The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-05-09
Hi WAS B-A-A-D.
Ben Hogan, Who Has Become
an Evangelist.
HIS CAREER IN THE OIL REGIONS
His Famous ~"F1oating Palace on the
Allegheny River His Adventures in
Pithole In 1865 The Wicked Little

Town of Babylon.
Ben Hogan is in the Pennsylvania oil coun-
try. Ben Hogan, old time gambler, craftsman,
confidence man, bounty jumper, dive keeper
and pugilist, who left the oil country eleven
years ago with the reputation of being the
wickedest man in the world, is back again
after his long absence, going from town to
town, visiting his old haunts, greeting his old
friends, and-preaching to them the gospel Of
Jesus Christ! Packed houses greet him every
where, and although crude, ungrammatical
and with a vocabulary not at all extensive,
he holds the interested attention Of ignorant
and cultivated alike with the forceful and
rudely eloquent recital Of his past adventures
and the story Of his marvellous conversion.
AS be- looks across the f%ootlights he can see
the faces of many of his old ~patrons-the
man who drank his liquor at Pithole, the
habitue Of his dance house at Babylon, the
ex-oil prince who spent his 500 a night on
board the famous, or rather Infamous, "foat-
ing palace" at Parker's Landing, and the
driller who %patronized his place at Tarport,
near Bradford, Pa. They all come to hear
Ben preach the gospel. For how many men
does the whirligig Of time work such wonders
as it has for Ben Hogan, evangelist
HOGAN IN PITHOLE.
Ben vent to Pithole in 1865, soon after the
first oil was struck, and at a time when the
town was the toughest place in America.
Probably a more heterogeneous population
was never before contained in one town.
The gambler, the craftsman, the sneak thief,
the murderer, the pugilist, the all round
sport, the woman Of the town, the extrava-
CANT oil prince, the s%pendthrift driller, the
and adventures, in short, hun
dreds of Americas toughest citizens, focked
there from the four ends Of the earth attract
ed thence by visions Of wealth and thirst for
excitement. Oil was 50 per barrel, money
was plenty, easily gotten and as easily squan-
dcred. Ben Hogan was one Of the motley
crew that swarmed to Pithole, and like tho
most of his companions he came 'broke."
He was then quite proficient with his fists and
gave sparring lessons and exhibitions of
strength at Diefenbach's variety hall. When
not on the stage he acted as doorkeeper. The
hall was frequented by the very toughest cit
liens, and their favorite method Of paying
the entrance fee was by presenting q cooked
revolver in the doorkeeper's face, with tho
remark, do pass7" Ben says they usually die.
A short time after his appearance in Pithole,
he fought Jack Holiday for a purse Of 5000
and defeated him in seven rounds. Aboutfour
hundred tough men and tougher women were
present. A large number of them were
armed, and Hogan was assured several times
before the fight that he would be killed if he
whipped his opponent. Ben was shot at by
Marsh Elliott during the fight, but escaped
unhurt. Ben met Elliott soon thereafter, and
him out in four brief rounds, break
ing his nose and using him up generally.
About this time Ben fell in with French
Kate, ex-Confederate spy and companion of
j. Wilkes Booth, and opened a palatial sport
ing house, the receipts Of which often reached
s $1,000 a day. Ben's next adventure of i'm
portance was with one "Stonehouse Jack"
This desperate and his gang had a grudge
Hogan and concocted a scheme to Kill
him. Jack was to arrange a fight with Ben,
which Hogan was to be killed by the
crowd, but Ben went to the appointed place,
the crowd with a revolver and
blocked their little game. He then got the
burgess sanction to kill "~Stonehouse," who
al unusually dangerous character, on
sight. Shortly thereafter Ben saw lis enemy
out of O dance house and blazed
away at him, but without effect, except that
the fusillade scared "Stonehouse'' away from
CLOSE QUARTERS.
Hogan next went to Babylon, fourteen
miles distant, a remarkably wicked little town
at the top of a high mountain. The journey
was made in a hay wagon containing fifteen
hand painted damsels, a. organ and two id-
dlers. The novel equipage and its occupants
made things lively for the country folk along
the route and attracted considerable atten-
At Babylon Ben opened dance house,
which paid him $500 per day, and which he
for about nine months. There was a
gang of seven mountain thieves who held up
people right and left at Babylon, and tried to
ply their ~nefarious trade around Ben's place,
much to his displeasure. He warned them to
keep away, and finally shot one of the gang
in the leg. They revenged themselves by
him arrested upon the charge Of keep
ing a disorderly house. -Four officers cap
tured him and took him in a sleigh across the
country to Warren. ~ncsn>S