The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-29
PERKS OF OIL SCOUTING.
The Mystery Wells, and the Men Who Risk
Their Lives to Obtain Information.

OIL City Letter in New York Times.
Hugh Farren, an .soi scout" has been missing
for two weeks, and it is the opinion in the Butler
field that he has been killed by the guardians of
some we'll of which he was attempting to learn
the capacity or prospects in that wild region,
and that his body has been buried in the woods.
There is no evidence of the fact, but he was
known to be particularly daring scout, and it
is we'll known that owners Of oil wells which 1t
is DESTROYS to make what are known in oil region
parlance as mysteries" employ men to guard
them night and day, armed with rifles, and hav-
ing positive orders to shoot any one who may be
discovered approaching or lurking about the
property at night, and to prevent any one getting
near the spot at any time. This fact is well un-
derstood by the oil scouts, and several of these
men have had narrow escapes from death at the
hands of the guards who obey their instructions
to the letter. 1t is a frequent occurrence for a
scout to be wounded by rifle ball while he is at
work at his hazardous vocation. The theory,
therefore, that Farren may have been killed and
his dead body hidden is very probable one,
and no one will be punished if it should prove to
be correct.
The manufacture of mysteries among oil wells
came to be notable branch of the l-producing
business during the Cherry Grove excitement in
Warren county, in 1882, and brought into ex-
istence an entirely new business, which was
given the name of oil scouting. Mystery wells
are always wildcat enterprises, the result of
which the owners do not want to be known to
the public or to operators. Their reason is that
if the well is good producer the owner knows
just what effect the news will have on the oil
market and also in fixing the value of the sur
rounding territory. If it is a producer the
owner will want to lay his plans for using the
news to his best advantage in the certificate
market, and hastens to get possession of as
much land around it as he cam and if his well is
a mystery he can of course obtain more favora-
BILE terms. He also wants to take advantage of
his we'll if it is dry, by keeping the fact secret
and operating on the market from the stand
point of man who knows the effect the news OF
failure will have, and if. he owns land around
the dry well, puts it on the market
for sale. A we'll is made a mystery
by boarding up the derrick after the drill is down
near the supposed oil sand and placing an armed
guard upon it. When a well in what's considered
an important new territory is made mystery,
1t becomes Of great Importance to brokers and
other operators. They understand what the eff
feet of the well will be in the trade if it is good
producer "dry hole" and appreciate the inn
portance of positive information as to which it
will be- To obtain this information they employ
men thoroughly skilled in all matters pertaining
to the oil industry, and possessing courage, en-
durance and shrewdness, to scout around the
mystery wells and learn their true character.
These men use strategy, force and bribery to
gain their ends, and, with the exception of the
oil-wel shooter and nitro-glycerine ''fend, are
engaged in the most dangerous pursuit in the oil
regions. These scouts are not only employed to
watch mysteries, but also to compile statistics OF
production, the state of field operations, proba-
bilities of new territory and all matters of inter
large producing firms. A salaried scout may be
paid $50 week, and many of them do not get
more than half that sum. Others work for a
share in the profits that may result from
operations made on the strength of the informa-
ton they obtain at mystery well and report to
their employers. In this way not a few have
made large fortunes. ''ST Hughes, one of the
most daring and persistent oil scouts in the re-
gion, received $50 900 in cash for two days and a
nights work in the Cherry Grove field on the
most celebrated oil well mystery in the history
of the business. This was the great well known
as ''646, so called from the number of the tract
on which it was situated in Cherry Grove town
Ship This we'll was wildcat of the rankeSt
kind, and, while no one seemed to have much
faith in oil being found in the district every one
knew the Importance of the venture if oil should
happen to be struck. It was watched, therefore,
with the greatest interest. The drill reached
the sand in March, 1882 and scouts had been on
the lookout for weeks before 1t was boarded
up. and lire of armed pickets set to guard it.
One cold night 'Si' Hughes succeeded in dodg-
ing the sentinels and got through the lines. He
forced his way into the derrick unseen, and hid
under the floor. He lay there forty hours, with
the weather so cold that the water with which
he was drenched whenever the sand pump was
used froze solid upon him almost as soon as
it touched him. He was literally incased
in icy armor for nearly two days.
He had nothing to eat, but was rewarded
at last by making the discovery that the well
was good producer and would revolutionize
the trade beyond doubt. He got away from
the we'll in safety and repeated what he had
learned to his employers, the Anchor Oil Com
| pany. The well remained a mystery until the
following May, and in the meantime the Anchor
Company had secured the most valuable terri
tory in the region, and also prepared themselves
to reap handsome benefit in the market when
the news about the we'll was made public. The
we'll was 1,000-barrel producer. Besides the
$50. 900 Hughes was paid, he was given inter
est in the company which yielded him nearly
5000, 900.
The missing scout Farren had many narrow
escapes in the Warren field. One night he was
shot in the knee by guard at mystery we'll
but wounded as he was he approached the der
rick from another side, gained an entrance and
obtained the information he was after He haG
bound up his wounded leg with a handkerchief
and after learning the character of the vel
rode ten miles through the woods on horseback
to carry the news to his employers. One
night he determined to obtain some
information about we'll on the
Cooper tract in Warren county. There
were twenty-five scouts watching the we'll
which had been closely guarded for two months
by some of the most vigiant and hostile pickets
with which the scouts had commended
Shots were fred nearly every night at the
scouts, for the swapping of q twig under their
feet was sure to be followed by rife shot from
eral scouts were wounded, one dangerously, be
| ing left an almost helpless cripple from the eff
| fects of the shot The well owners as soon al
| the drill reached the sand had set their men to
work telling trees about the derrick, which was
situated in deep forest A plot 500 feet
square was marked out, and the logs and brush
cut were piled the lines of this square
| forming high palisade on every side. Fifty
Swedes, who had been peeling hemlock bark in
| the vicinity, were then armed with rifles and
ordered to patrol this square constantly. After
| two months of fruitless efforts to learn some
thing about the nature of the well, Farren, as
stated, determined to acquire the much desired
knowledge one night in September, and all alone
he made his way through the picket line. He
was about to begin climbing the wall of trees and
brush when he stepped on the dead limb of a
fallen tree and it broke with loud noise. In
stanty rife was fired by one of the pickets
and the ball whizzed by Farren's car and buried
itself in the tree against which he was standing
A second shot was fired, and the bali passed
through Farren's hat This angered him., and
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