The herald., 1896-10-25
BEES DEFY A RAILROAD
Construction of Andrew Carnegie's Line
Stops at Bee Field

The busy bee has improved his shin
ing hours down in pennsylvania Dy
making a successful fight against rail-
road corporation.
1t was thought that the catalogue OF
obstacles to throw. in the path OF the
railroad that was trying to get the
right of way where it was not wanted
had been exhausted. The bee colony
owned by George Reiber, farmer near
Butler, Pa, demonstrated, however, that
the hand of man is not always as cum
ming as the instinct which nature gives
her creatures.
For a long time the Butler and Pitts
burg railroad officials cast covetous eyes
on the Reiber bee field. They wanted
their road to go through it. Mr.. Reiber
was obdurate. He could neither be ca
joled nor bought. The land was his, he
said, and he would not give 1t up unless
he had to. ~ &.
There is a remedy in the railroad s
hands for such cases as this. The law
has said that on the question of right of
way the railroad, rather than truth,
shall prevail. So the officials told Mr..
Reiber, that if he would sell. we'll and
good. If he refused they would go
through his field anyhow.
They were reviled and scoffed at, and
the law was invoked. Presently its ma
chinery was set in motion and an order
of the court turned out, forb1dd1ng Mr.
Reiber under pain of various penalties
to interfere with the building of the. road
through his bee field.
The railroad officials were jubilant,
and prepared to construct without de-
lay. They had not, however, included
the bees in their calculations, but the
railroad workmen speedily discovered
that this was necessary.
Then the officials told Mr.. Reiber to
remove his bees, but he was as obstinate
J,ic ho h 1ad a
right Of way. He told the railroad peo-
pie that if they wanted to buy the bees
he would sell them. AS for moving them,
not he.
Meanwhile the railroad building in the
bee field had come to a complete stand
still Every time the workmen tried
to begin over again the bees would nle
a singing demurrer that did not admit
of a question. Their appeal was sus-
tanned in every instance, painful though
it was in the extreme.
In response to Mr.. Reiber's PROPOSE
ton the railroad company maneuvered
a little, but finally fatty refused to pur-
chase the bees. Then they ordered their
men to remove them.
The order was easily given, but It's
execution was altogether another mat
ter. Andrew Carnegie owns the rail-
road, and it Is his boast that his orders
are always carried out, no matter what
representatives reckoned without their
host. The bees were much smaller than
the Homestead men, but they were just
as good fighters.
Every time the workmen would as
sail the houses of the indomitable in
sects the inmates would make a sortie
and rout the enemy in short order. 1t
was break ranks, every man for himself,
'snd let the, bees. take care Of the hind
| most. They always did. and when the
hindmost got where he could take an
inventory of himself he seemed to have
more boils than ever Job thought about.
Raid after raid WAS made on the
winged Inhabitants of the two-acre lot
but to no purpose, unles It was to DEM
strate how violently bees can sting in
defense Of their homes. The pictures
these attacks presented was for all the
world like the illustrations that period
ically appear of the bear who tried to
rob the honey bees
The bees swarmed about the invaders
They stung their cheeks ears. noses,
every exposed part and some parts that
were not exposed. What was more
they chased their foes. and all the wav-
ing and laying ON Of hands that a score
Of men could accomplish was utterly
without effect.
4 CONSULTATION of war was held, and