The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-05
BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY.
IN Ohio Man Carried VI in q Water-Burst
54 and Held for Hours.

An Ohio Man Carried Up in . Water-Burs,
and Held for Hours.
y A large number Of prominent oil men
from the various fields of Ohio, Indiana,
Pennsylvania and West Virginia, were tell
ing their experiences in tho oil fields, says a
st. Mary's co. correspondent of tho Pitts
burg Dispatch. The one that most at.
tracted attention was a thrilling one by Joe
English, a woll-known contractor. His
story was as follows:
II was about 20 years old whom the oil en-
citement broke out in our country, and was
leading the unevontful life of a farmers
son. We lived on a farm of lao acres.
within two miles of q prosperous town in
Pennsylvania, and there was little excite
ment for any Of us until some of the oil
men from Oil City came down and built a
rig on the Davis farm, about a quarter of a
milo from our place. The greasy fluid was
struck in paying quantities. | believe we
drilled four wells, and all are good pro-
tucers.
mo. 8 acted strangely. The day it came
in it filed two 25o-barrel tanks in four
hours, but we lost considerable oil because
Of a lack Of tankage. The we'll settled
down, however, to about 300 barrels q day,
and kept flowing at about TINT rate for
altogether. just twelve days after that
we'll quit flowing I had the stranQest ex-
%perience that ever fell to the lot Of man.
Zone day ! was walking about tho farm
when some delayed figure work occurred to
me, and I 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-hend,
furnished o good seat. Producing pencil
and paper I proceeded in my own way to
solve tho problem of petroleum production.
In just about two minutes the we'll began
squirting salt water at q furious rate and
with such tremendous force thnt I was
hurled high into the air, box and all. There
is no use trying to describe nv feelings. |
WAS too thoroughly frightened to have any.
All / know 4 man of It's pounds was lifted
violently h~eavenward.
"Ihe column of water evidently struck
the box exactly in the center, for we went
up as strnight as II plumb line. What ID
more, | never changed my seat, and in the
very nature of things II wng impossible to
do so. Ths squirting wntor was of sufficient
volume to entirely fill the box and send a
pretty heavy aqueous wall on every side
into the bargain. Tho box wRg not large,
aud of course my feet would naturally hang
over under ordinary circumstances, but in
this case the water throw my legs upward.
This put me in a peculiarly uncomfortable
yet singularly safe position. I sat there,
head md legs inclined, so that / resemblsd
Pio Hfb l al LuAt
position by tke outpouring current.
II must haye gone up fully forty-tive
feet, but the initial force car led me higher
than 1T could hold me, and I settled beck
about fifteen feot, all the while maintain
ing the Same position. When I reached
that point where the attraction of gravity
exactly counters the force of water /
stopped. Tho point van fully thirty feet
from the ground. 1t Was impossible for
mo to fall to either side. and equally i'm
possible to fall straight down, for the
spraying water played into that boz with
terrific force. The only movement | felt
was tho alternative rising and falling of the
box occnsioned by the contention between
the attraction of gravity and propulsive
force OF gas and water. Ihe only pain l ex-
perienced was in nv legs, which soon be-
came numb from the constant pounding OF
the water.
sIhe roar and the squirting water soon
attracted the attention of tho folks mt tho
house, and after them cnmc the neighbors,
Oil operators and others. until there wns Il
crowd OF several hundred people standing
around within safe distance OF the descend
ing water. / couldn't see much OF them
mud, of course. couldn't haar Il word thsy
said. Gradually the pain seemed to grow
less, and the next | knew l was in bod. and
III a dreamy way saw the folks standing
around.
.'Ihey told mo how my final rescue oarno
about. The well ceased flowing gradually,
md finally patered out altogether, Az tho
column OF water dropped the box with its
NOW insensato burden, came down with 1t