Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-01-11

sooner had the soil Prince" satisfied him-
self that it was the best ring in the es-
Enlistment than he slipped it onto his
finger and hauled out of his pocket and
deposited on the counter not check,
but bills and coin in payment. The
servitor eyed the strange youth In
amazement, and, not unnaturallY, sus-
pected that he must, to be in possession
of such an amount of wealth, be red
handed from some bank robbery or the
pillage of some millionaire's money
chest. A messenger was sent in pur-
suit of the youth as he strolled along the
street, admiring ON his finger ''the finest
ring in the city," and he was logged to
one of the fashionable city hotels, where
the messenger learned that the sus-
pected bank raider was no other than the
''Oil Prince" who had already gained
a wide notoriety for his extravaganza.
One day, having exhausted his purse, he
made hasty journey home, with view
of replenishing it. He found his wife
and her relatives in a state of rebellion
against his neglect of her, and against
his extravaganza habits. To silence them,
he handed over to his wife $40, 900, beside
buying her small property to reside
upon, and, this done, he again sought
the society of his companions and the
revelry which his wealth commanded.
His game of extravaganza and dissipa-
ton, however, was doomed to have
termination, and his Eldorado to become
unproductiVe. After two or three
years successful operations on the Nc
Clintock farm, the wells became COM
paratively dry, and as the oil spectators
departed to other districts in search of
more prolific sources of Oil, the .'Oil
Prince" found his supply of wealth cut
off, and his farm ruined for the produc-
ton of crops. Some of the companions
in his revelries had so shattered their
constitution as to hasten them to prema-
ture graves, while the most robust
had no other matters to attend
to than ito dance in attendance
upon the ''Oil Prince with his supply
of $4,000 day cut off. The ''prodigal''
returned to his wife on the little proper
ty he had bought to stifie her complaints
In the days of his wealth. Settling down
to practical business, he found employ
ment in driving a team which he owned,
and subsequently he secured an appoint
ment as station agent on the Oil Creek
route. He was in the habit of saying,
after he had ''sown his wild oats,'' that
in his wealthy days, 81 had lots of fun,
but did not really enjoy myself after
all" A few years ago a banking COM
pany publicly announced that it held
deposit of $40, 1000 in the name of John
Steele, and that it had not been claimed.
The attention of the ''Oil Prince" was
drawn to the announcement, and he was
reminded of the circumstance, which he
had forgotten, that in an interval of his
''sprees" he had deposited that sum in
the bank. With this sum, and with the
gift he made to his wife, the ''Oil
Prince" after all, is lifted above perjury,
and in a humble cottage he is often re-
minded of the evils which an improper
use of wealth may create. The story of
the ''Oil Prince" is also the story of
many others who were raised to the
possession of wealth under pretty much
similar circumstances, and who used
their wealth to wreck their constitutions
in their search for pleasures, which left
in their path a corruption of and
a sting to society that wealth
itself could not eradicate. While
many persons have grown rich out OF the
discovery of the subterranean oil lakes,
scores have been made bankrupt in
pocket and health in their eager race
AOL VIC almighty UJlIdT. All ON0I Gn0
oil regions in the counties of Venango,
Butler, Clarion and McKean, in the State
of Pennsylvania, olce fertile farms have
been put under tribute to explorations
for and speculations in the mineral oil.
To land owners and to holders of origi-
nal land leases the discovery of and the
increasing traffic in petroleum has proved
a Veritable godsend, but among specu-
latOrs in oil wells Dame Fortune has been
as varied in her moods as is her wont,
rejoicing the heart of one by bushels of
riches and saddening the heart of another
by financial wreckages and deep dives
into the sea of poverty and squalor.
Spectators who invest their capital in
sinking wells to tap the oil lake not
unfrequently find that their time has
been wasted and that investments have
been thrown away; while others who
succeed in striking oil where it is run
ming in copiouS stream find, in trying
to secure profitable market for the pro-
duct, that they are hedged about by the
most gigantic monopoly the world ever
saw, except it be the East India Com
pany, which the British Government
found to be to its interests to gobble up.
- Fundamentals Journal