10 per cent, per annum. his 



Jesus ><j Christ. 

 mark. 



The Other was for $500, at sixty days, 

 and drawn in the same way. 



She induced the publisher of The 

 American Bee Journal to indorse for 

 her to the amount of $1,000. In doing 

 this he broke over a rule of his life, — his 



father having been ruined by endorsing 

 Bank paper. But he did it out of pure 

 sympathy, believing her story of embar- 

 assment caused by her sickness and being 

 unable to attend to her apiary. She 

 claimed that she had honey and supplies 

 enough, which she could turn into money 

 in 30 days to pay it, and if not, she had a 

 mortgage on some laud in O'Brien 

 County, or something of that sort, that 

 she could raise it on, within the time, and 

 that we should never hear of it again. 

 But we not only heard from it often, in the 

 way of Bank protests, etc., that nearly 

 ruined us financially — but by a very 

 " crooked " financial practice (a sharp 

 trick) she doubled the amount, making it 

 $2,000. For a portion of this, we under- 

 stand that suit is about to be commenced 

 against us. Now, sympathy will not pay 

 it — it must be greenbacks — to the last 

 cent. 



The editor of the Denison Review thus 

 soliloquises: 



" Of course she is crazy ; has been ever 

 since she began to forge. A man must 

 commit murder, or at least, adultery; a 

 woman must poison her husband, strangle 

 her babe, or forge notes, before the public 

 finds out how much good there is in them 

 — very little attention being paid to men 

 and women when they are honest." 



Poraeroy's Democrat says: 



" Mrs. Tupper's proverbial philososhy 

 was to forge ahead till she gained $11,000. 

 And now comes emotional insanity with 

 its uplifted umbrella." 



We should be glad to think it insanity, 

 if we could — but that is impossible. There 

 has been too much " method in her mad- 

 ness;" — her " crookedness " has been too 

 chronic. 



A prominent bee-keeper in New Eng- 

 land, well known to our readers, remarks 

 in a letter of recent date : " I don't wish 



to say much against Mrs. T , but if 



swindling, fraud, and forgery, is any indi- 

 cation of insanity, she has been insane, 



