Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-02-01
I'm the Courr..

ho oniy crimlnal matter of importance
before the courts yesterday was the trial
OF John E. baltimore, the San Gabriel
negro, for arson. baltimore has been
tried before on charge of arson, and on
a charge OF perjury alleged to have been
committed in the trial for arson. He is
now being tried on second charge of
arson. baltimore has been a trouble
some citizen in the San Gabriel valley
for years. He worked at one time for
T.. j. Baldwin, and had difficultv which
resulted In his discharge. He worked for
Mr. chapman later, and was discharged
from that ranch. He gave Baldwin q
good deal OF trouble after his discharge,
ana then when discharged from the
Chapman ranch he made threats Of
various sorts. Soon after this a series Of
lncendlary fires were discovered on the
Chapman ranch, and the negro was sus-
pected of setting them. On the 27th of
July last house occupied by Chapmsn's
gardener was burned, and it is for
this fire baltimore is now on trial.
Chapman's own house was discovered on
tire not long from this date. baltimore
is suspected of this fire too. There is no
direct evidence to be had in the case,
and thus far no conviction has been
gotten against the negro. The circum-
stantial chain has not been sufficient to
convince the jurors The case goes on
today. baltimore is as sharp as razors,
and conducts his case through his at.
torneys with great shrewdness. On the
jury in Geo. w. Robinson, an old man,
who was the first jailor of Los Angeles
county after the cession of California TO
the United States.
There was an appeal case before Judge
Mckinley from one of the Justices
courts involving the value of $50 horse.
The parties to the suit are E. G..
Walton and Robert Stewart. They
live up in the Verdugo country.
Walton hired his horse 10 Stewart, and
after being returned it took sick and died.
Walton alleged that it was covered with
small pimples which he says were stings
of bees. Stewart keeps bees, and had
some refuse honey for them to feed on
near the hives. The honey was fifty feet
from the hives and the horse was
tethered seventy five feet from the honey.
Stewart says the horse was all right
when he left his ranch, and that if there
we're any bee stings there could not have
been more than twenty at the outside
number of experts in horse flesh and
in bees were examined in the course of
the trial. The most interesting testi-
mony was that of G. N. Wilson, who,
although "Know Nothing" in politics,
is an expert on bees. He said:
Il am now 60 years old, and about the
fret / k,or IL
fathers apiary, and have been amongst
bees ever since. Ihave two ranches now
and do big business in that line."
Wilson was asked good many ques.
tions about bees, and whether man
should allow horse to 60 near bee
hive or apiary.
"Well," said he, "it all depends upon
the weather. The bee is very peculiar,
and the more you know of him the more
complicated his nature appears. When
the weather is warm the bee as rule
flies high, and when it is cool he keeps
near the ground. 1 would never allow
& horse to 60 within half a mile of an
apiary unless the bees were shut in their
hives. They seem to have an antipathy
to horse, and if the animal is heated
and in their course of flight they are al
most certain to attack him."
He told how bees fly in direct line in
going to and from their homes, and how
they dislike to be tur1ed from their
route by man or beast. When asked
how many bees it would take to kill a
horse, he replied:
"Bees have temperament like hui
man being. When they are hungry they
are very irritable, but when their stom-
ach is full of food they are correspond
ingly cheerful, SO to speak. They are
more liable to show fight when they
start out for days work than when they
return. Then again, bees are very quar-
relsome when the supply Of honey is
short. They are as cross as an old maid
under such circumstances. They seem to
get all worked up at not being able to
gather a good supply of honey.
ut all depends. l presume half a
dozen bee stings would kill horse if
they were made upon prominent veins of
q horse. The formic acid, which is in
the poison administered by the bee with
his business snd,' passes into the blood
and goes to the heart and causes death,
in some instances in few hours. 1t
causes blood poisoning. have known
of men being dangerously ill for weeks
after being stung."
"Supposing horse did not die from
bee stings, would his health be re-
stored ?"
"Not completely. The poison would
always remain in the system. 1t would
be like the <bite of venomous serpent
on q human being. The victim might
recover, but the evil effect would always
remain -