The morning call., 1891-12-25
IN MID
A Man Carried Up in a Wafer.
burst and Held for Hours.
Carried Up as Straight as Plumh-Line- Held
in Peculiar Position by the Force of
the Water, So IT'S Said.

large number of prominent oilmen from
the various fields of Ohio, Indiana, Pennsyl-
vania and West Virginia were telling their
experiences in the oil fields, says a St.
Mary's Ohio CORES pendent of the Pitts
burg Dispatch. The one that most attracted
attention was thrilling one by Joe En-
gllsh, well-known contractor. His story
was as follows:
was about 20 years old when the oil
excitement broke cut in our country. and
was leading the uneventful life of farmer s
son. We lived on a farm of 140 acres, within
Two miles OF il prosperous town in PennSyl-
Vanla, and there was little excitement for
any OF us until some of the oimen from Oil
City came down and built rig on the
DAVIS Farm. about quarter of mile from
our place. The greasy fluid was struck in
paying quantities. / believe we drilled
Tour wells, and all are good producers.
No. 3 acted strangely. The day it came
IN IL hlled two 250-barrel tanks in four
hours, but We lost con siderable oil because of
a lack Of tankage. The well settled down,
however, to about 800 barrels a day, and
Kept flowing in at that rate for about five
days, when 1t petered out altogether. Just
Twelve days after that well quit flowing
mad the strangest experience that ever fell to
the lot of man.
THE ABANDONED WELL.
"One day j was walking about the farm
when some delayed fgure-work occurred 10
me, and resolved to do it then and there.
The abandoned we'll was near By. Knowing
would be secure from intrusion there
walked into the derrick. An empty candy
box, which l placed over the casing-head.
furnished good seat. Producing pencil
ana paper L proceeded in my own way to
solve the problem of petroleum production.
In Just about two minutes the well began
Sa1 tAr
with such tremendous force that | was
hurried high into the air, box and all. There
Is no use trying to describe my feelings. |
was too thoroughly frightened to have any.
All l know is that man OF 175 pounds was
lifted violently heayenward. N
The column of water evidently struck
the box exactly in the center, for we went
up as straight as a plumb line. What is
more, never changed my seat, and in the
very nature Of things it was impossible 10
90 SO. The squirting water was of sufficient
Volume TO entirely I'LL the box and send
pretty heavy aqueous wall on every side
into the bargain. The box was not large,
ana OF course my feet would naturally hang
over under ordinary circumstances, but in
ms case the water threw my legs upward.
MS put me in peculiarly uncomfortable
yet slngularly safe position. | sat there,
head ana legs inclined, so that 1 resembled
the letter v and was firmly held in that po-
sltlon by the outpouring current.
UP FORTY FEET.
must have gone up fully forty five
feet, but the initial force carried me higher
than 1t could hold me, and | settled back
about fifteen feet, all the while maintaining
the same position. When l reached that
point where the attraction of gravity exact
ly counters the force of water stopped
The point was fully thirty feet from the
ground. 1t was impossible for me to fall to
either side and equally impossible to fall
straight down, Tor the spraying water played
into that box with terrific force The only
movement | felt was the alternate rising
and falling of the box Occasoned By the con-
tenton between the attraction of gravity
and propulsive force of gas and water. The
only pain experienced was in my legs,
which sooE became numb from the constant
pounding Of the water.
The roar and the squirting water soon
attracted the attention of the folks at the
house. and after them came the neighbors,
oil operators and others, until there was a
crowd OF several hundred people standing
around within safe distance of the descend
ing wafer. | couldn't see much of them,
and, OF course, couldn't hear a word they
said. Gradually the pain seemed to grow
less. and the next | knew | was in bed, and
In dreamy way saw the folks standing
around.
about. The we'll ceased flowing gradually,
and finally petered out altogether As the
column of water dropped. the box with its
now insensate burden came down with it
and rested exactly over the mouth of the
we'll whence it started. l fell over on the
derrick floor and was picked up and carried
out. and then into the hnuSe'