AfARCti 1, 1914 



189 



would not be there. You see I bad been 

 watching the biids feeding on his grapes 

 before he was out of bed. However, he 

 came over one Sunday to inform me that he 

 was going to make a test case of it, and 

 intended to swear out a warrant for me the 

 next day. I tried to reason with him, and 

 look him to see my grapes. I also read 

 of several cases to him as published in the 

 ABC and X Y Z of Bee Culture. I also 

 (old him that he would likely beat rae in 

 police court, but I would defeat him in tlie 

 end in a higher court. Before he left he 

 said he was going to leave it to somebody 

 else to prove that bees damaged fruit, and 

 Ihat he was going to drop it. I thought the 

 li'ouble settled, and in\iled him over again. 



Contrary to liis i)romise he went the next 

 morning and swore out a warrant for my 

 iii'rest. He also put out sweetened water 

 ;ind scalded llie bees, and poured coal oil on 

 ihom and killed them in every way possible. 

 1 notified the liumaue officer, and he put a 

 stop to the slaughter at once. However, he 

 .-■•wore on the si and that he had killed half a 

 peck of bees. They also made a pretense of 

 being afraid of the bees. This caused me to 

 have some pictures taken to show that 

 bees do not sting when in search of food 

 unless squeezed in some way. My neighbor 

 (if he can be called such) is a politician; 

 and when he found out I had taken the 

 pictures he said it would not make any 

 difference — as much as to say he had the 

 judged ''fixed." The facts are that the judge 

 is a friend of his. 



In order to make liis case good he went 

 all over the neighborhood and found out all 

 the children that had been stung by step- 

 ping on bees. He liad their parents sub- 

 poened and brought into court as witnesses 

 against me. His next-door neighbor, who 

 had some hard feelings against me, swore 

 that he could not sit on his front porch of 

 evenings till bed time on account of the 

 bees. Just think of it, brother beekeepers! 

 what an industrious strain of bees I have, 

 flying around at night and driving my 

 neighbors in at a distance of 315 feet from 

 my apiary ! 



Another stated that her children were 

 afraid to pick the peaches on account of the 

 bees. That same boy came to my house and 

 looked through eleven colonies of bees while 

 I was away. But when his mother wanted 

 him to pick peaches he was afraid of being 

 stung ! 



As the trial progressed, everybody thought 

 that I was sure to be discharged. No one 

 could swear that the bees the children step- 

 ped on were my bees — in fact, no one could 

 sav that the bees that were on the fruit were 



my bees. 1 also proved that my next-door 

 neighbor had bees as well as many others; 

 in fact, 1 had only about one-fourth of the 

 bees in that district. 



1 also exhibited fruit that had been in the 

 hive for 58 hours, and not a grape was 

 df'maged. After all the evidence had been 

 nitroduced the judge le'videred the following 

 decision : 



" There has been a great deal of expert 

 testimony introduced that proves that bees 

 do not injure fruit. On the other hand, 

 there has been more convincing testimony 

 that people have been stung by the bees. 

 However, I want you to get a decision in a 

 higher court, and I will find the defendant 

 guilty, and place the amount of his fine at 

 •$100, which is the minimum amount." I was 

 l)laced under arrest at once, and detained i)i 

 the police station for a time. I gave a $200 

 bond, and was released. Strangers to me, 

 when they heard the decision, left the court- 

 room in disgust. One man was heard to say, 

 as he sliook his fist, "I'olitics! politics! 

 d — d politics! " 



Then I got busy preparing for the higher 

 court. There was no law pi'ohibiting the 

 keeping of bees in the city limits. I took 

 several photos of other apiaries, some of 

 which are shown on the map. I live on a plot 

 of ground 125 x 250. and control two other 

 plots of the same size adjoining me on the 

 north. I had 22 colonies. I found one 

 apiary of 100 colonies on a fifty-foot lot in 

 a congested residence district. The picture 

 will show how close the houses were on each 

 side. Does it not look a little strange that 

 T should be fined .$100 for keeping 22 colo- 

 nies on 21/4 acres while others could keep 

 100 on a 50-foot lot ? 



When the trial came up in the criminal 

 court I was well prepared. Mr. J. F. Die- 

 mer, of Liberty, Mo., who is also secretary of 

 the State Beekeepers' Association, was pres- 

 ent and volunteered his assistance. Mr. 

 Austin D. Wolfe, of Parkville, Mo., also was 

 present as a witness with fruit to introduce 

 as evidence. I had an observatory hive of 

 one frame of bees with a lot of grapes in- 

 closed, as well as a pear and a peach to show 

 that the bees did not damage sound fruit. 

 When my case was called, my lawyer did 

 something that I did not altogether approve 

 of, and without my knowledge. He produc- 

 ed the city ordinance that I was charged 

 with violating, and showed that the city had 

 not proceeded according to law against me, 

 as I had not been notified as required by 

 the ordinance; also that I had not violated 

 the ordinances cited in the complaint. 



After Judge Latshaw examined the law 

 he promptly dismissed the case. Many of 



