Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1861-05-18
Frightful Explosion OF an Oil
Well,

We have already made mention of tn
explosion of an oil we'll in Warren county
Pennsylvania. We extract the followin,
particulars
A well which had been drilled two hun
dred feet by Hawley & Merrick, hat
struck oil, but the yield being less thai
expected, the pumping was abandoned ant
drilling commenced. Over one hundred
feet further were drilled, when at half pas
five on Wednesday evening a sudden rush
of oil through the five and half inch
tubing threw out the drills and gushed up
forty feet above the surface of the ground
At the least computation it was throwing
from seventy to one hundred barrels per
hour, Above this mass Of oil, the gas Of
benzine rose in cloud for fifty or sixty
feet. As soon as the oil commenced gush-
ing forth, all the fires Of engines in the
neighborhood were Immediately extin>
guished.
AT about half past eleven, as large
number of men and boys we're about the
we'll engaged in saving the oil, the gas from
the well which had spread in every dircc-
ton, took fire from the engine of a well
over four hundred rods distant, when in a
second the whole air was in a flame, with
crash and roar like discharges from a
park of artillery. As soon as the gas
took fire, the head of the jet of oil was in
furious blaze, and falling like water from
fountain over space one hundred feet
in diameter, each drop came down blaz.
ing globe of boiling OIL Instantly the
ground was flame, constantly increased
and augmented by the falling oil. AT
once scene of indescribablc horror took
place, Scores were thrown fat, and for
a distance of 20 feet, and numbers hor.
ribly burned rushed blazing from the hell
of misfortune, shrieking and screaming in
their anguish.
just within the circle Of the flame could
be seen four bodies boiling in the seething
oil, and one man, who had been digging a
ditch to convey away the oil to lowe,
part of the ground, was killed as he dug
and could be seen as he fell over the han
die of his spade, roasting in the fierce
element. Mr.. II. r. Rouse, of the fru
of Rouse, Mitchell & Brown, of the village
of Enterprise, Warren county, a gentle
man largely interested in wells in thi'
locality, and whose income from then
amounted to 81 900 day, was standing
near the pit and was blown twenty feet by
the explosion. He got up and ran abou
ten or fifteen feet further, and was dragged
out by two men, and conveyed to shanty
some distance from the we'll. When he
arrived not vistage of clothing was lef
upon except his stockings and boots Hi
hair was burned off, as well as his fngel
nails, his ears and his eyelids, while tn,
balls of his eyes were crisped up to moth
ingness. In this condition he lived nine
hours-made his will, leaving 81 o0, 900 t.
the poor Of Warren county, and $500 1
year to his father, his only living relation
for life. He died, however, without sign
ing the will.
The bodies of FIVE other men were re-
covered and recognized, In addition there
are skeletons of five others visible within
the circle of fame, and many are missing
strangers who came to witness the oper
ations of the wells. 1t is supposed that {
number of others have been burnt to pow
der close by the mouth of the we'll. Somt
thirty-four were wounded,
At the time of the explosion everything
in the neighborhood-sixty or seventy
rods-took fire, and shanties, derricks
engine houses and dwellings were at once
involved in flames. The boiler of Dobbs
well, eighty rods from the original we'll
blew up with tremendous explosion, kill
ing instantly the engineer Wesley Skinner
adding another intensity to the evening"
horrors. At this time the whole air wa:
on fire. The jet of oil rushing up forty
feet was almost pillar Of livid fame
while tho gas above it, to the distance of {
hundred feet was flashing, exploding
da8hing toward the heavens, and appa
Iently licking the clouds with its furious
tongues of heat Wheeling Union.
Our ARMY AND NAyY.-The Govern
ment has made official proclamation 70,
additional troops to crush out the REBEL
ion. The amount and conditions of th
Government forces are as follows:-