Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-04-03
How the Bees Told.

1lOW sUuO DCCS 1O1us
Farmer Metcalf looked out of the
kitchen door one fine morning, and dis
covered that one of his, beehives was
gone. m
He kept dozen swarms, or more,
nicely housed in long row of hanging
hives at the back of his garden. Last
night they were all there. He stood
moment, gazing at the vacant place in
the row with surprise and indignation.
Then he called his son
martin, somebody has been stealing
our bees!" "a
The family were soon out upon the
veranda, all staring at the plundered
apiary, and denouncing the unknown
robber. Who could he be2
Browsing forloraly about the place
where their little house had been, were
several stragglers from the missing
swarm, and Farmer Metcalf knew very
well what would calm the bewildered
insects and make their Intelligence serve
HIM to good purpose.
A new hive was promptly hung in the
place of the old one, and some sheets of
comb put into it. The bees very soon
took possession, and after waiting twenty
or thirty minutes, the farmer and his son
saw a COMMITTEE" of their number come
out and fly to neighboring cornfeld.
Of course they had expected some
thing like this. Once make robbed
and wandering bee feel at home again,
and it RECEIVERS its wits, and let's you
know at once where its companions IN
misfortune are.
Farmer Metcalf and Martin followed
their little guides to the cornfield, and
quickly found the evidences of last
nights work. The hive lay there broken
to pieces, and crawling over the scattered
fragments, and struggling on the ground,
and climbing the standing cornstalks,
were multitudes of soiled and honey
smeared bees.
Some were rubbing their legs and
wings to clean themselves, and now and
then ono would rise in the air to fly back
to the house. There were other bees
with legs gone, bees with wings gone,
and bees half buried, paving themselves
out of the earth, and bees that lay quite
still-bees everywhere, and in all con-
ditions, living and dead.
| 1TdC6S Ol SuOCS W0T0 S6CL1S duu
signs of hard scufie in the soft soil and
among the broken corn. The thief Ger
tainly had not got his plumber without
paying something for it. It looked as if
the little captives had made gallant
fight, and taken part of their revenge. 1t
remained now for their master to COM
plete it when he found out the rest of
i their story.
| The remaining testimony was soon
forthcoming. Poking about in the mel
low dirt with his foot, the farmers son
brought to light the paper in which the
thief had carried his sulphur to smoke
the bees and stupefy them, so that he
could take their honey. It was the back
of an old letter, with the name on it still
clear and plain-"Heman Treat"
, A little further search revealed 8
handkerchief, probably the one the un-
, lucky honey-stealer had tried to tie ovel
, his face, and it bore the same tell-tale
namel Such flat exposure of himself
was no doubt, consequence of his rather
excited state of mind after the evident
blunder in managing the bees.
i Heman Treat was one of Farmer Met
calf's neighbors, and the discovery O
these traces of guilt against him was ;
very disagreeable surprise. To go direct
lv and accuse him would be still more
disagreeable It was Sunday, too, ano
: that fact made delay more justifable.
The farmer and his son walked bacl
to the house, carefully concealed thu
paper and the handkerchief, and agreed
,, to keep still about the matter till thu
next morning.
In the course ofthe day Martin walked
past Heman Treats house, and noticed
bees flying in and out at one of the attic
windows.
Other confirming evidence was dis
. covered that helped to fasten the crim'
on the man who lived there; and wheI
Monday morning came, they called
constable and made neighbor Treat
, visit.
j He was in bed sick, his wife told them
). and could not see any one. But they re
, piled that their business with him wa
urgent, and must not be put off, and sh
!, was obliged to let them in.
They found the man sick enough, to b
sure. His hands were swollen to twic
their natural size, and his head and fac
8 were sight to behold-infamed lik
!, one great blister, and bloated so that h
J, could hardly see out of his eyes.
9 "Got badly poisoned working in th
Q swamp last Saturday, was the way b
q and his wife accounted for it. 'Twa
u likely he had handled poison elder 9
P ivy; they always affected him so.
The visitors showed deep interest j
q the sufferers case, and one of them, r,
). marking on the peculiar appearance {
4 his face, applied his thumb and finger
nail to pimple and pulled out BEE
|" stingl as
= "Thats the kind of poison you've bee
q handling" said Farmer Metcalf, ian
d you'll make nothing by trying to lie o,
1T of it,
," Upon that he produced the paper an
D, the handkerchief, and thu theft of th
u beehive was charged home to Hema
l Treat then and there, without the troub
l. of many words. ~ NN@# NN
4 The culprit saw he was caught. an
d confessed his crime. He begged the of
le Ger not to put him under arrest, an
IS promised to settle at any price the own
r Of the bees should demand. g
Of Farmer Metcalf did not wish to pros
:" cute his neighbor, and he readily Above