Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1892 — Bees Capture a Candy Store. [ARTICLE]

Bees Capture a Candy Store.

About nine o’clock one morning a few bees, apparently attracted by the odor of sweets, entered the confectionery store of Frank T. Theburg, at New Brunswick, N. J. Mr. Theburg and his clerk were behind the counter, and in a rear room, which could be seen through the doorway, four men were at work making fresh candy. The bees were driven out without difficulty, but it would appear that they were only a prospecting party. About 10:15 o’clock a very large swarm entered the rear room through a window. The men then fled into the store. Mr. Theburg hurried around the counter to close the window in the rear room, but when he reached the doorway he could hardly see the window. The room was black with bees. His employes in the store were lashing towels furiously to right and left, but the bees only buzzed the louder and stung the harder, and s*on all the men rushed into the street. The bees remained in possession. The other day some one told Mr. Theburg that if he caught the queen bee and took her out or killed her the rest would leave the place. “George,” he said to his clerk, “go in and catch the queen bee.” George did not do so. On Saturday, ordinarily the busiest day in the week, no business was done. The bees still held the fort. The following Tuesday Mh Theburg began to burn sulphur. He bought a quantity of it, built a Are in a big can, and put the sulphur on it, made a wild rush into the rear room, with his face and hands protected, set the can on the floor and flew out again. In the morning he filled a barrel and a small box with the dead bees he found on the floor. There were still several hundred crawling about in the show windows, but they died within a few hours.