The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1861-05-02
Correspondence of the Buffalo IN. W Courier. ]
Explosion of an Oil Well.

Explosion of an Oil Well.
T1p1ourE, Penn, Thursday. April 18.
On the Buchanan Farm. Warren coun-
ty, Penn. seventeen miles from Ticioute,
where a large number Of oil wells have
beer sunk, within the past two months
with great success, on Wednesday last oc
CURED Sne of the most frightful accidents
that it has ever been the province Of
newspaper to record. The telegraph has
furnished skeleton of the accident, but
the details have not yet been made pub
lie.
A we'll which has been drilled over two
hundred feet by Hawley & Merrick, had
struck oil. but the yield being less than
expected. the pumping was abandoned and
drilling recommended. Over one hundred
further were drilled, when at half-past FIVE
on Wednesday evening. a sudden rush OF
oil through the five inch and a half tubing
threw out the drills and gushed up in the
air forty feet above the surface Of the
ground. At the least computation 1t was
throwing from seventy to one hundred
barrels an hour. Above this mass of ol,
the gas of benzine rose IN cloud, for fif
ty or sixty feet. AS soon as the oil COM
menced gushing forth, all the fires Of en-
gines in the neighborhood we're immedi-
stely extinguished.
At about half past seven. as a large
number of boys and men were around the
we'll engaged in saving the OIL the gas
from the well which had spread in every
direction took fire from the engine of a
we'll over four hundred rods distant when
in a second the whole air was in flame.
with a crash and roar like discharg
es from a park of artillery.
AS soon as the gas took fire, the head of
tie Jet of oil was in furious blaze, and
falling like water from a fountain over a
space one hundred feet in diameter each
drop came down blazing globe of boiling
oil. Instantly the ground Vas flame,
constantly increased and augmented by the
falling oil--at once scene of indescriba-
ble horror took place. Scores were thrown
fiat, aud for distance of twenty feet. and
numbers horribly burned, rushing blazing
from the hell of misfortune, shrieking and
screaming in their anguish.
Just within the circle of the flame could
be seer. four bodies boiling in the seething
oil, and one man who had been digging
at ditch to convey the oil to low-r part
of the ground was killed as he dug, and
could be seen, as he ;ell over the handle
y of the spade, roasting in tie fierce ele
ment. Mr.. H. r. Rouse, of the firm OF
OF Rouse, Ritchel Il Brown, of the vii
lage of Enterprise, Warren county, gen.
tleman largely interested in wells in this
lNooIifxv opd yUhnco from fl,op,
amounted to 81, 900 day, was standing
near the pit and was blown twenty feet by
the explosion. He got up and ran about
ten or fifteen feet further. and was drag
ged out by two men, and conveyed TO a
shanty some distance from the well. When
he arrived not ves;i.e of clothing was
left upon him except his stockings and
boots His hair was burned off as well AS
his finger nails his ears and his eyelids,
while the balls of his eyes were cri~ped to
nothingness.
In this condition he lived nine hours
made his will. leaving SlO0, 600 to the poor
, of Warren county !; the same amount to
{ repair the roads Of Warren county, to be
G;sbursed by the County Commissioners
and $500 year to his faher--his oply
living reation--for life He died, how
ever, without signing the will. His body
was taken on Friday to Westfeld, Chata-
uque County, and buried. as he requested
by the side of his mother.
In addition to Mr.. Eouse, the following
e were taken out of the flames dead:
Two Messrs. Walker, brothers, OF Clari-
on county, Penn.
j: Wesley Skinner, engineer of Dobb's
$ we'll, from Wattsburg, Pa.
A man named Stevens, from Cattarau-
gus county. N. Y.
c A Mr.. Judd Mason - residence un-
known.
h A boy named Albert Gardner, fom
Michigan.
e The above were recognized. In addi-
ton, there are the skeletons of FIVE others
visible within the circle of flame, and as
many are missing--strangers who came
to witness the operation OF the wells. it
: is supposed that a number Of others have
been burned to powder, close by the
: mouth of the well.
Some "a were wounded.
At the time of the explosion, every
thing in the neighborhood--sixty or sew
> enty rods--took fire. and shanties. der.
y ricks, engine-houses, dwellings,, were at
i once involved in flames. The boiler OF
Dobb's well, eighty rods from the original
fire. blew up with tremendous explosion.
killing instantly the engineer. Wesley
Skinner. adding another intensity to the
: evenings horrors. At this time the air
was on fire. The jet of oil rushing up
o forty feet was almost pillar Of livid flame,
while the gas above it, to the distance of a
y hundred feet. was flashing, exploding,
} dashing toward the heavens. and apparent
ly licking the clouds with its furious
tongues of heat. All this time, during
this tremendous combustion, the sounds
Of the explosions and burnings were SO
tremendous and continuous, that hey
e could be compared TO nothing but the
: rushing Of a hurricane or tornado through
a forest The fire was so intense that no