The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-09-26
AN APPALLING CASUALTY.
A LINGERING DEATH FROM INJUR-
les AT A BLAZING OIL WELL.
A Man Hurned Horribly on his We'd
ding bay Fingers i'm Intense Suf-
fcriug for Twenty Years.


A recent letter from Tidioute, Penn,
to the New Y ork World recites the follow
ing "reminiscences of horrible catastro-
phe: The announcement of the death of
Wallace Riley, at Saylorsville, Ohio, re-
calls the first terrible casualty in the his
tory 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 the day of
/ the great disaster twenty-three years ago
/ In April, 1861, there was cluster of
wells on Oil creek yielding from 100 to
300 barrels of oil day. Harley & Mer-
rick sank well to the depth of 200 feet
but as the yield was small they took out
the pumps and started the drill to make
the well deeper. About o'clock in the
afternoon of April 16 the drill had gone
to depth of 300 feet when it struck a
vein of oil and gas, and instantly the oil
rushed up the five and a half inch tubing,
hurting the tools high in the air, and
gushing up in a fountain fit feet in
height. The well was spouting at the
.
minutes petroleum was running in streams
in every direction. Dams were built and
trenches dug to collect the fluid that was
running to waste, and in a short time
lake of oil surrounded the derricks.
Wallace Riley then a young man of
twenty-four, arrived at the scene of
the excitement at 6 o'clock from Mead
vile, He was to be married that even
ing at s o'clock to the daughter of
farmer who lived on Oil Creek, near the
Harley and Merrick well. Riley went
with his prospective father in-law and
joined the crowd at the flowing well.
The nature of petroleum gas was then
unknown and while the crowd stood
about with no thought of danger, the
gas from the squirting we'll was slowly
spreading in every direction and filing
the air with its presence. There was
no fire nearer than a quarter of a mile
to the well. That was in the boiler
house of well then drilling. BY 7
o'clock in the evening the gas from the
flowing well had reached this boiler and
taking fire in second the whole oil
was in flame. With crash and
roar like the discharge of field of ar
tillery the fountain of oil became a
stream OF solid fire, falling back to the
ground, over an area Of 100 feet, in blaz-
ing globes of boiling oil. A scene of
indescribable horror ensued. Scores of
people were thrown to the ground by
the explosion and surrounded by the
burning OIL The most of these managed
to reach the outer circle of the fire with
their lives, but all were horribly burned
AT the time of the explosion everything
in the neighborhood for distance of
a quarter of mile took fire,
and shanties, derricks, engine houses and
dwellings were at once wrapped
in flames. The boiler at Dobb's we'll,
eighty rods from the original fire, blew
up with a tremendous report, instantly
killing the engineer, Wesley Skinner.
Among those who were Frustrated by the
first explosion of the gas was Wallace
Riley. He succeeded in gaining his feet
and, making his way through the burn
ing oil, fell, all ablaze, on the edge of
the fiery circle. He was seized by Others
who plunged him in hogshead of water
and carried him to neighboring shanty.
Within thu circle of flames, not ten feet
from the edge, at the spot where Riley
escaped. four bodies could be seen boil
ing in the seething OIL H. r. Rouse. of
Warren county, one of the most promi-
nent of the early oil producers, from
whom Housewife was subsequently,
named and whose income from oil wells
at the time OF the great disaster amounted
to 81, 900 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, ahghting in 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 he was 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 fin
gers. His eyebalIs were entirely burned
out His body was blistered from the
breast down. He never lost conscious
ness but lived nine hours, during which
time he deliberately dictated his will to
his lawyer In this will he left $780,
600 to the poor of Warren county, but he
died before he could acknowledge and
sign the document.
beslue MI. Rouse, twelve dead bodies
were taken from the flames before they
were entirely destroyed. Twelve men
who were known to have visited tho
spot, strangers sightseeing in the oil re-
gions, were believed to have been among
the victims of the disaster, as they could
not be found and were never heard of
afterward. Thirty-four men were res
cued as Wallace Riley was, but their
injuries were so great that twenty-five of
them died
The scene of the height of the fire is
described as having been the most fright
full and at the same time grandest spec
tacle ever witnessed The flow of oil
continued undated for months, and as
no human power could extinguish the
flames continued burning furiously.
The well finally exhausted itself and the
fire was at last conquered. Hundreds of
thousands of barrels of oil were con
sumed, and the well which would have
been an enormous fortune to the owners
II