The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-07-21
colonel HupssId,. ofios, No. la5 Dsarb0rn

street
did you see the Times this morning9"
blandly asked the reverend visitor.
Yes2' responded the Colonel, inquir-
SWhat do you know about Garfield and
his oil speculation
Nothing worth knowing, and I wish /
could forget what do know aboutit"
81 am q stakeholder, youknow, continued
Mr. g., land / thought perhaps you might
tell me something about il"
The Colonel at this point recognized his
visitor, who, together with the TimeE man,
accepted an invitation to be seated. The
clerical interviewer then opened his batter.
les with all the skill of q trained hand, and
drew from Colonel Hubbard the statement
that he was sorry indeed tn see this matter
brought up, for the reason that 1t could do
no one any possible good, bat might work
great harm. Mr.. Stoughton could not see
what harm could come from truthful
statement Of facts ii no wrong had been
done. III, on the contrary wrong had
been done, the truth should be made known
J that the guilt might be exposed. Colonel
Hubbard said the worst that could be said
about it was that it was very unfortunate
Speculation, and that everybody concerned
had lost money.
'Eyerybody?p3
II think SO. know Of nobody who made
anything out of it"
How came Garfield to be interested In
the formation of this Company, do You
know
'It was chiefly through Garfield that the
Company came to be formed He was in
troduced to me by General E.dridge, Who is
his old college chum, understand, and il
remember correctly EldrIdge introduced him
TO his friends and aided in working up the
scheme. After the Company was estab
lished was employed to place the stock,
and it was nearly all sold by me-"
What did you receive for the stock In
all?' ..t-
About .s625 COO. if my recollection serves
me right" 49,.
What was the condition of the property
held by the Company at the time the stock
was put on the market"
There was one flowing well, the Coquette,
IN which we had an eighth interest, and the
remainder was In L ,460 acres of uDdeveloped
oil lands In Pennsylvania and West Vir-
ginis. A Committee, consisting OF A. Q.
Badge, Thomas @. Dickerson and II. N.
Eldridge, made an examination OF the
property, and it was upon the report SUBJ
mitted on their return that the Company
was organized and set going. This flowing
well was one of the most remarkable wells
of the time, but unfortunately it did not
hold out. IL stopped flowing soon after the
deed for our interest passed into our hands,
1t did not pay to pump long, and it soon
dried up. The wells put down on neighbor-
ing tracts tapped the same reservoir and
soon exhausted it"
'sWho were interested in the Company"
Among our capitalists there were such
men as Charles Randolph, Mahlon d. Ogden,
S. J. Walker, A. c. Badger, j. Y. Soamnon,
General Eldridge. ]. V. Farwell, and many
Others, besides Thomas w. Phillips, of
Pennsylvania, d. H. Wallace, OF Pennsyl
vania, and John Burk, of Detroit, the last
three named representing the property which
was taken by the Company"
''What did these men get for their Oil
lands?"
''They turned in the Coquette well at
$500, 000 believe"
What was done in the way OF de-
veloping the lands In the Company's pos
session.
"Eight or nine wells were sunk at large
expense, and all OF the capital set apart for
that purpose was expended"
'All the money raised on the sale of
stock was not devoted to the develop
ment of the property, then, am to under
stand?" iA
sOh, no. Much OF it went to pay for the
property turned by Phillips and others"
No. What We want to get at" interject-
ed the reporter, emerging from the seclu
sion Of silence, through fear that point
was going to slip away, is this: How much
of the $625 600 was actually expended in
sinking those eight or nine dry holes, and
what became of the balaDce"
Are you reporter asked Colonel
Hubbard.
81 am" confessed the reporter.
The Coloners countenan ce took on an ex-
preston of deep disgust, as he said, What
paper?' > L 0ETrE.
THE Times
fare you in the employ of the Times,
too?' he said, turning whitening glance
upon Rey. Mr.. Stoughton. ~
Rev. Mr.. S. beamed on the military real
estate agent, and observed that he was not,
but being somewhat interested he had
called with the reporter to learn the true
inwardness of affairs.
AS you are reporter" said the Colonel,
turning to the Times missionary."I nust
decline answering your question:.
- How came it that ]. V. Farwel was not
made President of the Company after the
and Othere?" asked the Aurora man.
~ prefer not to 90 into the details of that
Suffice it to say that Mr.. Farwell Withdrew
his subscription and declined to take the
Presidency. he subscribed $50 600 in stock
originally"
From this point the conversation dragged,
and the visitors took their leave in a few
moments SuDseq uently the reporter mace
another call on the gentleman and resumed
the talk. II don't think l clearly under
stood your explanation in regard 10 that
1925 600. Would you object to going into
details more fully?' 3afgt tf
s mo, sir; what do you want to know?'
'Can you tell me- then. how much of that
amount was subscribed by Chicago capital
istsYp rrl..l aIr
mot accurately, hut can state that out of
the go. 600 shares, Philips, Wallace, Burk
and the other owners took 10000 shares.
The remainder was mostly taken here"
Did not our people take more than $4,000
shares?'
mot then"
did they subsequently,
"Pbelieve there was some trading done
afterward. though to what extent l am not
advised"
"What became of the money realized from
the sale of stockP' 49, faf afr
'It went to pay for the land" nsa
81 was mistaken, then, when understood
you to say that they turned in their proper
ty at $500, 900, and took stock in payment"
''You were. Ali the money received, ex-