The sun., 1897-10-24
SPIRITS THAT SMELL OIL.
FORTUNES WON THROUGH FAITH IN
VISIONS AND MEDIUMS.
many Cases In which supernatural Insight Is
Believed by OH sIen TO Havo Located BiE
vyeIis-Aiso Many Cases In which That In
eight Has Boen Hrisdirected TO Their Cost.

Many Cases In which Supernatural Insight "
Believed by OH Sen TO Havo Located BlE
vgeIls-Aiso Many Cases In which That In
siEht Has Been H1isdirected TO Their Cost.
BOLIVAR, N. Y, Oct. os-The story OF tho oil
regions is q ncver.endinE romance. Almost
from the dav when Col. Drake completed his
famous we'll near Titusville in 1859. and tapped
the or cat flood OF petroleum that has enriched
the world, Spiritualists, scientific men, philoso-
piers, and oil smellcrs have tried their hand at
locating oil pools and wells with varying sue
cess. and occasionally stake has been set to
-ratify the whim Of a dream During the last
Hear two wells, located by spirits. have been
drilled near Bolivar. and at present the drill is
bouncing in a well that medium says will fll
with oil when the sand is tapped. In all Of tho
oil fields few wells drilled every year on To-
cations picked out by mediums.
Tho first oil-well medium to spring into fame
was Abram James of Pleasantville, Pa. One
day in tho fall Of 1867 he was driving from Pit
hole to Pleasantville in company with two oil
operators A mile out of Pleosantvillo the
spirit" took possession OF him and he hur-
riedy jumped out of tho buggy and climbed
over the fenco and into field on the Porter
farm. He raced about tho field for several
minutes like madman. and then moved
cautiously toward tho north corner OF the field
as II tracing out n lode vein. At q certain
spot he was thrown violently to the ground. He
punched q hole in the soft earth with his finger.
placed penny in the hole. covered it up. and
then fell upon his bosom. While apparently I'M
conscious he said that tho spirits told him that
under that exact spot and extending for several
miles in a certain direction rich pool of
oil. His companions did not know what to make
OF his strange actions and had no faith in his
statement. James had faith. He secured n
lease OF the farm. borrowed money enough to
drill n well. and when il was completed, on Feb
IL, 1868, it started Off at over 100 barrels a
day. Sand was found at n depth OF $50 feet,
and every farmer for miles around became
wildly excited.
Hundreds Of wells wero drilled about there
and a prolific pool was opened and Pleasantvillo
had boom. James, under the direction OF his
spirit" located q dozen or more paying wells
and accumulated n fortune. His reputation
was made when he completed the first WELL
which was known the Harmonical No. l.
James was a man of fine intellect and lofty
principles Many rejected his theories Of tho
supernatural but none questioned his sincerity
To show that he was not infalible, it may be
well to state that he located well on tho Clar-
ion Riverin 1874 under spirit guidance. This
we'll was drilled ], 800 feet deep at expense Of
$4,000. and it was as dry as n powder horn
spirit mediums located four good wells near
William BarnsdalI OF Titusvlle made a for.
II,
faith in spiritualism His daughter. who was a
Medium. located one good well, and he had such
bankrupt before he ceased to follow her advice
The hrst well she located was a good one. All
,he rest s were l, failures Another Titusyie man
son. an eccentric man, who was known in Titus
Vile Vile in those day days as an oil king. He and his
son caught the craze for locating spirit wells
She insisted ed that we'll be drilled on certain
The spot selected was under sandstone
boulder as large as a two-story house. The
was enormous When the % we'll i"S was tus conpieted ]
it produced four barrels day. On the same
,aaI%; and % 800 feet from the spirit wei, Col,
started Off at 400 barrels day. Before Watson
quit experimenting 1 he @ had lost his. entire for.
'louded his last days. and before he died he made
y living by peddling notions about the streets of
in Titusville and moved into a mansion that he
he McCray farm were productive and 1iGi That at
small section OF It has produced more than 1,O00-
Sers S Is long as Eather Times appeared at North
induced contractor to drill well on a location
rame in dry. The medium held that the spirits
we're angry and had moved tho oil-producing
quietly, Disappeared, without paying, the land.
who e sSaSa b syns dollar to the
At the State Road Rifle in Armstrong county
SspdTltiImast driIoh 1oo oeated ted well in 1s!s The well
laycd the work much that several months
yere required to complete it. Not a showing OF
near being mobbed by the men he had duped.
During the last summer q spiritualist staked
Canadian oil field, receiving $50 a Well for his
seryices. One of the wells was drilled by a
that every one Of the six wells was a dry hole.
Spiritualist was allowed to locate we'll last
turned out to be the only useless we'll drilled in
When the oil boom caused Bolivar to flourish
early in the eighties German philosopher came
to town with mineral rod, He said he was
able to locate paying oil wells and he had
While the well was drilling it attracted much
attention. Only q trace Of oil was found. and
eral rod went over the hill and disappeared in
At Belmont, N. Y. in tho spring of 1896 n
farmer named Leilous had vision In which the
spirit of Leonard Willis. a former Belmont
ho 10 h o orTne in the oil d
oil was under the Leilous farm. At least that
was the farmers story, and as he invested 800
to drill the Well no " one doubled his n.hs sincerity
The Thee drill ri ~, was ass sent & down 10 200 feet but only a
Leilous entirely and he is now trying to organize
company to drill another well in the same
loCHHll. u Is not stated on WnaC nlRnt IN the
spring Leilous saw the vision. 1t might havo
been on April /. and II so the spirits were play
ing 800 joke on him.
A few weeks oil smeller went from
Ohio to Whitesville. twenty-five miles east OF
Bolivar, where an effort has been made for sew
well that is now driiIins u All All or Of the Ds Wells
drilled in that vicinity have shown traces OF oil
and produced a smnll quantity, of gas, but none
OF them has produced either in paying quant-
ties. II the spirit should open tho long looked
for oil pool, the sccoffers would be compelled to
hold up their hands.
One OF the best wells in tho famous Chipmunk
pool in Cnttaraugus county was located by n
woman who had dream that oil would be
found on particular spot on the McCaffrey
farm. Twenty years ago rig was built on the
McCaffrey farm for test well, but before the
drill was started the promoters were lured away
by more promising outlook in another locality,
and tho derrick was torn down and moved away
The night after the rig was moved Mr.. and Mrs
McCahrey dreamed that the well had been COM
the top of the derrick.
we talked about that dream SO much." Mrs.
McCaffrey said TO the writer that, somehow we
felt sure there was oil under our farm. In all
the years that passed We never lost faith, and
last spring. when the oil boom came to the
Chipmunk Valley, we felt certain that our dream
would be realized. AT first wells were drilled
only at the, upper end of the valley. but gradu.
Nh- halls