Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-12-15
OIL R0Naaef.
How q Messenger Boy Got Ahead
Of the Standard Oh Com
pSEy.
And Made $4,000 ~ UnraVeling
Its Cipher Dispatches

rates which made opposition inpOSsi
Die and crushed out every rival, has
lately been beaten By a messenger
boy. In the history Of the Standard
this is the only time it has eTer been
outEitted. Tom Scott, when alive
and President Of the Pennsylvania
railroad was completely s~utgenerated
by the Standard. NanderDlt and MS
allies we're not q match for ROeks-
Teller, and they we're compelled to
allow him rebates which enabled him
to build up the greatest MONOPOLY the
world has eyeE known. When be
got ready be laid a pipe line Of bis
own from the oil regions to Cleveland
in one direction, and from the oil
regions to the seaboaTd in another
direction, aud then told the trunk
line managers who had enriched him
that they could 70 to that place where
the worm dieth not and the tire isnOt
quenched. But this nan with his
millions has been OutwItted by Mike
Heating, sixteen years old, a messen-
ger boy Of the Western Union Tele-
grsph Company at Oil City. Mike
has been Ia the employ OF the tele-
graph company sincs he was old
enough 10 carry dispatches, ana nearly
all of this time be had been 10 the Oil
Exchange at Oil City carrying mes
sages TO and fro from the brokers.
The largo operators in petroleum send
their dispatches in cipher. The boy
had earned so many messages sent
by the Standard IRON its headquarters
at Cleveland that he had unrav-
eled the mystic characters, aud
could read them like a printed page.
Just prior to the extraordinary ad-
vance IN the petroleum market, when
the price jumped in a few days from
fifty cents 10 $l.35, Heating carried a
number Of kilograms TO the Standards
brokers, ordering them to buy large
blocks ofoil. The monopoly had laid
its plans to boom the market. and its
Oil City brokers we're ordered to buy
everything, Buy half a million bar
rels," buy a million barrels" buy
two million barrels we're the was
these orders came. They were riddles
10 all but the brokers who received
them, and Nike Heating, the messen-
ger boy who delivered them. Heating
although a mere boy, knew that some
thing extraordinary was soon to hap
pen. The market. which had been
like a stagnant pool for a year, was
already creeping up the scale.
Orders for immense blocks
of oil were still coming from
the Standards headquarters. There
was no time to lose. Bat what could
a boy do without a dollar in bis
pocket? Heating vent to n OF the
largest operators on the floor Of the
Exchange, outside Of the Standards
agents, and told him be had a "poin.
ter" The broker lsgsghe1 at him
The boys earnsstness finally com
manded attention, and the broker
agreed to bis proposition, which WIS
that the broker should furnish money
for a deal" if be was satisfied Wit
the information, and divide the profits
equally. Then the messenger told the
broker What he had. and Of the tele-
grams be bad been carrying from the
Standards Cleveland oEee. The next
message that fell into the boys hands
vas carried secretly to the brokers'
and translated Il was an order to
buy everything that wa offered. The
broker probably swallowed 70 keep his
heart down; anyway, be vent back to
the exchange and began to buy. He.
az the Standard agents buyiogright
and Jeff, and vas satisfied . big deal
vas 10 progress. He took everything
he could get until be had . round
million barrels. The market Wss
already Jumping fast. and his million
barrels bad been secured At 40 aver
age cost Of segenty.tEo cents. he
was loaded % the guards. Orders 70
buy and orders 70 sell were pouring
10 IRON every quarter, and the excite
ment vas becoming inteHse. The
market was stin bounding upward,
with the usual fluctuations. EVER
time the price advanced a cent or de
clined 4 cent the broker saw a profit or
a loss Of $4,000. lie kept bis head.
however, and when the market scored
above eighty cents be began y unload
The Standard men we're on hand 70
take everything. and be got rid Of ali
bis oil al an average price Of eighty
cents a barrel. de had bought at
seyenty.two, and bis profits we're
therefore eight cents q barrel, or
$4,000 in all. lie divided equally
with Mike Heating, the messenger
boy who had unrayeled the Standard
cipher, according 70 agreement Iii
well enough TO remember that oil
touched ii 50 during this ten daJs
squirt, aud il the broker had held On
until the top was reached the profte
Of the two would have been 100000
II goes without saying that the
Standard Oil Company has a new
cipher and one messenger boy Is out
Of a job.