A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



slides on eight or ten hives, loaded them in the 

 wagon and began the drive back to camp, smacking 

 their lips in anticipation of honey for breakfast. 

 The bumpy road must have loosened the slides of 

 several hives, so that all at once angry bees seemed 

 to swarm from every side, settling on the men and 

 sweating mules, and creating general havoc, including 

 a classy runaway. The result was two dead mules 

 and a demolished wagon. The boys had to make a 

 clean breast of it to their captain, who promptly 

 reported, "Two mules and one wagon lost in action." 

 "Billy" Cummings retired under the Armour pen- 

 sion system, after some 24 years of service. The last 

 years of his life were hampered by some bone trouble 

 in his legs. One foot was amputated, but he con- 

 tinued to work in the yards for some time, often 

 remarking that the new foot which had been given 

 him was better than the other. Later he lost the 

 other foot, and some complications resulted in his 

 death. Few men in the Kansas City yards left so 

 many friends or had so many unbroken, satisfactory 

 relations with salesmen and producers as "Billy." 

 He died aged 71 years at Lawrence, Kans., in 1919. 



[48] 



