THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



227 



Swindling Operations. 



FuiKND Nkwman — I would like to ask if 

 you know anvthiiig of such a linu in your 

 city as J. K. McAllister it Co. Tlicy nave 

 swindled me out of a barrel of honey, and 1 

 tliiuk every person liavinj; honey for sale 

 should be warned against shippinj; to tlieni. 

 I sold them the honey at U cents per tt>. de- 

 livered in Chicago, in the months of Feb. or 

 March, and have never received one cent 

 tor it > et. They put otV pa> in{^ for it, say- 

 ing it was not pure honey; but that they 

 would have it analyzed and" if it proved to be 

 pure, would pay nn' for it, and stated that 

 it would be analyzed by the l">th of May. 

 Nearly three months have passed since the 

 day set for it to be analyzcii and 1 am minus 

 my pay yet. 



Please publish the following letter from 

 them which will be a good advertisement 

 for their hou.se. 



t'liicAGO, .Tune 12, IbTO. 



.1. K. Montfjomery, Lincoln. Lincoln Co., 

 Tenii.— Your postal caiil of the 7th insl. to 

 hand. We will sa\ , ii' you lio U)r luivo done) 

 as you say. we will liiilii the payment of your 

 claims to'the bitter end. We stated thut you 

 would be paid I'or your hoiiey if it were shown 

 lobe pure 1)11 aiiiilysia or ooulil be sold lor 

 pure honey. When "your la.st postal caine to 

 hand we answered sayin-i that no report had 

 been given, we would in all probability know 

 by the 1.5th or tliereal)outs, and when a report 

 was given we woukl remit. Now it' you thiiili 

 to choke it out, all we have to say is try it on. 

 Our reputation is worth more than a barrel of 

 Tennesee honey, and your course is not the 

 best to pursue! if you calculate to get your 

 pay. A lawyer of tliis phict^ who had some of 

 it, says it is "not pure, and if we do not wish to 

 pay for it he will defend us in a suit, without 

 one dollar of expense. This, however, is not 

 our desire, but if you foive us to it, with your- 

 self rests the blailie. .1.K.Mc.Vi.listhk& (Jo. 



The letter speaks for itself. 



Your readers will be surprised to hear 

 that the Common Sense bee hive man— Gil- 

 lespie— has actually brought suit against 

 me for using two-story bee hives, and for 

 publishing an article in our county paper 

 warning Itee-keepers not to pay him for 

 using two-story liives. lie claims that I 

 have damaged" him .?10,000, for which 

 amount he has sued nie in the U. S. Court. 

 Ills claim which is as follows is certainly 

 absurb: 



Claim 1.— The angular nu'tallic. strips A and 

 pins i-5 in condiination with the frames I, sub- 

 Ktantiall.v as set forth. 



:J.— The combination of the rabbeted .sections 

 and parte A, H, C, 1), frames I, pins 15 and an- 

 gular plates A; all as set forth. 



He has also filed a bill enjoining me to 

 make no more two-story hives, llie trial 

 will come off at Nashville, the latter part of 

 October. Ills patent is dated Jan. 11, ISTO. 

 If he succeeds in showing that it covers all 

 two-story hives I will have to invalidate it 

 by proving previous use. And 1 would like 

 for all your readers who have used two- 

 story hives previous to 1870 to write to me 

 vstating how long they have been using 

 them, so that I may have their depositions 

 taken. My hive is a simple two-story 

 Langstioth". with frames running the short 

 way instead of lengthwise. All infonna- 

 tinn will lie thaiikfiiily received. 



1 am making the light for every bee-keep- 

 er in the U. !S. using two-story hives, and I 

 think 1 am entitled to all the assistance I 

 can get. .1. F. Moxtgo.mery. 



Lincoln. Lincoln Co., Tenn. 



J. K. ^McAllister & Co. sent to this oflice 

 an advertisement for consignments of honey 

 some IS months since, As they furnished 

 no satisfactory references it was refused! 



At Mr. Montgomery's re<iuest, last April, 

 the publisher of the A. B. J. went to McAl- 

 lister's to examine the weight and (piality 

 of this shipment of honey. As much of it 

 had been disiiosed of, there was no chance 

 to see the weight, and a small bottle of in- 

 ferior honey was exhibited as a sample of it 

 — McAllister's bare assertion, however, be- 

 ing the only proof that it was a ]>art of tlie 

 Montgomery honey. The.s»' facts were re- 

 ported to Mr. Montgomery at once, with the 

 advice to get all he could, and "settle"' the 

 claim, as it could not be considered first- 

 class in any respect. 



As to the matter of two-story hives, Mr. 

 Montgomery ought to get down on his knees 

 and thank Mr. (iillespie for his long for- 

 bearance in allowing liiiii so many years un- 

 disturbed use of his invention. Just think 

 of the patience of the man! All over the 

 country men have been defrauding liim in 

 sums of .SIO,!)^) each, and yet not one of 

 them has ever paid him a ci'iit for the priv- 

 ilege of putting one hive on top of another. 

 It would be difticult to lind a bet^keeper 

 who has not infringed on Mr. Gillespie's 

 patent.^ Years and years ago the thing was 

 done and continues to this day, without 

 even asking permission of Mr. Gillespie! 

 But it is time the thing was stopped, and 

 we hereby notify each of our readers to 

 send immediately the little matter of §10,000 

 to Mr. Gillespie, or nevermore put a second 

 story on a hive. Those who do not now 

 keep bees, but whose fathers did, must add 

 interest to the H<?10,tM)0 for the use their 

 fathers made of the invention before Gilles- 

 pie was born. Think not to evade it by 

 saying that the second story is not the 

 same size or shape as the lower story. The 

 upper story may be shorter or longer, it 

 may be ten inches high, it may be five 

 inches high, it may be only five inches 

 high and the same in width and length, and 

 the attempt made be iiiaile to evade pay- 

 ment by calling it a surplus box or super, 

 still in any and all cases it is a second story 

 and the .§10,(KX) must be paid. In consider- 

 ation of our thus pleading the rights of Mr. 

 Gillespie, we hope he will be as lenient as 

 possible in assessing the penalty for using 

 two story hives in our own apiary. 



We are glad to learn that there is a lively 

 demand for Prof. Cook's Manual of Bee- 

 Keeping. Thirty cents cannot be spent to 

 better advantage by any of our readers who 

 have no work of the kind. 



