THE BEE-KEEPtJRS' REVIEW. 



307 



a persou suffering from these causes, tliese 

 are the men who can do it. 



Going away to the fairs would have made 

 this Review some late, but if Ivy had not 

 been sick it would not have been so very 

 late ; as is was there were so many loose 

 ends to be gathered up after I got home, 

 and I was none too bright and smart my- 

 self, hence the delay in getting out this 

 issue. I hope now that we shall soon be 

 able to catch up again. 



1t»»L»k^1i^»«Xt» 



SWINDLERS. 



Twice, now, the Review has been led in- 

 to accepting the advertisements, of unrelia- 

 ble firms. That is putting it too mild, as in 

 the last case, that of Geo. T. Wheadon & Co., 

 it is a case of deliberate robbery. Gleanings 

 has been wary and kept its foot out of the 

 trap. The American Bee .Journal and the 

 Review were both caught by Horrie it Co., 

 but only the Review was foolish enough to 

 be caughtr by the Wheadon gang. I don't 

 know as they tried to get Bro. York to ad- 

 vertise for them, but if they didn't, it was 

 because they knew that he was on the spot 

 and would " spot " them too quick. In both 

 instances the Review took all ordinary pre- 

 cautions, but men who go to work to swin- 

 dle the readers of a paper, see to it that the 

 editors a^e well- used and well-paid and 

 that promptly, too. It is to their advantage 

 to do so. 



Of course, the Review doesn't lose money 

 by accepting these advertisements, but it 

 loses what is eventually money — the con- 

 fidence of its readers. I am well-aware that 

 the readers of the Review well-know that 

 the Review would not knowingly accept the 

 advertisement of a swindler, all the same, 

 its endorsement of a new firm would not, I 

 fear, now have enough weight to help that 

 firm very much. There has been much 

 said in the Journals about patronizing only 

 the old, established firms, but, somehow, I 

 have felt that a new firm deserving of con- 

 fidence ought to be encouraged, which may 

 be true, but the trouble is that some of the 

 late new firms have been composed of old 

 rascals. There seems to be a gang of swin-' 

 dlers that blossom out in a new place when- 

 ever the old location becomes too hot for 

 them. 



While on my way home from the fairs I 

 stopped off in Chicago one day, and half of 

 that time was passed in the office and ware- 

 house of Geo. T. Wheadon & Co. They occu- 



pied one-half of a store, and some other 

 coinmi^siou man the other half. ^VheadotJ 

 was not there He would be there later. 

 If I would come in between four aud six 

 o'clock I would surely catch him. I stayed 

 all of the afternoon until the shades of 

 night fell and the store was closed, but no 

 Wheadon appeared, although some of his 

 victims did. Nothing could be done as 

 Wheadon wasn't in. Neither was there 

 any produce " in. " Two 12-lb. cases of 

 honey was all tnere was on hand. Two 

 crates of ducks were there when I came in, 

 but they soon went out. A two-horse dray 

 with " (leo. T. Wheadon & Co., " painted on 

 its side came in several times loaded with 

 barrels of apples. The driver said he was 

 unloading a car for W^headon. but the 

 apples were taken in next door to Wheadon's 

 It is my opinion th it they were sold to the 

 neighbor before they were even unloaded. I 

 had quite a talk with Wheadon's man ( and 

 he was an ill- looking imp, too, I can tell 

 you ) and he said that he knew very little 

 about Wheadon's business. He was em- 

 ployed to receive whatever came in and sell 

 it and turn the money over to Wheadon. 

 At the end of the week he received 

 ceived his salary, and that was all he knew 

 about it. I am well satisfied that he knew^ 

 etcaci/ J/ what was going on. Two or three 

 times during the afternoon a tall, well 

 dressed, light complexioned, good looking 

 fellow came in and there were private con- 

 versations between the two, accompained by 

 many smirks, aud winks, and sardonic 

 grins, and finally I asked one of the men 

 who worked for the other firm who that 

 man was and was told that it was McConkey. 

 He is the man that was in partnership with 

 C. H. Horrie. I had a long talk with one of 

 the rnen who worked for the other firm, and 

 he told me that Wheadon A Co. began busi- 

 ness there last February, and for several 

 months did an ai)parently honest business. 

 They kept a half a dozen girls busy all of 

 the time sending out circulars. Having in 

 this way established confidence they began 

 holding on to all of the money that they 

 could get, paying no bills unless compelled 

 to do so, and finally paying nothiny, simply 

 keeping a man there to receive any produce 

 that came in aud sell it at once aud turn 

 over the money. If irrate shippers came in 

 none of the principals could be found. 

 While I was there a constable came there to 

 arrest Wheadon. I know this because he 



