Morning journal and courier., 1882-07-24
Oil Scouts.
Their Delicate and Dangerous Work in the Oil Re gtons of Pennsylvanta.
 From he Bradford Star1


 From the Bradford Star.l
 When an operator goes into an undevelop- ed field and puts down test we'll he naturally desires to have the profit of his risk. It costs him something like 5000 to put down that wildcat well, for which, in most cases, he gets no return, for the majority of wild cat wells produce nothing. If he finds rich sand, however, and can keep it & secret for a while he has fortune in his hands. He can sell oil short, knowing that when it is known that new field has been discovered the price will go down. His most direct opportunity, however, is to lease the land in the neighbor- hood of his we'll, to be sold again at an enor- nous profit as soon as it is productive terri tory. So he guards his secret with every ap- pliance he can invent. His most dangerous enemies are the ''scouts." They are paid to discover what he is trying to conceal. Almost every prominent oil broker has 'scout" regularly employed to keep him posted on the latest doipgs at the front. Dar- ing, cautious, patient, untiring, unserupul- ous and honest, the scout must add to the experience of driller the subtle judgment of broker and the keenness of an operator. In the shadows of the night he earns hls salary lurking about in the neighborhood of a new we'll out of gunshot of the guards about the derrick lying often in the snow or in the swamp for hours, with his nose and ears stretched above the shelter of some friendly log to catch the smell of gas or the gurgle of
 
 to get & peep in if possible; watching the motion of the walking beam and estimating the depth of the tools thereby ready to bribe driller exchange shots with guard at a moments notice.
 He sometimes spends weeks watching one particular we'll He studies the habits of the men working on it, notes if any of them are likely to succumb to the tembtatlon Of his brandy flask iots down the hours when each one takes his nap, marks which way their | faces are mostly turned in their rounds, and, | if he cannot court their favor, devises some | scheme to get inside their guard and at their secret In the gray of the morning he rides | away to the nearest telegraph office and com municates with his employer before the mar | ket opens. It is a mystery when he sleeps. l Almost any time of the day he may be seen | lettering about wherever there Is crowd, | picking up acquaintance with the few driliers l whom he does not already know.
 l The emoluments of the work are occa- | sionally of size to compensate for any amount of hardships For instance. "si | 8 pointer on GAG, has been taken into the company with the office of superintendent | and a clear tenth of their profits. His springs work will net him not less than $l50,O00 but there is we'll defined path circline through the woods around GAG, worn by the feet of those who worked as hard he and got nothing but their salaries. How Hughes | got his information is still mystery. He is said to claim that he lay under the derrick for nineteen consecutive hours, but the pre- vailing impression is that he bought the SC | cret from one of the guards.
 In the course of an experience meeting tht other evening with Capt. Peter Grace one of the men who put down the GAG we'll IT this district he told me the true story of tht mystery Much has been written about 1t more probably than was ever printed about an oil we'll before but the captain told me few things which were new. This wonder ful Cherry Grove district owes its develop ment to the misfortunes of George H. Dim
 mick. He had been wrecked financially ove
 in the Coal Creek region, and Capt. Grace
 set him to work out this way rather to giv'
 him chance to recover than from any othe
 motive Land could be leased for dolla
 an acre, and the experiment was not yer.
 costly.
 "When the tools broke through the shel
 of the sand about 10 o'clock on the morning
 of the 11th of March, j." said Capt. Grace, ''w
 knew we had found wealth. The oil file,
 up hundred feet before we could get tn
 tools out. The pressure of gas was tremen dous. We drove 8 tight-t fitting wooden plug
 3a feet long, to the bottom of the well. pour
 ed the hole full of oil, screwed in the casin head, and set the tools, which weigh not les than ton, on top of 1t. Even then whel
 the well flowed it blew the casing head of an
 sent the tools a flying up the derrick.
 ''One trick we played to deceive the scout l think has never got into print. took torpedo man into room in the hotel 8 l Warren one day, very mysteriously, but too good care to have scout see mo do it. 0 , course the scout immediately hid himself i } the adjoining room. I told the shooter, wit
 my voice trembling, that had put my las , dollar into the GAG venture, and had foun no oil I must get some appearance c 5 grease in order to sell my lease and get ou
 whole. | arranged with him to go out tha
 night and torpedo the we'll Well, we wer t out with a make believe torpedo filled wit
 water. The scouts were at our heels, (
 course, and watched every motion. We wer to the we'll ln the dead of night, and ther l. went through the form of shooting the we so accurately that even the guards about th - we'll were deceived. The next morning the
 complained that the smell of the dynamit had given them the headache. Shar : as they were, the scouts were all taken i, c and did not find out the trick until weel
 afterward." {"
 s The managers of Charter Oak Park h Hartford have decided to add 8 special purs v of 2,OOO, divided, free for all stalions @, Il cept Santa Claus, to the August meetir ', card. The race is to be trotted August 31 j. entries to close July 24 at Il p. m. The el l- tries of some fast stallions are already a 'r sured.