, 1866-12-25

he Romance Of a Poor Toun. Inn
*+EGey Como, Eaxy~ Gos'-Exenplln
r11tnn Of The Old AiInHe.

AF E10x11HtEG u u 4 OV1 OuHH IL M
~Ecey Como, Easy ~Gos,-Exempllf}-
ealion Of The Old Adaee.
IFrcm The Pittsburgh Commercial. December Fl. =,
Last week brief item ch1ouiclel. .A4e sale
Of the Steele Farm, on Oil Creek, for taxes
due tic Government. started on its voyage
on The sea Of pewspapefdorn. The para
IFaph will doubtless lie read by many With
ont second thought, but those few lines
might easily form the text for discourse
as le,gthy SIS the moral law. I. Is hardly m
c1acgctation TO state thst wherever petro-
Steele" th" youn. prince ot venapgo Coun.
II, has been heard. while the accounts Of
his apparently bonndless wealth and rrck.
less expenditures, we're told In hundreds of
pages. Soon after the sale Of the tarrn, the
closing act, brief history of the same may
Crawford Journal thus narratcs:
creek' as the widow McCliutock farm,
l. Immediately opposite the flourish
ing little town OF Rouscyil1e, and was
eemone anon the e. ti1st 1f the oil producing
The Van S1yke well On this farm, was struck,
and hoWed for some time at the rate of3.5o
harrcla Ter day. and several wells, sfeldin.
from ooo to s00 barrels, were struck at sub
sequert periods. Besides these, there were
many smaller wells, and the territory.
~ &0Aty AAAA64AAAAkNAf ~ BILL 1ERA1OfU
as among the best In the oil reg ion. fn 1854
widow McClfntock died from he effects Of
huns received while kfndliue IRE with
crude oil. Atthis time, the average daily
income from the 1anded interest oft6e farm
Was $4,000, and By her Will, the property.
with all her possessions In money, Was LEFT,
without reservation, 10 her adopted son.
John ". Steele, then about twenty years Of
age. 1nthe iron safe, where the old lady kept
her money, was found s15o.Go, two
thirds OF the amount IN gsecnbacks and the
balance In gold. Mrs. 4cClintock was hard
appear. 70 have had nothing naturally
vicious In her composition, was surrounded
by aeI OF vampires, who chung to him as
long 81 be had dollar Fcmsinipg. The
young mil1ionalre's head vas evidently
tn1ned 81 his good fortune, Is has been that
IF MANY AZ older man who made made bis
pile ID oil, and he was Of the impression
that his money wonld accumulate rapidly
unless It was actually thrown away. and
throw 1t away he did. MANY Of the stories
concerning his career In New York ard Phila-
de1phia tayor strongly Of fiction, and would
not be credited, were they not 50 well au-
theatscated. Wine. women. horses, faro,
that prin:ely fortune, aud in twenty lnoeths
Johnny steele tquandercd two millions Of
dollars Hon. Jno. Morrissey, u. c.,
went through him at faro to the amount
OF $1QQ, ,(I0 In two nights: ne pouE4t n&ga
priced tr1n outs, and after driving them an
hour or two Eare them uway ; equipped =
large Minstrel troupe, and presented each
mcnhe1.4ith diamond pin and ring. and
kept sboat him besides, two or three men
who werc robbing him day after day. He Is
now GllirK the honorable position Of door
keeper fo: skifr 4 Gaylora's minstrels, the
COMPANY he organized, and IS, to use very
expressly. but not strictly classical phEase,
cGmn1etA'y s4Ff3aye1 Qut.T
The wealth obtained By those who worked
50 assidusus!y to effect Stce!e's ruin, gave
little permanent benefit to. It's possessors.
The persu most braxen aud chiefly instrq-
mcntsl infringing about the present eond!-
tion of atd.irs, was the notorious Seth slo-
cum, whe hung around this city several
weel.s 1sa sumncr. He was worth at one
time oycrs10o ,0m, which he had "captured"
from Steele, and laid aside for a rainJ day,
but uhea the latte:'s money vanish
ed, this anouut soon took unto Itself wings,
md he Is 1t present. known among his old
associates ns q "dead beat" A. last &C,
counts, Sncum was incareFated In the {.il
Ct a neishho1ing county for various breaches
CT the ps,cc, and was unable to obtain oaA
In the snn If $500. E3cmpfldcation3 these