National Republican., 1884-09-13
AN AWFUL SPECTACLE.
A Scene OF Indescribabie Horror
Acres Of Solid FIamcs-NIon Fright-
fully Burned, Dying In Unspeak-'
nbls Auouv

fully Burned, Dying In Unspeak-'
able Agony.
Tdiomc tPd.) Dispatch.
The announcement of the death Of
Wallace Riley at Saylorsvillo, Ohio, re-
calls the first terrible casualty in the
history of petroleum development in this
country. of which disaster he was the last
surviving victim. 1t left him blind and
helpless cripple and subject at times to
fits of insanity, during which he seemed
to suffer all the agonizing experiences
through which he passed on tho day of tho
| great disaster, twenty-three years ago. In |
| April, 1861, there was u cluster of wells on |
Oil creek yielding from 100 to 300 barrels |
of oil day. Harley & Merrick sank n |
we'll to the depth of 200 feet but as the |
yield was small they took out the pumps |
and started the drill to make the we'll |
deeper. About 8 o'clock In the afternoon |
of tho 10th of April the drill had gone to |
a depth Of 800 feet when 1t struck vein |
of oil and gas, and instantly the oil rushed |
up the u Inch tubing, hurting the tools |
high in the air aud gushing up in !oun-
tain fifty feet in height. Tho well was |
spouting at tho rate of 100 barrels an hour. |
In n very few minutes petroleum was |
running in streams in every direction. |
Dams wore built and trenches dug to |
collect tho fluid that was running to waste, |
and in a short time lake ofoil surrounded |
the derricks.
Wallace Riley, then n young man Of
twenty-four, arrive at the scene of tho OK
citemcnt at 8 o'clock from Meadville. He
was to be married that evening ut 3 o'clock
to the daughter Of n farmer who lived on
Oil Creek near the Harley Il Merrick
we'll. Riley went with his prospective
farther-in-law and joined the crowd at
the flowing we'll. The nature of petroleum
gas was then unknown aud while tho
crowd stood about, with no thought of
danger the gas from tho squirting well
was slowly spreading in every direction
and filling the air with its presence. There
was no fire nearer than n quarter of
milo to the we'll. That was in the boiler
house of o well then drilling. By7 o'clock
in the evening tho gas from the flowing
well had reached this boiler and taking
fire in second the whole oil was
in flame. With q crash and roar like the
discharge of a field of artillery the foun-
tain of oil became stream of solid hro,
falling back TO the ground, over an area
of 100 feet, in blazing globes of boiling
oil "a sceno of indescribablo horror
ensued. Scores of people were thrown to
the ground by the explosion and sur
of these managed to reach the outer cir
Gle Of fire with their lives. but all were
terribly burned. At the time of the OK
ploson everything in tho neighborhood
for distance of n quarter of mile
around took fire and shanties, derricks,
engine house. and dwellings were at once
wrapped in flames. The boiler at Dobbs's
, we'll, eighty rods from the original fire,
! blew up with tremendous report, in
stantly killing the engineer, Wesley
, Skinner. Among those who were pros
trated.by tho first explosion of the gas
was Wallace Riley. He succeeded in
gaining his feet and making his way
$ through the burning oil, fell, all ablaze,
: on tho edge of tho fiery circle. He was
4 seized by Others who plunged him in
I hogshead of water and carried him to u
1 neighboring shanty. Within the circle of
5 flame, not ten feet from the edge, at the
q spot where Riley escaped, four bodies
8 could he seen boiling in the seething oil.
II. II. Rouse of Warren county, one of tho
most prominent Of the early oil
8 producers, from whom Housewife was
o subsequently named, aud whose in
q come from oil wells at tho time of the
= great disaster amounted to 81 900 day,
- was standing near the trench this man
was digging when the explosion occurred.
n He was lifted in the air and thrown moro
k than twenty feet away, alghting in a
d pool of blazing oil. He rose to his feet
and ran, all ablaze, for q short distance
and fell. He was seized by several men,
n his burning clothing extinguished and he
: was carried to shanty. Not a vestige OF
7. clothing was left upon him except his
IL stockings and boots. His hair was burned
:. off, as we'll as his ears, his eyelids and his
y fingers. His eyeballs were entirely burned
. out. His body was blistered from the
u breast down. However lost consciousness
l- but lived nine hours during which time
II he deliberately dictated his will to his
lawyer. In this will he left 100000 to
Is the poor OF Warren county, but he died
N before he could acknowledge and sign the
y document.
st Besides Mr.. Rouse, twelve dead bodies
= were taken from tho flames before they
lc were entirely destroyed. OF these only
5, six could be recognized-the brothers
y Walker, two leading oil men of Clarion
y county; Wesley Skinner, of Wattsburg
70 John Stevens, Judd Mason, and Albert
Gardiner. Twelve men who were known
rs to have visited the spot, strangers sight
of seeing in the oil regions, were believed
40 to have been among the victims of the
at disaster. as they could not be found and
tb were never heard of afterward. Thirty.
ne four men were rescued as Wallace Riley
O. we're, but their injuries were 80 great tina
I'd twenty-five Of them died.
he The scene at tho height of tho fire il
cd described as having been the most fright
IT full and at the same time grandest spec
b. tacle ever witnessed. The flow of oi
continued unabated for months, and q
no human power could extinguish tn
~ flames continued burning furiously. TIL
nc we'll finally gradually exhausted itsel
no and the fire was at last conquered. Hun
eIf dreds of thousands of barrels Of oil wer
eli consumed, and the we'll which would hav
's. been an enormous fortune to the owner
'ss ruined them.
hg Wallace Riley was burned in almos
10. exactly the same manner as the unfoI
10Y tunate Mr.. Rouse had been. For week
~ his sufferings were intense, and he cor
ias stantly begged to be killed. The youn
W woman to whom he was to have bee
married on that terrible evening was h
'h- constant attendant during all his sutfel
lo- ing. His life was saved, but he was lie
lid sightless and without hands, while h
ok face was terribly disfgured and his lowt
at limbs were heshless and drawn out
,ed shape. His mind was also badly affecte
are and, although he recovered in gre
la measure his mental powers, he was SUI
his ject to frequent lapses which lasted som
ler times for days. During these spells
not raved continually about the horrors
ats the scenes at the burning we'll. 1t w
ers during one of these paroxysm5 that
DIS died, apparently in the greatest agon
of He had been cared for for twenty-tv
no. years by brother. The young womi
ow to whom Riley was engaged to be marri,
! is died within n year after the fright
hat catastrophe at the burning we'll.
The
Jen's Present Views.
The following letter from Hon. jeff