St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-28
MADE IN A MINUTE.
instantaneous Manner in Which a Man
Became Rich.
Experience OF a Western Adventurer
in the OIL Country.
seventy-Five 200 Bills Made In
Sixty Seconds.


sixty Seconds.
Scores of good stories have been told of
men. who. BY a successful stroke of luck
or business policy, have become suddenly
rich. Some have made their bundle in six
days, while Others, by eOrnering certain
stocks or food products, have jumped from
comparative poverty 10 princely affinence
between the coming and the going of the
sun. The list of men who have made so
called fortunes in day or week might pos
sibly fill a small book, but there is no
known record of some of the peculiarly
lucky dogs of creation who have tOyed with
coy fortune and grown wealthy within an
hour. Speculation in petroleum has given
birth to several instances of this kind. But
the man who grew rich in an hour is not
for an instant 10 be compared with the
Western chap who accumulated handsome
fortune in the short and fieeting period of
sixty seconds.
Two hours after he struck the oil country
he was huTrying out of il as fast as the
numbering stage would take him, and he
never came back again, either. He was
not at all piggish. He simply knew when he
had enough. Ii was i'm the early days, when
the great petroleum industry was still in its
long dresses, that the incident in question
happened. The year was 1865, and the
theater of operations the then red-hOt city
of Pithole. With the simple aid of twig
of witch hazel, Thomas III. Brown, whose
ancestors were among the early settlers of
New York city, located the well which
ushered into its brief but exciting career of
oleaginous existence the phenomenal Pit
hole oil district Mr.. Browns rod of witch
hazel made Thomas Holmden, the owner
of bleak and sterile farm, one of the
richest men i'm the state. The Frazier well.
which was the PithOle pioneer, was fin
ished on Jan. 8, 1865. The $50 barrels of
oil it poured into tanks during the hrst and
subsequent days of its existence were worth
IS per barrel at the well, but in those days
il cost the consumer only $3.50 barrel 10
place the stuff in
THE NEW YORK MARKET.
Every commercial traveller who has ever
visited Erie knows the sneeZe and the pa
triarchal white beard and bald head and
suave manners of Col. i. III. Ellsworth,
for years proprietor of the Ellsworth house,
and later of the Reed house. The colonel
was not always hotel man. He was one
of the earliest operators in the region, and
at several periods in his career was worth
great deal of money. 1t happened that
the colonel, who was one of the early birds,
came into possession of a snug slice of the
famous HOlmden farm. Several wells had
been drilled on the tract, and all came in as
money-makers. The cOlonel's patch was
not considered as choice as the rest. A
well was started, and the drill began its
search for oil. AT this time hunreds OF
strangers with fat pocketbooks or
BIG BANK ACCOUNTS
roamed over the field in quest of desirable
locations. Thus the land, once valueleSs,
became immensely valuable. Land owners
exacted fearfully big bonus, and, besides,
got One-eighth OF all the oil the wells pro-
duced. The average bonus on leases was
$4,000 an acre, although the price in several
instances ran up 10 $1,000. Among the
Adventures who flooded the country was q
tall. lean, lank and hungry-lOOking chap
| from illinois. lie had heard that fortune:
could be made in day, but the thought
never for a moment entered his nOddle that
he was destined to grow rich in a minute.
While looking around he ran across Col.
/ Ellsworth. who was watching the dTiller:
at his well, which was about four hundred
/ feet deep. The stranger entered into an
animated conversation with him. WheT
| he went away he carried a slip of bOOE
paper upon which the colonel had written
| in pencil this:
hereby agree to sell three-fourtbs of vel
/ No. -, Holmden farm for $4,000, payable
within three days. +. II. ELLSWORTH.
The tall WeSterner was not yet out of thi
coloners hearing when he was accOsted BY
a well-dreSsed stranger, upon whose spot
less piece of linen
FLASHED A DIAMOND
as big as horse chestnut.
do you know where 1 can buy a gooC
piece of oil property" eagerly inquired tn,
man of the diamond.
Pm your huckleberry. stranger" saiC
the Westener, adjusting his SLOUGH ha
rakishly on the side Of his head. ''Pye go
an immense bargain here for the right kinI
of man. You see that well over there
Well, l own a three-fourths interest i'm
and also in the land surrounding it. Tn
well is 400 feet deep, and is within few
rods of all the gushers. 1t will be biI
well. no doubt"
''What will you sell ont for?''
''Seventy-fiye thousand dollars will bu,
me out slick and clean and put you in pos
session."
Its bargain" said the stranger. an
he pulled out long pocketboOk, which wa
nearly bursting with its load of greenbacks
A neighboring stump served as a desk.
There you are, now give me tn
papers" he remarked, as he handed over
stack of bills. The Westerner counted III
money, and found that there were seventy
five 81, 600 bills.
All this time Col. Ellsworth stood nc
ten PAGES away. Had he strained his cal
he could have heard the shrewd Westerne
drive his bargain. but he did not know wha
was happening. and the chances are that
was not enlightened until several yeal
! afterward-
} The Colonel was somewhat surprise
when the man from the West placed in h
hands the purchase money. This done. III
stronger was introduced and the bargai
was settled. The well turned out only
moderate producer, and the stranger 10:
money.
: In one minute the Western adventure
had cleared $4,000 in hard cash. I'll
next stage carried him out of the cOuntr!
He was never seen again in Pithole or an
other oil town. He had made his pile an
was satisfied.