The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-11-09
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w Hen the owners Ol tne well lOuHu tuut
 It was being watched they employed a
 gang of Swedes to watch 1t. In a day
 or two one of them found Beaumont
 hiding in the underbrush. The scout
 tried to escape, but, being short and
 fat, was soon overhauled and carried
 a prisoner to the derrick. The owners
 determined to hold him and have him
 tried for trespass. Accordingly he was
 chained to a tree and told that he would
 be taken to the jail at Warren next
 morning. It was bitter cold, and dur
 ing the night Beaumont's feet were bad
 ly frozen. For this piece of barbarity he
 afterward recovered heavy damages.
 The most brilliant piece of scouting
 in the annals of the business was that
 performed by Fred Smith in the Wash
 ington field seven years ago. Smith
 came to the conclusion that he would
 make a good scout, and engaged with
 Pittsburgh broker. At first he had a
 hard row to hoe, but stuck to 1t, and
 one night overheard bit of conversa-
 tion which convinced him that his fer
 tune was made. It was to the effect
 that a certain well, which had been
 drilled through the sand and disclosed
 a duster, was, in fact, showing oil, and
 was to be shot that very night, the
 owners having misrepresented the fact
 in order to secure lease on the ad-
 Joining farm. The scouts plans were
 quickly laid. He wired his principal to
 be in Washington early in the morning,
 and an hour or two later made his way
 to the well. Arriving, on the premises he found it guarded by armed men, and
 was fore ed to beat a nasty retreat. He lay down in a clump of bushes near by and awaited developments. Soon a muffled report told him that the well had been shot, and then, after what seemed an age, the owners of the well and the torpedo az mt passed within ten feet of where he lay, going toward the town. Two hours longer the scout
 waited, and them numb and half froZ- en, approached the we'll. A cautious reconnoitre showed him that the guards had gathered in the boiler room to es- cape the bitter cold without and that the coast was clear. Reaching the der rick room he openedJ the door and crept in. The smell of petroleum greeted him, and groping about, he felt the greasy fluid on the floor and walls.
 From the derrick Smith silently made his way to the tank house. The door was unlocked, and, stepping inside, he heard the sound of oil gushing from the pipes into the tank. Nothing now re- mained for him to do but to get away ry,di Th3C hn rryas Jir1 to do when he stumbled and fell. His fall aroused the guards, and couple of bullets whistled past his head. But the young. scout was of long limb and lank of body, and, regaining his feet, soon left his pursuers in the rear. The farmer who owned the farm adjoining was not yet stirring when Smith and his employer drove up to his door They explained their early visit by saying that they had but an hour ito make the train for Pittsburg. They had little faith in his property as oil land, but if he was willing to lease they would sink a test we'll at once. The farmer was willing, and called in his hired man to witness the lease, which was soon drawn up. The document had just been signed when the owners of the mystery well drove into the yard. They were ten minutes too late, but Smiths nights work and his principals early morning ride nettled them $100,O0O.
 Wildcat mysteries are the scouts par ticular prey, and as there are from twenty to fifty of these under way all the time they are generally kept busy. The genuine wildcatter is the terror of the trade. Surface indications are all that he needs to set the drill going 1 Then for weeks the trade watches the l new venture, while it's enterprising owner works it as a speculative factor | for all that it is worth. Often he does not hesitate to "sat" a well, If by doing so he can make few thousand dollars on a change in the market, and at such 1 times the skill and experience of the scout are put to the test. Other wild- cat ventures are legitimate efforts to find oil and the fact that the richest | fields in Pennsylvania have been locat- | ed in this way shows how richly they 1 have been rewarded.
 Captain P. R. Grace Of Jamestown, l N. ", was long the king of wildcatters. | For years he roamed up and down west ern Pennsylvania, pushing the drill in | out-of- -the-way places with an energy that seemed great deal like lunacy to less persistent men. Ten years ago he struck Shousetown; below Pittsburg, leased al few thousand acres, and start sd another wildcat. He superintended l the drilling in person and the work rapidly. Late one night the drill touched the pay sand, and Grace