The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-07-21
GARFlELD's @ILEY SPEC.
The Departed Hopes Of Lueklsss Spec
ulators Embalmed in Pc
seial 90 trolsum, a0
Who Wasted Their Substance on Gaifsld's
-, Endorsement of Huge Oil
80 Scheme.
Complete History of the Birth, Growth, and
Death OF the Venango and Yir- sr "a
ginia Oil Company.
fchicago Times. July III

1Chicago Times, July III
The facts of Garfield's operations in oil
more than bear out the crude statement
presented yesterday, in all important de-
tails, though the error was made in the origi
nal recital of the locating the territory in
Ohio instead Of Pennsylvania and West Yir-
ginia, trivial mistake which has been mag
nified into one of great importance. For
several days a Times emIssary has been on
the trail of Rev. Jonathan @. Stouhgton. of
Aurora, who was supposed to know all about
the wrong deal, but that gentlemen could
not be run down until yesterday. fo1ls
81 was reminded" the reverend gentle-
man began. by way of preface, "by this talk
about Hancock having been engaged in a
doubtful oil speculation, that had been
bitten myself once upon a time. The cir
cumstances had entirely escaped my recol
lection, and | should probably never have
thought of them again had Ii not been for
for these recent publications. On thinking
the matter oyer IT suddenly occurred to me
that had been induced to invest through
the presentations OF General James A.
Garfield
"How was it?" lnterposed the reporter.
'As near 1 recollect it occurred
about this way Some time in the summer
or fall Of 1865. ] think it was, ] was invited
by General III. n Etdridge, an old friend of
mine, to go. with him and make q call on
General Garfield, who was stopping at the
Sherman House for the time being. 1 do
not know that the purpose OF the visit was
mentioned, but had no sooner been intro
duced to General Garfield than this oil pro
ject was brought up. was a willing listener
and the General proceeded to unfold his
plans. He 6iseoursed eloquently upon the
art and science of boring for oil, and gave an
elaborate essay on the geological pecuhari-
ties of oil bearing rocks.p
What did he say on that point?'
80. well, l can't begin TO repeat all that he
said, but he was particular. to impress upon
me the fact that these rocks were thrown up
by some sort of volcanic action into
6-fi A HOG BACK
and that hole bored through the hog back
is sure to strike oil. This porclne protuber-
ance on the fair face of nature, he said, ex-
tended in northeasterly aud southwesterly
direction through Western Pennsylvania
and West Virginia. IN OF
"Then he dTifted into description of the
property be represented, and when he had
concluded his talk know l was firmly i'm
pressed with the conviction that the land be
was interested in selling was situated on the
topmost point of the loftiest elevation on the
hog back he had depicted so graphically.
He represented to me that
THERE WAS ALREADY ONE FLOWING WELL ON THE
PROPERTY,
and that others would be sure to come as
soon as eyer time was given to puncture the
earth in the vicinity. He further informed
me that the company he proposed to or
ganize, or was assisting in organizing. would
be conducted on strictly business principles,
and that j. V. Farwell would take the Pres
ideDcy of the corporation in order to make
assurance in this regard doubly sure.
81 was delighted with the project, and
subscribed twenty-five shares on the spot.
II was a small amount, but as / was not
rich could not afford to dip In deeper. 1
was rejoiced at the good fortune in store for
me, and went home and told my friends
about il. i recounted what Garfield had
told me, and this proved sufficient to in
duce several of my neighbors to take stock
f. a Brady, Cashier of the First National
Bank OF Aurora DIR. Buck and others.
paid SIS for my stock, and Mr.. Bradley sent
500 TO headquarters by me. In due time
my certificate of stock came to hand. 1
locked ct it, and, TO my astonishment saw
that
TIE NAME OF JOHN v. FARwELL DID NOT APPEAR
as President This cooled my .ardor, and
lest q percentage of my faith In the Com
pany from that moment 1 made haste to
scqualnt those of friends who had invested
ON my recommendation Of my discovery,
and this was fortunately sufficient to pre-
vent them from paying for the stock they
had taken. None Of the Aurora subscribers
were out anything, excepting Mr.. Bradley
and M yself. s
You have not yet told what became of
your oil Company
81 was coming to that I used to drop in
to see Colonel Hubbard, the Secretary of the
Company, every time l came to the city, and
inquire how things were going on. was as
sured that there was nothing to report. and
after awhile quit coming. was never able
to learn anything about the operationsof the
Company through Its officers. once wrote
to Garfield about it. but in the press of bust
ness he probably overlooked my letter. In
any event,
NEVER RECEIVED REPLY.
sT piled my certificate of stock among my
other papers, and here it is. just as GOOD as
IL was the day L bought and paid for it"
Suiting the action TO the word, the Rev.
Stoughton drew from the recesses OF his
buster the document. Ii proved to be rec
taDgular fragment OF bank note paper of in
ferior quality, about ten by seven inches,
with a lively picture in the center represent
ing scene in the oil region. On the placid
bosom of stream hcated several Aatboats
laden with barrels, and in the background
could be seen apumber of derricks, suggestive
OF wells, from whose gaping mouths flowed
ceaseless streams of illuminating fluid.
Trees and smoke, and hills were thrown in
to complete the picture, and above it all
were the words, printed in bold type:
'THE VENAE6o AND VIRGINIA OIL COMPANY OF
lla CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,"
At the side were the legends, "Cspitsl stock,
81. SOC, 600" Shares, $40 EACH" Beneath
was the following: .o,ta 81 81 r
This certifies that j. O. Stoughton is the
owner of twenty five shares Of the capital
stock OF the Venango and Virginia OIL Com
pany of Chicago. which is transferable only on
the books OF the Company at their Office, by
him or his attorney, on the surrender of the
certificate.
In witness whereof I have hereunto SUBJ
scribed my name and caused the seal of the
Conn any to be affixed at Chicago, this
day OF September. A. ID. 1861
CHAaLss RANDOLPH, Vice President.
q. s. HUBBARD, JR, secretary. -
A twenty-five cent revenue stamp on the
Iover left hand cornerof the certificate was
the only evidence thai it ever represented
value and Mr.. Stoughton intimated that
were it not for the associations he would
consider twenty-five cents high price for