The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1881-04-07
OPERATIONS IN OIL.
A Chapter Like a Page from Cali
ifornia History Of Wonders.
Philadelnhia Special: INC rim

W
Philadelphia Special: The Times
this morning published an interest,"
ing letter from Bradford, Pa, on the
vicissitudes of oil operators and the
mania for speculation. 1t reads
like page from the history in the
palmy days OF placer-mining:
Speculation in the price Of oil
was the next craze, and one that
finds prominence to-day. Magnifi.
cent oil exchanges were erected in
Oil City, Titusville and Bradford.
Here speculation is INDUCED in in
the price of oil, the oil certificates
being the basis. One instance of
how men become rich in this way
occurred in Oil City. Two broth
ers by the name of Goethe, in 1866
81, were bootblacks around the
streets of the oil towns. They
made a goa,~deal of money for
boys; and savedfft. when they had
few hundreds saved they took a
flyer on the market. They were
successful and doubled. Success
still followed them, and to day they
are among the wealthiest and most
successful spectators in the region.
The magnificent generosity of the
oil men is well known. A poor and
needy woman has often had thou
sands of dollars raised for her
among a crowd of oil men, andin a
few minutes she was raised from
poverty to opulence. They spend
money like water, and no town In
the country will show better
dressed men and women than these.
They all, almost universally, wear
diamonds upon their shirt bosoms,
and in many cases they are forced
to pawn them for necessities before
they have become even accustomed
to them.
When the market is dull and in
active for lew days it is noticeable
in every place.
Speculation Is the life-biood of
Oil City. Business stagnates, men
get the blues and the town is dull
indeed. But. let the market be va
riable, fortunes are made and lost,
men are excited, the streets are
alive with oil brokers rushing back
and forth between banks and ex-
changes with certificates, drafts,
checks and even money in their
hands. The wives of the brokers
crowd the exchanges and file In the
VISITORS gallery, watching the oper-
atiOns of their husbands. Some
time ago, in one of these exchanges,
the gallery was filed to OVERLOOKING.
The market was Ieaping at the rate
of ten cents an hour. One of the
heaviest buyers was on the wrong
side, > He saw his fortune disap-
pearing like at mist at the rate of
$25,00 an hour. For six hours
this continued, and he was forced
to clay down." as it is called--to be
announced bankrupt, in other
words. His wife was q witness to
the whole seahAs IAN hour before
the worst came she left the ex-
change, walked into dry goods
store, took off her seal-skin sacque,
and sold it. From that place she
went to the jewelers. and disposed
of her diamonds and all her silver.
When her husband returned home
disconsoIate and downcast, she met
him at the door dressed in a neat
calico wrapper. He had been a
clerk before fortune smiled upon
HIM, and she a modest school
teacher. She informed hin that she
had discharged all the servants,
and they would live as formerly. she
doing the work. She handed him
$1,000 as the result of selling her
jewelry, and told him to use it.
JOY and hope beamed in his eyes
and found PLACE in his heart again.
In one month he had regained his
former position, had redeemed
everything his wife had pledged,
and was living as formerly. Three
times within six years was this man
saved in this same manner by his
wife. To-day he Is one of the most
daring and successful of our specu
lators. This is one story. Here is
another. A young man in Frank
lin wished to marry. He was we'll
to-do, had a snug little sum in the
bank, but the speculation mania
caught him. He invested it all in
oil. The market that had been 60
ing up for four days turned the
very day he bought, and in two
short hours he saw the savings of
years disappear. 1t maddened him.
He took to drink, became unfit for
business, lost his position, the love
and respect of his wife, for he had
married, and gradually sank, step
by step, until he is to-day maudlin
bar-roOm drunkard. Homes have
been ruined, hearts broken, lives
destroyed, men crazed by this ex-
citing, insane passion that never
quits them until they have lost all
they possess, except in a very few
cases where they had the hardihood
to fly while their pockets were full.
This happens about as often as it
does in the lives of gamblers. These
men, as a role, live fast lives, and it
is very seldom that one with gray