The herald., 1897-02-17
THAT Infant INDUSTRY
More Interviews With Victims
of Its Tyranny
TRANSFERS OF LEASES
Have Subjected Property Owners to
Much Trouble
Sufferers Without Redress-A Doctors Eu.
gagement With the OIL Men-Ex-
pert Watts NoncommittaI

/
tice arising from the methods pursued
| by certain oil operators. II took up the
fight against this crying evil" he con-
| tinued, months ago, at time when it
was very unpopular to say or even
| think anything against this infant in
dustry, but now there is a change, and
The Herald is on the right side.
You can readily see that many of the
property owners have been forced into
very uncomfortable positions, through
ignorance or otherwise. Many of them
have leased their property for term
of years to parties in whom they had
| faith, but leases, you know, are sale
| able, and in a number of cases transfers
sc made have been the cause of subject
ing not few people to much trouble and
| indignities, to say the least. Property of
various kinds has been injured or de-
| stroyed, and the sufferers have been
without redress. The possibility and
legality of lease transfers has thrown
| cloud over titles SO that when other
wise possible to sell, owners have found
serious impeachment to a disposal of
| their land"
"Do you find fault with the industry in
| the abstract?"
! mo, certainly not; 1t is the damage
| to the property, real and personal, which
| is being done. Something must be ar
| ranged to prevent such injury or the
property purchased at an equitable
| price.
| Now, in regard to those sump- holes.
| You see that when there is even a little
| oil in the holes damage will result. Water
| runs in and fills the holes and the oil,
| being of lighter specific gravity, rises to
| the top and runs off.
"At one time lot of oil ran down the
| alley by my house. went to the police,
| but got no satisfaction. Then I went
| to the chief, who told me confidentially
| that certain oil man had a political
pull and that he was pOWerless to do
| anything in the matter. I told him if
| that oil was not cleaned up 1 would
make one of the greatest fuses he ever
| heard of, in which he would suffer for not
doing his duty. I used some strong Ian
| guage, and the result was that the
matter received attention.
You have already referred to the
/ wires strung across the street and the
pipes sticking out Such things are in
violation of city ordinances and make
the contractors liable for damage DONE"
A NON-COMMITTAL EXPERT
Mr.. w. L. Watts Of the state mimi s.
bureau is in the city. He was found
Yesterday at the st. Elmo, surrounded
| by boxes of statistical matter. He is
an Englishman of pleasing address, gen.
|. ial but earnest, and impresses one with
| sincerity of purpose. But naturally he
| Is nom -committal regarding the oil indus.
try. He said substantially:
II do not care to speak in haphazard
| manner. I am here to gather statistics
about oil and other mineral products.
l really have little more information
than l had year ago, which you can
find In my reports. What was there re-
ported seems to have been verefied by
developments during the past year. At
the extreme western end of the oil field,
as 1t now is, the dip is becoming greater:
that is. the angle of inclination of the oil
strata is smaller thus limiting and de-
flning the oil field. But beyond that
again the strata flattens out I have
been very careful not to say anything
which could be construed as either BOOM
ing or depressing the industry. My
province is to obtain facts and to state
! them as l find them, regardless of the
result
TYRANNY AND AVARICE
DR.. W. l.. Wells, whose office Is in Will
cox building, when asked yesterday re-
garding his experience with unreasona-
BILE Oil contractors, said:
Eyes, 1 have had some experience. One
morning, when the oil men drove up 10
the lot adjoining my property, quietly
advised them not to drive well. They
paid no attention but next morning
moved an engine upon the lot and pre-
pared to begin work. l again told them
that in order to avoid trouble they had
better not begin work. They replied
- - you, we will. We came here to
drive WE'LL and by - we intend to do
it. No shall stop u.s. Well,
told them I would stop them; that I
was going to my attorney and they had
better go to theirs They said they had
no time to fool with lawyers. The re-
suit was that 1 obtained an injunction.
l received letter from the insurance
company stating that my policy has
been Cancelled This was shown to the
court and the injunction granted as
prayed. Subsequently the case came
up and obtained judgment The con-
tractors were forced to pay costs. They
at once offered to paint my house and to
otherwise repair my property, but re-
fused What I wanted was a cessation
of work, and they did not drill the we'll
| was asked what damages l wanted. I
replied, None I was satisfied with
the costs, but it was over six months
before even those were paid. They
claimed at one time that the costs had
been paid. But quietly assured them
that the principal was drawing inter-
est You see, knew that some time
they would have business dealings and
they could transfer no property as long
as the judgment hung over their heads.
Well, it turned out as 1 had anticipated.
They sold lot but could not consum-
mate the deal while the judgment hung
over them, and so they came to me at
last, and, still protesting, they paid the
costs with the full interest.
"They called me the oil crank and
Johnny Bull Well I am from Eng
land, but I told them they would feel the
horns of the bull.
"They had been 'bulldozing' all my
neighbors, and 1 was determined they
should not serve me the same way.
you must, understand that there is a
certain way to proceed in such matters.
You must first make complaint of
nuisance, and then prove damages;
which l did. They are bound to pay
damages or buy the property.
II am perfectly willing that they
should get oil; 1 care for none of it; but
they must not injure my property in so
doing"