Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-09-16
WILL SUE. .0|L TRUST
Physician Says Secrets Were Stolen From Him by John D.
BROKE UP HIS BUSINESS.

Seeks to Bring About Restitution of
 Enormous Profits of His Discoveries of vaseIine, Paraffin and Many Prod
 ucts of Petroleum. .'..
 New York, Sept. 16-Silent for thir- ty years on the subject of his wrongs, which he charges to the founder of the old trust John D. Rockefeller, his old physician, Dr. 0. L. Morehouse. who says he is the discoverer of vaseline, paraff1n and many products of pe- troleum, has announced his intention of bringing suit against the organiza- ton for $100,0O0.O00. In statement written for the Amer ican, Dr. Morehouse, who is eighty-flve years old and lives in 32S West Thir- tieth street, Manhattan, declares the processes of producing petroleum prod :ucts were stolen from him by Rocke- feller, whom he also charges with ruinlng his business, with that of thou sands of others. The old physician as- serts the millions of Rockefeller should be his, and his appeal to the courts will be an effort to bring about the res titution of profits from his discoveries. ,s.. : Broke Up His Business. The written statement of the doctor follows. S-, :.-..' r: :,
 ;""I knew John D. Rockefeller when he was clerk in the employ of Hus- sey Mcbride, ship chandler, on River street. Cleveland. I was in the oil business at least five years before Rockefeller left Hussey Mcbride and opened a ship chandler store with Samuel Andrews, afterward Stand ard Oil officer. Rockefeller often came to my place to find out where he could Sell his oil. told him to hold on un- til the time came and would tell him so he could dispose of 1t at profit. This did, and he made his first step in the oil business by disposing of 800 barrels of oil.
 q was then doing an extensive busi- ness, my customers extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. My firm supplied 104 railroads with all kinds of oils, and we were large dealers in paraffin oil and wax. Orders for oil were coming in so fast that we were not able to supply the demand, and I would today be the richest oil man in the country if 1t had not been for John D. Rockefeller, who by illegal .methods drove me out of business. All the buildings of my plant were. of an -up to date type for that time. Much of the machinery in them was of my own invention and turned out products that were unequaled. This was especially so of my ammonia machine for cooling the oil while it was being subjected to pressure to produce the wax.
 Rockefeller an Admirer..'
 "John D. Rockefeller was one of the many admirers of the rnew processes (which | had perfected. In one of our conversations he pledged himself not to go into the lubricating business, but to adhere strictly to the business of manufacturing burning oil.
 "When Rockefeller started in the re. fining business I took all of the tar from him. He regarded it as refuse, and 1t was given to me for taking it away. But as soon as he found it had a. commercial value he charged me 90 cents a barrel. ,...-. =. ,.,. -,...-. |
 "I first manufactured the product which is now known as vaseline, but which called butter of petroleum. exhibited this byproduct with my oth- CT oils at the Ohio State fair in 1862.
 "About the year 1870 or 1871 John D. Rockefeller came to my oil works on River street to tell me that he had made arrangements for rebates with various railroads for shipment of oil all over the country. His face was beaming, and without any prelude he said:
 "T have just returned from New York. where I made arrangements for rebates. I saw Commodore Wander bilt, and I gave him S10.O00 worth of , our stock. l also saw Mir. Garrett of the Baltimore '. and Ohio, to whom I gave like amount, and the Pennsyl- vania Central was also given a like subsidy.
 "'By these gifts was able to ar range for rebates for the shipment of oil both east and west. This will en- able us to put oil on the market on those trunk lines cheaper than any of our competitors and will effectually dispose of all of our rivals in the man. ufacture of oil.'"