The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-09-15
a FLoop or FLAMING or.
Terrible Scene in the Oil Country Recalled
by a Recent Casualty
Tfdeout, Pa, Letter.

ri BILE casualty in the history Of the petroleum
development in this country Of which disaster
he was the last suryi wing victim n laft him q
blind and helpless cripple and subject at times
to fits of insanity during which he seemed to
suffer all the agonizine experiences throneh
which he passed ON the day of the great disaster
twenty three years ago.
In April, 1861, there was cluster Of wells
yielding from one hundred to three hundred
barrels of oil a day on the then newly devel-
oped territory on Oil creek. Flowing wells wore
then as yet unknown Harley & Merrick
sank well to the depth of two hundred feet
but as the yield was small they took out the
pumps aud started the drill to make the well
deeper About 5 o'clock in the afternoon Of
April l6 the drill had gone to a depth Of 800 feet
when it struck vein of oil and gas, and instant
" the oil rushed up through the five and a half
inch tubing, hurting the tools high in the air
and gushing up in a fountain fifty feet in height
This was the first flowing well ever struck in
the region The great noise made by the escap-
ing oil was heard for half mile around, and in
few minutes the fountain Of oil was surround
ed by crowd of excited men, women and
children. The well was spouting at the rate of
one hundred barrels an hour. Above the roar
ing mass of oil the gas rose so densely as to be
visible as cloud at least sixty feet high. As
soon as the oil began to gush forth all the fires
OF the engines IN the vicinity were extin-
gulsneo. Ihere had been no preparation made to
receive SO unprecedented and unexpected a rush
OF OIL and IN very few minutes petroleum was
running IN streams IN every direction. Dams
We're oullt ana trenches dug to collect the fluid
that was running to waste and in q short time
lake OF OIL surrounded the dePrIcks.
Wallace Riley. then young man of twenty
TOUR arrived at the scene OF the excitement at q
O'clock from Meadvllle. He was to be married
Jnat evening, at 8 O'Clock, to the daughter of a
farmer VINO lived on Oh creek, near the Harley
q nlerrlek well. hlley went with his prospect
I've fatner,ln-laW and joined the crowd at the
nowlng Well
Inc nature OF petroleum gas was then un-
known ana whne th9 crowd stood about with no
thought or danger, the gas from the spouting
well was slowly spreading in every direction and
filing the air. There was no fire nearer than
quarter OF mule to the we'll That was in the
boiler house OF we'll then drilling. By o'clock
IN the evening the gas from the flaming we'll had
reached this boiler, and taking fire in second,
the whole air was IN flame with crash and
ana roar IKE the discharge OF a field of artiE
lery. The fountain of oil became stream Of
solid hre, falling back to the ground over an
area Of 100 feet around, in blazing globes
of boiling oil. Instantly the ground
was covered with flames scene
of indescribable horror ensued. Scores
of people We're thrown to the ground by the ex
plosion and surrounded by the burning oil as it
seethed on every side. while the flaming gas
roared above them. The most of these man
aged to reach the outer circle of fire with their
lives, but were horribly burned. At the time Of
the explosion everything in the neighborhood for
distance of quarter of mile around took
fire, and shanties, derricks, engine houses, and
dwellings were at once wrapped in flames The
boiler at Dobbs well, eighty rods from the origi-
nal fire, blew up with a tremendous report, in
stantly killing the engineer Wesley Skinner.
At this time the whole air was afre. The jet Of
oil, rushing up for fifty feet was pillar Of Iiv-
ing fire, while the gas above it to the distance of
one hundred feet, was flashing and exploding
like some terrific electrical display during
thunder storm. The sounds or the explosions
were almost continuous and the roar of the
fame was like the rushing of avlolent hurricane
The heat of the fire was so intense that no one
could approach within $50 feet of the limits of
the fire.
Among those who were Frustrated by the first
explosion of the gas was the young man William
Riley. He succeeded in gaining his feet, and
being fortunately only a few steps from the
through the burning OIL and fell all ablaze, just
beyond the limit He was seized By others,
who plunged him in hogshead of water, ex-
tingushing the fire and carried him to neigh
boring shanty.
Within the circle of flame, not ten feet from
the edge, at the spot where Riley escaped, four
bodies could be seen boiling in the seething oil.
One man who had been digging at trench
to convey the oil to a lower part of the ground,
was killed as he dug, and he could be seen, as he
fell over the handle of his spade, roasting in the
burning oil. II. R. house, of Warren county
one Of the most prominent Of the early oil pro
ducers, from whom housewife was subsequently
named, and whose revenue from oil wells at the
time OF the great disaster amounted to 81, geo a
day, was standing near the trench this man was
digging when the explosion occurred He was
lifted in the air and thrown more than twenty
feet away, alighting in a pool of blazing oil. He
rose to his feet and ran, all ablaZe for a short
distance, and fell. He was seized by several
men, his burning clothing extinguished, and
carried to shanty. Not vestige of clothing
was left upon him except his stockings and
| boots, His hair was burned off, as well as his
| ears his eyelids and his fingers His eyebalIs
were entirely burned out his body was
blisterec from the breast down. He never lost
consciousness, but lived nine hours, during
which time he deliberately dictated his will to
his lawyer In this will he left 100000 to the
| poorof Warren county, but he died before he
| could acknowledge and sign the document.
| Besides Mr. Rouse, twelve dead bodies
| were taken from the flames before they
were entirely destroyed OF these only six