The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-11-09


 operators-Tricks of the shrewd Wildcat Men.
 (F'rom the St. Louis Globe-D -Democratl Scouts are one of the developments of the oil business. The Cherry Grove field brought them to the front dozen years ago, and so valuable did the in. formation gleaned by them there prove that they at once became recognized feature of the trade. Now there Is hardly a prominent operator or broker but has his scout, who keeps him posted In regard to operations, and wires him whether or not the latest we'll Is gush- CT or a duster.
 The scouts labors are chiefly per formed in the night ana in the early morning, so he can wire his principal before the market opens the exact con- ditlon of the field. Many of the scouts are old drillers, and so accurate is their information and so thorough their knowledge of the field matters that their judgment is rarely at fault. A few of the scouts, generally the oldest. shrewd- est and best known, work on salaries, and handsome ones. too; others sell their information for what 1t will bring, but the majority go into the business merely to gain information to bull or bear the market. When members of the latter class have gained pointer they take 1t to a broker, who, In turn for the favor done, carries their oil and charges them nothing in the way of commissions. In this way they of- ten make a larger sum than they could were they employed on 8 salary. A single sharp piece of work will bring a scout into prominence and his services into demand, but even then he must be ever on the alert, as mistake or blun- der would be fatal to his reputation. y,
 The scouts some years ago organized an association for mutual aid and pro- lection. It Is one of the most exclusive and ironclad affairs in the country, and woe to the unlucky member who wilful- ly breaks it rules. His path in the fu- ture is sure to be a thorny one.
 Pat Boyle is one of the oldest and in many respects one of the most..femark- able members of the fraternity. He has been scouting for years. and has often been in a position to make thousands on change in the market, but he has never yet held a dollars worth of specu- lative oil He is perhaps the best known in oildom, and has a way of in- sinuating himself into the good. graces and confidence of the drillers at a mys- tery well that makes his fellow scouts desperate. Stories of the shrewd work done by him are without number. A few years ago, aided by a bottle of whis- ky, he enticed the guard away from a mystery well just then troubling the trade, and drilled it in himself. The we'll was duster, but Boyle's princi- pals knew and had profited by the fact long before its owners were aware of it. Boyle's skill as a scout proving frequent source of annoyance to the Standard Oil company, the officers of that concern several years ago, won him over to their cause by making him the editor of the Oil City Derrick.
 Most of the stories of the daring ad- ventures through which scouts are con- stant1y passing are freaks of the imag- ination, but Q few of them have had ex- periences that are really thrilling. Jim Hughes, the first man to make scouting a regular business is one. While loaf ing about Warren in the winter of 1881 he one day received a message from a Bradford broker offering him a big sal ary to find out the qualities of well 646," a wildcat which Captain Peter Grace was just then drilling in the widest part of Warren county. Hughes at once took up his quarters with a farmer near the we'll and commenced operations. It was not long before Grace discovered that the well was be- ing watched, and hired and armed six backwoodsmen to guard it. The guards did their work well, and for two weeks Hughes was kept busy lodging the bull lets which they nightly let fly at him. Firing of this exercise he began hunting around for other means of watching the drill Beside the we'll stood tree whose linebs grew close to the ground. Eluding the guard each night and climbing the tree to an easy perch, he watched the drillers for two weeks. Then Grace discovered his hiding place, and told him that if he again came near the well he would certainly be shot. I Nothing daunted, Hughes again resort ed to stratagen. At the risk of his life l he that night made his way past the which had been doubled, and gained the side of the derrick. Some thing called tie driller and his assist l ant from the derrick room for mo- ment. Seizing the opportunity, the scout silently crept in, and, lifting up ! one of the loose boards of the floor, l slipped underneath and laid down on ! the ground. Here fear Of discoveryI forced him to remain thirty-six hours, | tut he found that the we'll was in the l sand and spraying oil. Finally escap- | Ing as he had come, without detection, Hughes made his way to his boarding house, and, saddling the farmers best | horse, rode at full speed to the town of | reaching there early in the ! A cipher despatch told his employers all. Hughes had neither food i
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