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BARBED WIRE IS WARFARE.
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6PIKED WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS PLACED AROUND CHIEVELFA” STATION IN
SOUTH AFRICA AS PART OF THE BRITISH DEFENSES.
5 The Blossburg “Gusher I
2 Greatest C Strike on Record, &
*
2 PENNSYLVANIA’S NEW KLONDIKE. *
A RIVER of oil lias created a
second Klondike in Penn¬
sylvania. It has made a
city of a mountainside hith¬
erto sacred to rattlesnakes.
It has added millions to the real
estate values and made heiresses of
poor farmers’ daughters for many a
mile around.
Most important of all, it has proved
that the geologists were wrong when
they decided, years ago, that oil
would never be tapped east of the Al¬
leghany watershed, and it suggests
the possibility of the world’s oil mar¬
ket being flooded to such a degree as
to bring prices down to next to noth¬
ing—that is, if Mr. Rockefeller were
not here to keep them up and pat the
difference in his pocket.
Such, in brief, are the facts concern-
irgthe Blossburg Oil Company’s well,
the source of a river which is jealously
caught and imprisoned as it gushes
from the earth, because every gallon
of it is worth money.
It is pouring out wealth at the rate
of $365,000 a year—a thousand dollars
a day—aud it represents only the be¬
ginning of what may be expected of a
region where land is ten thousand
times more valuable to-day than it
was before the oil discoveries.
This last is a literal fact. If the
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CELAVAif AVLESWOKTH. JOHN Al'LESWOBTH.
(Tlie brothers who have struck oil.)
mountainside had been offered at auc¬
tion before a drill had been sunk it
would not have fetched ten cents an
acre. Now there is not an acre that
wonld not sell for $1000, with a mob
of bidders fighting for precedence.
Pine Creek, the most famous trout
stream in Pennsylvania, is the centre
of this oil rush, which rivals the gold
rash of Cape Nome. The big well—
there are many smaller ones around
it, and more are being sunk every day
—is three-quarters of a mile south¬
east of Gaines, Tioga County. It
penetrates the rock for 654 feet near
the edge of a bluff that rises 120 feet
from the bed of Pine Creek.
There was a time when the hills for
miles in every direction were cov¬
ered with the finest pines in Pennsyl¬
vania. But the creek has floated out
billions of feet of timber, and now the
region is a desolate one of stumps and
brambles, repellant alike to the agri¬
culturist and the artist.
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The story of ihe “Great Gusher,”
as it is known in the parlance of oil
men, is one of the romances of for¬
tune, deserving a place beside the
bonanza tales of California and Ne¬
vada. Those for whom the well is
pouring forth its $1000 a day are coun¬
try merchants and professional men,
formerly of moderate means, none of
whom knew anything about the oil
business. They are former Senator
Walter Merrick, John Aylesworth,
Del. Aylesworth, William Aylesworth,
Dr. D. O. Merrick, George Clark, J.
D. Connors, W. S. Scott, Mark Davis,
W. II. McCarty, A. E. Botchford, H.
R. Whittiker, F. H. Stratton, AV. C.
Babcock, F. L. Jones and W. A. Rob¬
erta.
The company is not incorporated
and business is carried on as a co¬
partnership.
The drilling of the Great Gusher
was a forlorn hope. The company
had already drilled one well on its
lease of 155 acres and had found the
sand as dry as powder. Under the
lease a forfeit would have to be
paid if two wells were not sunk. The
forfeit would amount to about the
same loss as the drilling of a well.
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OIL FLOWING INTO TANK FROM THE BLOSSBURG “GUSHER.''
With the slenderest shadow of a
hope—merely, in gambling parlance,
to “have a run for their money”—the
partners decided in favor of the well.
In selecting the bluff near the upper
end of the property they disregarded
the advice of experienced oil pros¬
pectors. To drill there was pro¬
nounced an act of folly.
To emphasize the hopelessness of
the case work was begun on Good
Friday, April 13. Any gambler would
have laid big odds against suok un
unhappy combination.
For ten days the drill burrowed its
way through varying strata. On Mon¬
day, April 23, it gnuwed slowly for an
hour through a hard formation more
than an eighth of a mile below the
surface.
“She’s struck sand!” shouted the
driller.
It was only that the drill had
dropped into a softer formation—aud
the sand was likely to be as barren as
Con6y Island’s—but force of habit
impelled this cautious man to con¬
nect the well with the storage tank
provided to save the first rush of oil.
He was just in time. Before the
tools could be withdrawn from the
hole a yellow torrent gashed forth
and filled the tank with a roaring ar.d
a splashing that sang of millions.
“She’s struck oil!” was the shout;
and it echoed down the valley and be¬
yond, till at every farmer’s door and
on into the cities were eohoed the
magic words, “Struck oil!”
Every telegraph wire in the land
flashed the story of the Blossburg Oil
Company’s Great Gusher, and capital¬
ists began to speculate on the strange
developments that might follow the
discovery of a subterranean petroleum
lake east of the Alleghanies.
As for the Great Gusher, it spouted
forth 2200 barrels the first day and
2500 the second day.
Before noon on the third day it had
5*
UNABLE TO CONTROL TIIE FLOW OF OIL.
repaid the partners their entire ex¬
penses on the lease—the investment
had cost them only $5200.
At the close of the fifth day they
were $14,000 richer for tho mere
trouble of catching the oil.
Then the Great Gusher sobered
down to the cheerful song of $1000 a
day, and this it continues to sing,
week days and Sundays, with no sign
of weariness.
It is the greatest well known to the
northern oil fields sinoe 1882, when
the Cherry Grove field, in Warren
Connty, Penn., mndo the world ring
with tales of sudden fortune.
Cherry Grove kuoekod the bottom
out of oil prices and ruined thousands
of men engaged in the oil business
elsewhere, Blossburg may do the
same thing if it proves to be over a
big lake of oil aud not merely a small
pool, as was the case with Cherry
Grove, .which exhausted itself in a
year. question
This important can be
settled only when test, wells have been
sunk for miles around, and from the
way speculators are rushing into the
Pine Creek region doubts must soon
be dispelled.
The Blossburg property is being
honey-combed with drills. A well near
the Great Gusher is yielding 540 bar¬
rels a day, and another is productive
in a smaller degree.
Just what kind of sand the oil comes
from no one knows. As soon as the
tools pierced the shell the well flowed
and no sand was bailed^out. Whether
there is ten feet of it or fifty, whether
it is brown, white or gray, no one
knows as yet. The company has been
kept too busy caring for the oil to
worry about the color or thickness of
tho sand in which it has been stored
up.
The little town of Gaines has ac¬
quired some of the character of a
Western mining camp. The hotel has
been overflowing for three weeks and
the proprietor has secured every vacant
room in town for his guests. The
telegraph and telephone havo become
metropolitan in their activity. Keen
men with large bank accounts roam
everywhere, snapping up speculative
chances. Their talk is all of barrels
and dollars, leases and- wells, drills
aud yipe lines.
The Standard Oil Company, alive to
the great possibilities of the new field,
is laying a four-inch pipe line across
the mountain to connect with their
main pipe line twenty miles away.
On the lighter side of human na¬
ture at tho Pine Creek rush are
ranged the clairvoyants and hazel
twig magiciaus who infest new oil
fields. One of these "oil smellers”
will sell out his occult gifts as a pros¬
pector for from $10 to $150, accord¬
ing to the means and credulity of his
client.
Some of the individual cases of
sudden fortunes are full of interest.
Joseph Bernauer was a poor man
two years ago. His little farm on the
bank of Piue Creek yielded him a liv¬
ing and that was all. He peddled
milk every morning and evening to
the housewives of Gaines.
His farm proved to be right on the
oil belt and his income from royalties
is now over $500 a month-.
This discovery has made a group
of country storekeepers and small
farmers rich in a trice. Men whose
total worldly possessions were worth
perhaps $500 have been offered $125,-
000 for their rights in this gusher.
How to Live a Century.
Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Hinsdale,
Ill., a millionaire who is making it his
business to give away his money to
enterprising colleges in the West, re¬
cently made some very interesting
statements in explanation of his con¬
dition of hearty and hopeful health at
the age of eighty
years. He says he
\ expects is to live until
<4F' 9 he a hundred, and
p) his rules of life are
|r worth “Most considering. dig their
men
4 graves with their
V, * teeth,” he said. “My
stomach is my friend
n and I’m happier than
any other man on
earth.” He says the
de. d. k. pear- ma u who wants to live
SONS. to a ripe old age
should keep cool, not overload the
stomach, breathe pure air and lots of
it, eat a vegetable diet, not eat late
suppers, go to bed early, not fret, not
go where he’ll get excited, and not
forget to take a nap after dinner.
Though he is a doctor himself, he
threw all his medicine away years ago,
and he says he does not know what an
ache or pain is. He takes regular de¬
light in his gifts to colleges, but will
not allow anyone to make a hero of
him, as he hates excitement. He
says a man must “keep cool” if he
wants to live a hundred years. “It’s
the worst thing in the world," he
maintains, “to get angry or cross.”
He gets up at C, eats a light break¬
fast, works till noon, eats a vegetable
and fruit dinner, without tea or cof¬
fee, takes it easy the rest of the day
and goes to bed at 8. He says he
does not want to die till he has given
away all his money.
Even the rich girl may have a poor
complexion.
OAmlRED BY FILIPINOS
PERILS AND ESCAPE OF LIEUT.
CILLMORE AND PARTY.
VQIIImore” Chalked on the Cliff. hr
T hey Were II nrrleti Over llio Aloun.
lain Country Made a Trail Forthe ISe«-
euers — The Lieutenant's Adventures.
JC MONG the many advontures
Jy\_ / \ of tho brave men in our army
and navy during tho Spanish
if war and the insurrection in
the Philippines, none perhaps is more
thrilling than that, which befell Lieu¬
tenant James C. Gillmore, of the York -
town.andhis boat’s crew, who fell into
a Filipino ambush a year ago and wore
either captured or killed. The tale
is told most interestingly by Lieuten¬
ant GillinoYe himself in Collier’s
Weekly. April
It was on the morning of 12,
1899, that 'Lieutenant Gillmore left
the York town in the second cutter
with a crew of fourteen men aud two
passengers—an officer and a mau—
near the town of Baler, whore they
were to try aud discover the position
of a church in which it was said a
party of Spanish were besieged by in¬
surgents. The men were lauded safe¬
ly, hut Gillmore’s boat was discovered
by the enemy a little later as he was
going back to the mouth of the river
which flows past Baler. To throw off
suspicion as to the real purpose of his
trip, Gillmore began making sound¬
ings across the river, and sketches.
In doing this the boat was allowed to
approach close to the left bank of the
river where there was u swamp cov-
ered with tall marsh grass.
“As I was aboht to give the order
to return,” Lieutenant Gillmore’s
narrative says, “we rounded a bend
and came full upon au outpost who
hailed us and fired a shot. Before I
could answer the hail a volley was
fired at us at close range—about fifty
yards.
“The effect of this volley was terri¬
ble. Two men were killed instantly,
the brains of one being scattered over
the boat and crew. Another man had
the fingers cut off his left baud, but
still kept bravely to his post at the
starboard stroke oar. The starboard
oars were riddled and most of them
shattered. The boat was pierced by
the Remington balls and made water
fast. As soon as possible after recov¬
ering from the first shock we opened
fire with Colt and rifles. The ambush
was so complete that we could not see
at what to fire, not even the smoke.
The second volley threw the Colt out
of action by shattering the box and
cutting the loading tape. The order
was given to back oars, but as only
very few could be used, the tide drifted
us in on a sank bank. Three of the
men bravely jumped over to swim the
boat out but did not succeed, the tide
setting us in.
“The volleys were now poured in
oil ns from the left bank in quick suc¬
cession, mortally wounding two men
and seriously wounding three others,
and myself slightly. At this time I
was under the impression that most
of the crew were either wounded or
killed, as the bodies of the men who
were killed and mortally wounded had
fallen on the slighter men in the boat,
in the bottom of which they were
struggling. The boat was covered
with blood, presenting a fearful sight.
The cries of the mortally wounded,
asking me to shoot them and not allow
them to fall into the hands of the
savages, were heartrending. At the
same time there could be seen coming
down the right bank a band of savages
—bolo and spear men—with a few
Remington rifles. I then gave the
order to hoist the white flag. This
was done by one of the men, who re¬
ceived a ball through the wrist and
dropped the flag.
“The firing from the enemy now
came faster, and I thought they in¬
tended to massacre us, so continued
our fire. We were now hailed in
Spanish from the left bank by an offi¬
cer, saying that if we did not cease
firing and surrender he would murder
us all. I then surrendered to him.
The savages on the right bank came
up, took ns out of the boat, robbed
us, tied our arms behind our backs
with bamboo thongs and lined us up
on the beach to be shot. I protested
against being shot with my arms tied,
aud this altercation, which lasted
about five minutes, probably saved
our lives. They loaded their rifles
and were all ready, when a Tagalog
officer came out of the brush ancl
ordered otherwise, We were then
sent aboard the boat, and after stop¬
ping up the holes made by the rifle-
balls and pulling the boat out, pro¬
ceeded up the river.
Two of the crew were dead, two
mortally wounded and three seriously
wounded. The boat was jun ashore
a little way up the river, The dead
were left in it, the mortally wounded
put in the shade ashore and the* the
rest of the party were started for
Baler. There orders were received
from Aguinnldo to bring them to the
capital, San Isidro; aud, leaving tho
seriously wounded behiud, they be¬
gan a long and weary march into the
interior over a country broken with
mountains and unbridged streams and
over roads deep with mud. Their
guards were bow-and-arrow and spear
men, commanded by a Tagalog cor¬
poral. Lieutenant Gillttore tells the
story of that march, stage by stage,
reciting how at times the party camped
in the open in rain storms and cold,
or were met with threats and inhos¬
pitality iD towns, and how, too, in
some towns they were well fed and
well treated by order of the town
presidentes.
The party remained nine days at
San Isidro, aud then as American
forces were pushing forward they
were ordered to the northward in
company with about one hundred
Spanish prisoners. Gathering up more
Spanish prisoners on the way until
there were about seven hundred of
tberu, tho marching wus continued
with \ jrious features until the party
arrived at Vigau on Juno 5.
“Here I was informed,” writes
Lieutenant Gillmore, “that General
Tiuo had intended to kill all Amerionu
prisoners, but the presidents of the
town interceding for us, the General
hail changed his mind. He, however,
issued strict orders that no one should
help us, or communicate with us, aud
he then placed us iucomudioailo—tho
men beiug placed in one cell by them¬
selves, and I being placed the in the jailor’s up¬
per story of the jail with
family. Here, owing to the poor food,
and our allowances being cut down to
ten ceuts (Mexican money) for tho
men, and twenty cents for myself, aud
want of exercise, most of us became
ill with the prevalent diseases of the
country, some having to be seut to
the hospital. I wrote several letters
to the presidente aud also to General
Tino, to allow us exercise in order to
keep the men in health, I also re-
quested them to allow me books, so
that I could occupy myself in some
way. None of these requests was
granted.” 5 they hurried
On September wore province of
off to Bengued, in the in strict
Abra, and they were kept
confinement there for six weeks, but
afterward they had the liberty of the
town as the Spaniards had until Gen¬
eral Tino got there and had them
closely confined again. After the bat¬
tle of Sau Quentin Pass on December
5, where Tino was defeated, they were
again hurried off to the north to bo
hidden in the mountains.
Then begau an exciting chase, Al-
though Gilimoro and his men did not
know of it, Colonel Hare and Lieuten¬
ant-Colonel Howze with 140 picked
cavalrymen were hot in pursuit of
the party. Hoping, however, for res-
cue. Gillmore and his sailors left
signs behind them and Hare’s men
found now aud then, chalked on a
cliff or the face of a rock, such mes¬
sages as “Gillmore” or “Gillmore aud
party” to gnide them.
“We traveled at night,” writes
Gillmore, “by torchlight, through
water-grass up to our waists, through
jungles where we had to cut our
paths at times, aud canyons, with
very little to eat but rice aud at times
a small quantity of pork. At this
time wo were allowed pack-horses to
carry the effects of the party, aud I
was allowed a pony, which I used to
ford the different mountain streams.
The country, however, became no
rough that we could not drive our
horses further—even the Tagalog
Lieutenant in charge of the party had
to abandon his. We then killed the
horses for food, as we had not had
meat to eat for several days.
“Then we started for the real climb¬
ing of the mountains, which are any¬
where from three to five thousand
feet in this portion of the island.
After having gone over two or three
mountain ranges, we came to the
source of a large river, and, being
rafted across, camped for the uighb
about three miles below the mouth.
Here the Tagalog Lieutenant earae
to me, and, through an interpreter,
informed me that he had orders from
General Tino to execute ns. After
hesitating for about a minute, he told
me that his conscience would not per¬
mit him to do so, but that he would
abandon us in the mountains. As
we were then among the savage tribes
of the island, whose hand is against
every man's, I told him that it would
be better for him to execute us rather
than leave us to be killed by the sav-
ages or to starve to death, as we had
been starving for four days at that
time. He said he could not do so. I
then requested him to give me two
rifles and ammunition, by means of
which we could protect the party
from the savages. He refused, and
went off with his men, leaving us
alone on the river’s bank.
“We then kept strict guard that
night in our camp against the savages
and in the morning followed the trail
of our former guard down the river
for about three miles. When we ar¬
rived ou the bank of the river we saw
in the distance the savages with their
war bonnets and their shields. There
was a big open space here, covered
with large stones very much like
cobble stones, and here we camped,
judging that if we had to fight the
savages we would fight them with
these stones, try to disarm them, and
then fight them with their own
weapons. I divided the party into
halves, sending ten men across the
river to get bamboo to make rafts, as
it was ray intention to raft the party
down the river.
“The savages, ou fiudiug that we
did not intend to fight them, allowed
three of theirnumber to come,without
arms, toward us. We made friends
with them and t hey assisted us in build¬
ing seven rafts. Weneeded three more
and the savages assured us (that they
wonld come around early in tho morn¬
ing and build them for us. However,
the next morning they showed warlike
signs and we were expecting to he at¬
tacked that day, when, to our joy and
surprise, Colonel Have and ivis party
rescued us. This was in the early
morning of December 18.”
Lunch Counter in a, School.
A lunch counter which has been
established in the basement of the
high school building in Sioux City,
Iowa, by the Board of Education for
the use of the pupils aud for the pur¬
pose of saving them tho trip to their
homes for luncheon aud the uuhealth-
ful necessity of gulping their food in
a hurry is proving a great success.
It was put in operation with tho
following bill of fare: Beef soup,
three cents, with crackers, five cents;
cold meat, one cent; baked beans, five
ceuts; ham sandwiches, three cents;
cookies, one cent oaoh. Ou the sec¬
ond day cold, hard-boiled eggs and
doughnuts were added. Many of the
pupils brought part of a luncheon
and bought a bowl ot soup to warm
them and stimulate their thinkers.
HOW MUCH
YOU EAT
Is not the question, but, how much you di¬
gest, because food does good only when It
is digested and assimilated, taken up by
the blood and made Into muscle, nerve,
bone nud tissue. Hood’s Sarsaparilla re¬
stores to the stomach its powers of diges¬
tion. Then appetite Is natural and healthy.
Then dyspepsia Is gone, and strength, elas¬
ticity aud onduranoe return.
Stomach Trouble— "I have had
trouble with my stomach and at times
would bo very dizzy. I «lso had severe
headaches and that tired feeling. When I
had taken throe bottles of Hood’s .Sarsa¬
parilla f was relieved.” Mrs. Angelina
Jarvis, 6 Appleton St., Holyoke, Mass.
Hood’s Sarsaparilla
la the Host Med icine Money Can Huy
Social Memory.
Henry Fawcett, says Sir Edwards
Russell, had an extraordinary memory
for persons. One night Sir Edward
was in the House of Commons, to hear
a debate, under the gallery.
A friend Introduced him to Mr. Faw¬
cett, who, learning why he was there,
said;
“Oh, then you can look after my old
father, and tell him who the people
are. He Is going under the gallery, too.”
Three or four years later, Sir Edward
was presented te Mr. Fawcett, who
was then chief guest at a political din¬
ner, and said to him, In “the usual
conventional mumble:”
“I once had tho pleasure of being in¬
troduced to you. Mr. Fawcett, but it's
a long time ago.”
“I remember,” said he, “you very
kindly looked after my father under
the gallery at tho House,”
And this was the memory, of a man
totally blind.
Arc Yon Itchy?
If so, something is wrong with your
skin. Ask your druggist for Tetterine,
and you can cure yourself without a
doctor for 50 cents. Any skin disease,
Tingworm, eczema, salt rheum, etc. Or
send 50 cents in stamps for box prepaid
to J. T. Shuptrine, Savannah, Ga. Try
a box.
Vivid Fhrasing;.
Elizabeth Harrison, In her “Study of
Child Nature,” says that children be¬
gin to learn tbc intellectual value of
words as soon as they are familiar
with them in their material relations.
“Sweet,” “sour,” “rough,” “crooked,”
as applied to character, mean some¬
thing to them when they have investi¬
gated them first through the senses.
Occasionally they translate the new
meaning rashly, and make laughable
mistakes. One morning we bad hya¬
cinth bulbs; we exnmined them, and
then compared them with the blossom¬
ing hyacinths on tho window-sill.
A day or two after, an onion was
brought in to us by a child, as another
fat, round flower-baby for us to plant.
I had some difficulty In making the
children see the difference, but finally
cutting the onion open I blinded their
eyes, and let them smell first the flow¬
er bulb and then the onion bulb. An
hour or two later one of the little girls
spoke in an Irritated, petulant voiee
to her neighbor, who bad accidentally
knocked over her blocks,
“Look out!” said the little one on the
other side of her. “or you’ll have an
onion voice soon!”
Weary
Women
* R@at and help for weary
women are found Bn Lydia
E. Pinkham’s Vegetable
Compound* it makes wo¬
man strong and healthy to
boar their burdens , and
overcomes those ills to
which women are subject
because they are women.
Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound |
Is known from coast to
coast. It has cured more
sick women than any
other medicine, Its
friends are everywhere
and they are constantly
writing thankful letters
which appear In this
paper.
If you are puzzled write
for Mrs. Pinkham’s ad -
vice. Her address Is
Lynn, Mass. She will
charge you nothing and
she has restored a million
women to health.
Why Go To Hot Springs?
Is yoar bleed poisoned? Wo can cure yon at
homo of rheumatism, syphilis, Sole r.nd makers all chronic of Dr.
sores and blood troubles.
Howard’s Root Bitters. Ilns no equal for Blood,
I.lver and Kidneys. Absolute cure for Syphilis.
If taken In time and no euro effected, we will
lelmid money paid. One month's treatment by
mall $5.00. Sample package $1.00. Addr-es
(KOBE MEDICINE < O., Chattanooga. Tens.
2 5. HS}?
UUHtO Wntttt ALL tLSt rAllvJe C«©
Beat Cough Syrup. Twites Gock*.
In time. Sold by drugfrists.
C.ONSU T.IONi-
ffifti-TS.