The Bee-Sting Justice of Kiona
A group of young vandals terrorizing the countryside found themselves outgunned and forced to pay a heavy price after targeting a local man's beehives.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Four young men on pleasure and destruction bent were touring west of Benton Sunday. Game was scarce until they reached Mr. Jahn's place, where they found a few hives of bees. Four of these were disposed of, when Mr. Jahn came on the scene carrying a crowbar and a shotgun. The "bloods" were in their turn held up, relieved of their guns and team and advised to make for pastures new. They walked to Kiona and took a freight train to Kennewick. Later they compromised with Jahn for $20 and were allowed their hostages.
“The "bloods" were in their turn held up, relieved of their guns and team and advised to make for pastures new.”
Conflicts over private property and trespassing remain a central tension in the rural landscapes surrounding Kennewick, though modern disputes rarely end with a shotgun-wielding apiarist holding a team of horses for ransom.
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