BEES HOLD UP A TRAIN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2628, 9 October 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

BEES HOLD UP A TRAIN.

! BOYS TO THE RESCUE l

While swarming bees are credited with doing all sorts of unusual things, probably this is the first time that a (preen and its retinue and subjects eompletelv tied up a train. It happened on the Ha it im an system at Twin Falls, Idaho, recently.

! Tin pans, tom-toms, whistles, and j other standard lures failed to dislodge a swarm, which had settled in the spout of the standpipe at the water tanks, where a long train of freight cars stood on the main line without sufficient i water in the boiler of the big Mogu] to | pull out. The driver and the coali heaver did excellent work in trying to reach the pipe, but the bees gave them i short shrift and the men refused to . make the second attempt, j H. A. Swab, a local expert in apiaries i arrived upon the scene to capture the swarm. He brought! with him a nail , Rv’g and two long sticks. Ho sent his helper to coax the honey-gathers into the keg, but in less than six seconds the helper had a score of active bees up his sleeves, and he fled. Swab also remembered he had an important business engagement elsewhere. Ten foremen and members of the section crew were next routed, and when the engineer appealed to Agent Sullivan that worthy declared that he was hired to handle freight and not stingers. The conductor, the engineer, and stoker all had schemes, but they were, for others to execute. The brakeman offered no solution, for he was already nursing a dozen or more knobs on his face, hands and neck. Finally, a bystander prescribed the water cure. A well-directed stream from a garden hose, seemed to have a quietening effect, and the pipe was lowered to the intake on the tender and the tank was filled with bees and water.

While replacing the pipe the fireman was attacked by a few stragglers, and to protect himself from further onslaught he tied a bandanna handkerchief round his head. After raising the spout he tucked the handkerchief into his pocket and accepted the congratulations of the onlookers upon his escape, but while mopping his face a vagrant hoe winged its way out of the folds of the bandanna and stung him on the lip.

After all the excitement with the bees, two small boys climbed to the roof of the water tank and with bare hands captured the queen, placing her in the bottom of the keg, into which the bees quickly swarmed. Swab bought the swarm, giving the boys 1.35 dollars to swell the candy and lemonade fund, and the incident closed.