The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1888-06-01
THE PEN WAS DROPPED.
It Lost to a County $4,000 and II
Made One Man Nervous Ever Since.

Il Lost to County 900, 900, ana Haa
Made One Man Nervous Ever Since.
A farmer of Warren County, Penn,
went to a lawyers Office in Warren a
short time ago to sign some important
papers.
After they had been read to him and ap-
proved clerk in the Office, in handing
the farmer pen to write his signature,
dropped it on the floor. The lawyer him
self sprang from his chair, hurriedly
picked up the pen, and placed it in the
farmers hands.
the dropping of a pen with which a man
was to sign his name to will, lost to
Warren county 100000 once" said the
lawyer, "and the dropping of pen about
to be used has always. made me nervous
ever since.
"H. r. Rouse, of Enterprise, this coun-
ty, was one of the pioneer oil operators on
Oil Creek, and in the spring Of 1861 his
wells were yielding him daily revenue
larger than the average mans yearly in
come.
"The first great oil-well fire in the his
tory of the oil regions occurred in April,
1851, when the Hawley & Merrick well sud-
denly began spouting oil and gas in such
quantities that the oil ran to waste and
flowed over the ground in all directions,
and the gas filled the air for quarter ct
mile around, finally reaching an engine
house, where the fire of the boiler ignited
it. The result was acres of roaring flames
which enveloped the spectators that had
assembled to witness the then great nov
city of flowing we'll. How many per-
sons were burned up in that awful fire
was never ascertained, but twenty are
known to have persisted.
''H. r. Rouse was on the ground when
the explosion occurred. and was hurled
into the thickest of the confagration.
Two men, one of them named Uriah
Smith, now living near Mercer, rushed
into the terrible mass of fire, and Selling
Mr.. Rouse dragged him out in time.
Both rescuers were terribly burned, and
were months in recovering from the re-
suits of their daring dash into that fierce
sea of fire and boiling oil to rescue the oil
prince.
"Rouse's clothing was burned from his
body, which was one mass of blisters. His
eyes were burned to crisp in their SOCK
cts and his ears, hands and hair burned
off. He was carried to a house at safe
distance The explosion occurred at 6
p M, and in spite of his frightful con-
dition he lived until the next morning.
He never lost consciousness, and as soon
as everything that could be done for him
was done, he began the dictation of his
will.
1.-THE intense agony ne suffered made
this slow job, and when the will was fin
ished it was morning. When the docu-
ment was ready for his signature the per-
son who had done the writing dipped the
pen in the ink bottle, but in reaching it
towards the dying mans outstretched
hand he dropped it. The pen rolled in
under a table, and delay of at least a
quarter of minute occurred before it
could be recovered When it was found
and placed in Mr.. Rouse's hand the hand
was powerless to use it. The brave oil
prince was dead.
In his will he had bequeathed the sum
of 100000 to the poor fund of Warren
county. He had also left 500 each to the
crcmated alive. The will being without
his signature was, of course, legally mop
erative, and his heirs did not think it in
cumbent upon them to carry out his
wishes, although they were expressed un-
der such extraordinary circumstances.
"The county lost its legacy, which was
not so much to be wondered at, as the
sum was very large; but the non-pay-
ment of the two 800 requests to the men
who, at the risk of their own lives, had
saved the unfortunate oil operator to his
family, at least for Christian burial, was
long a matter of much comment in the oil
regions"