The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1901-06-28

~ : hhNAN ! hoN a fdilltit VI uOuul
about the surface indications of oil
being visible in the region named.
He says il can be seen oozing out in
the ruts Of the roadway, in ponds and
running streams, and can be smelled
for distance of many yards, but he
says il II refined oil, the oil of COM
merce, old fashioned kerosene oil,
pure and simple, the same as you
purchase from the stores.
The plain inference, of course, is
that the oil and in that region is a
put up job" that someone has
"sslted" these supposed finds" or,
more properly speaking, has "kero.
sened the earth" and is playing the
world for suckers.
A story has also gained publicity
that barrel of oil mysteriously dis
appeared from the railroad station at
Dunnellon about six weeks ago,
which heightens the color of the sto-
~ Of the gentleman from Beaumont.
Let's seriously see If this story will
bear snalyzing.
4 FAKE STORY EXPLODED.
The reported finds of oil in the
WithlacoOchee valley are widely sep
arAted from each other. Ii is there
fore seen that IL would require large
quantities Of Kerosene 10 saturate the
earth. IL is known that kerosene oil
evapOrates very rapidly, hence the
places where these finds are reported
would have 10 be constantly supplied
with fresh oil If the supposed discov-
cry j. fake and a fraud.
Then, too, for the past six weeks
Ne have had unusual and unparal-
leled rains. In some places as much
a. fourteen inches of rainfall is re-
ported ia a single day. 1t is not too
much e. say that in the six weeks
past We have had enough rainfall To
wash to "smithereens" all the loose
kero-ene that could have been
"sneakedn into the bowels of the
earth.
We have taken pains To- investigate
the alleged missing barrel of oil from
the railroad station at Dunnellon and
find 70 TO be entirely mythical. The
agent reports that no barrel Of oil has
beeu missing al that station, and that
every barrel shipped there has been
properly accounted for.
-. instead II being a fake, the in
terview Of the gentleman from Texas
strengthens. rather than weakens, the
faith 81 the people here as TO the gem
uiurness Of the oil discovery i'm the
Nithlacoochee valley. IL the oil il
there in quantities and in remote
piace- h j. clearly evident that it
could not have been placed there by
individuals.
OIL oOZISD From ROCKS.
Capt. John l.. Iuglis was in Ocala
"Wednesday from Port Inglis, near the
mouth Of the Withlacoochee river.
From the very start of the supposed
oil discovery the captain has been a
"doubting Thomas" and has taken
mo- stock" i'm the genuineness of the
discovery. He believed implicitly in
the missing barrel Of OIL story, but
ssys now that he does not know where
u comes from but that when he left
home yesterday he saw oil oozing
from the rocks on the river banks and
running down into the river.
"OIL SLICK" orr CAPE ROMANO.
ON the Ocala House piazza Tuesday
night the oil discovery was the chief
topic of conversation. Among the
persons gathered there was DIR. VIII
liam Anderson. The doctor has spent
most Of his life on the seashore, and
j. a lover of Old Ocean. He has q
brother in the navy and is himself an
excellent sailor. He says that when
he first came 10 Florida he was told
that there was an "oil slick" off Cape
Romano covering such a large area