The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-10-21
WILKES BOOTHS OIL WELL.
Destroyed at Very Moment He Assas-
sinated Lincoln.

OSeA'oySo at very III he ASSdS
sinated Lincoln.
about The close Of the year 1854
said an old-time Venago county, Pa.
oil operator, when the Prather boys
were securing about the oil country
trying to raise money to buy the
Holmden property at Pithole, before
oil had been found at that afterward
famous and rich but short-lived petro-
leum center, John Wilkes Booth was
at Meadville one day, waiting for a
train eastward on the Atlantic &
Great Western railroad, now the Erie.
He was in the Office IF the McHenry
house. One of the Prather' boys was
there talking up the prospects of oil
at Pithole.
Booth became interested. He be.
gan to talk with Prather. He stood
by a window, and as he talked scratch
ed his full name, John Wilkes Booth.
on n of the panes of the window
with the diamond in a ring he wore.
liz 0A6AoCu4C was W1ASICA OA IIlO
glass in heroic characters. The up
shot of Booths talk with Prather was
that he invested -$15,O 900 in FitLole
property.
"ln the following April the lrill
struck the oil vein on this property,
and the famous Homestead Well he
gan spouting 500 barrels of ri! a day.
Pithole had in the meantime turned
out to be richer in oil than the Prath-
ers had prophesied, ana = teeming
city had sprung up in the wilderness
like magic. The Prather boys had
bought the Hclmden we'll for $780,
900 and sold it for more thaa $2,00O,-
600. The Homestead well. in which
Booth had his $4,000 investment,
was only one of a dozen equally large
spouting wells grouped al Pithole.
Oil was then Sc a barrel, and the
smallest fraction Ct shir in a
Pithnlo we'll was a fortune.
"The night that President Lincoln
was shot a thunderstorm, something
unusual at that time of the year.,
gathered over Pithole. There was
but n flash of lightning and n
clap of thunder. This was not re-
garded with any significance at Pit
hole at the time, but subsequent reve-
lations clothed it with a significance
that awed the superstitious and start
led those who were not.
"The tidings that the war was over
had reached the oil regions, and the
American flag was flying from the top
of every derrick. The enc thunder
bolt of that storm at Pithole struck
the rig of the Homestead we'll and
set it on fire. When, next day, the
news of the assassination of Lincoln
by Booth came to Pithole, that city
was overhung by a dense pail of
stead we'll. AS far away as Oil City
the ominous black pillar was e e
hanging against the sky over Pithole.
.The fact that the assassin Booth
owned part Ct the Homestead well
at once occurred to all at Pithole, and
when it was learned that the bolt
had descended upon it at the hour
and minute that Booth had fired the
cowardly shot that martyred the pres
ident, the coincidence seemed so sig
niicant that every effort that had
nnnn noolyino ~ nvfin uIvICh tho fro
at the well and stop the great waste
of wealth every lap of the flames was
adding to, ceased on the moment, and
the spot was Stunned by all but the
others interested in the we'll, who at
last succeeded in getting control over
the flames.
"The moment the news Of the as
sassination reached Meadville, indig-
guests at the McHenry house,
Meadville, would have shattered to
the window wherein Booth
had inscribed his name a few months
before, but the proprietor of the no.
tel succeeded in saving it, as he had
a thrifty eye to it's future value. He
removed the offensive pane from the
window, and subsequently sold it for
a good price to a Philadelphia, who,
/ believe, presented it to the Penn
sylvania Historical society,""
Washington, Mo, is the home of the
missouri meerschaum,' renowned
the world over for it's sweet smoke.
Many years ago a wood turner, hav-
ing plenty of time on his hands,
from a common corncob q
pipe. Two years ago he died a rich
man. From his first lot Of pipes, sold