Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-08
MEPHISTO RECEIVES
KNOCKOUT FROM DAVIS
Dudley and Associates Are Re-
ported Upon to Curb Pub
fishing Company

has taken q hand IN the Work u
smoking out the takers. He has sent
east the following:
Curb Publishing company New
York.-Gentlemen Apropos of your ar
ticles regarding the advertisements OF
the Mephisto OIL company and the
criticism INDUCED in by the California
Oil World and other legitimate jour
nails, the writer protested also at the
time your advertisement appeared, not
knowing these papers would also take
it up. Now, being as you keep harp
ing on it, ] am tempted to rush IN
again to put you rtght-that is, IL you
will stay put In your article, page
8. September "a issue, entitled is It
jealousy the facts make your paper
appear in q ridiculous light to those
familiar with the situation. AS well
might New York city be jealous OF
any country village on the map within
q radius of 800 miles from town nav
ing 100 inhabitants or upwards.
"While conceding the Devils Den
country to be a good prospecting
place for commercial production of oil,
it is entirely proper that statements
made regarding its wells be confined to
facts regardless of whether some ga
loot is willing to go before q 10c no.
tary Cor the best notaries who might
innocently taken such acknowledge
ment) and swear to some ancient ira
dition of where someone, some day,
somewheres, some place did produce
1000 barrels of oil from well in the
DEVILS Den country, then use this as
the basis of promoting some oil COM
pany about to begin drilling, etc, there
-, Ia nveD If not deliberate
ly and technically reciting one.
PUBLIC SHOULD KNOW
"The public are entitled to know
present conditions, for their money is
being solicited in the present and 1
personally charge, irrespective OF the
fearless journals of this state corrob-
Grating some charges, that the state
ment of a gusher being within any
distance Of the Mephisto Oil company
or of there being any commercial pro-
duction so far in the whole Devils Den
country is absolutely misleading and
is an injustice to the entire oil indus
try to have such statements used as
basis for soliciting investments. They
cannot expect to get by with it.
"It is perfectly proper for any oil
company in DEVILS Den or elsewhere
to solicit investments, but for Gods
sake tell the truth--or some part of
it and let the merits of the investment
rest upon correct promotion at least
Then all will be well. The posSibili-
ties of Devils Den are known to be
good, so far as that feature goes, but
the facts are so far, that a great deal
of money has been spent there in try
ing to secure a paying well, but not
one paying well has yet been found in
the whole district. This ought to
hold some of these 'ginks' for a while.
Don't stultify your paper to publish
such glaring errors and try to get by
with it, for it will get you nothing in
the long run. As well might any coun-
try village 800 miles from New York
go to selling town lots for forty miles
around under representations that the
bank clearingS We're equal to and about
to exceed those of New York, when as
a matter of fact statistics would cas-
lily prove the falsity or error of such
claims at once. With best wishes, l
am, in the good cause"
WHAT STARTED DAVIS
The editorial referred to by Mr.. Davis
'Ts It jealousy" printed by the New
York Curb, follows, grammar and all:
An advertisement of the Mephisto
Oil company appearing in this paper
has called forth some bitter attacks in
the west. The California Oil World,
which is controlled by men who are
heavily interested in the Midway field,
swore that all that what the advertise
ment said was false. Now the Daily
Coalinga Times printed in a field that
is a rival to the Devils Den field also
had a few unkind things to say about
the Mephisto and the president of that
company.
All that both papers say may be true
Il
jealousy of one district for another.
we hold no brief either for J. Bliss
Dudley, the Mephisto Oil company or
H. II. Pottle Co, but we find that
every statement made in the adver-
tisement which brought forth the at
tacIls of our western friends are based
upon affidavits sworn to before
notaries.
1t is hard to believe that any man
or set of men would perjure them
selves in this bold manner, even to sell
a few thousand shares of stock. We
are inclined to believe that the affi-
davits are true until it Is proved other
wise.
There is one thing certain, however,
and that is that if these attacks are in
spired by jealousy of the Devils Den
field the attackers are not helping
along the oil industry in the least and
they are hurting the field in which
thew are interested as much as they
are hurting the field they are attack
ing.
CAN'T CONVINCE COAIINGA
]. Bliss Dudley, president Of the
Mephisto Oil company, which has a
twenty-year lease on the west lalf of
the west half of %, 25-18, adjoining
the Devils Den Consolidated in the
Devils Den, was in COalinga, says the
Record, for the past few days and
states that he has ordered material for
81 standard rig to complete the work
started with a portable rig.
This is the company that advertised
the sale of stock in the eastern states
and made the statement that they had
property adjacent to a 2000 barrel well.
Mr. Dudley, when asked about this
statement said that he had a letter
from Q former tool dresser on the
Devils Den Consolidated well, in which
he stated that the well had on three
occasions last year shot oil over the
top Of the derrick. and that the only
reason it is not producing is because
OF the collapse of the light casing used.
The latter states that the well was
1922 feet.
It will be a hard matter to make the
people of Coalinga believe that the
well mentioned ever produced a barrel
of oil There were many reports of
strike at the time, and no one was
allowed to go into the derrick, but
nothing developed from the excitement,
and it is generally believed that if any
oil was struck 1t was but a small
amount Of sand, with but q small
showing of oil,
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