Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1915-06-18
SLATER AETIE 50 600
70 OPEN CREsC E\T
0Co0'inuel from naee l.;

Confined from page l.;
rapidly shifted TO slater. II was evi-
dent thar court action was discounte-
uanced by a majority
The opposition to Slater conferred
around his alleged taking over of the
Crescent we'll and Mr.. Christopher
charged him with a plot TO secure the
we'll to himself and leave the other
stockholders out in the cold. 1t ap-
peared that Mr. Slater had a quit
claim from the company for $50 acres
surrounding the we'll, with the pro-
viso that 100 acres was to be returned
70 the company, the 100 acres to be
selected by Emery G. Williamson. The
fear was openly expressed that Mr..
Williamson would act with Mr.. Slater
and would select 100 acres not in
Guiding the we'll itself, which would
leave the developed property in Mr..
Slaters hands. Mr. Slater settled
this by declaring that he would quit
claim on 40 acres surrounding the
we'll and would file a deed to this
effect with DR.. j. F. Austin of Tacoma
before o'clock Tuesday night. This
he did.
Common Stock Over-Issued.
Other charges, such as that he had
sold stock from his Seattle Office and
had issued stock without the sane
ton of the company officers, were
denied by Mr.. Slater. Mr.. William
son made the admission that the COM
mon stock of the company had been
over-issued. He explained this by
saying that Mr.. Slater's contract
called for a certain amount of stock
and that if he had not over-issued the
common he would have had to give
him preferred, which he did not pro-
pose to do. There was a great differ
ence of opinion as to how far Mr..
Williamson had made himself liable
by this act.
Mr.. Slater declared that if any
court action was taken the holder Of
the mortgage on the we'll, Seattle
trust company, would Immediately
foreclose. - ~
Christopher also charged that
Slater had sold stock for % cents,
acting for the company, and taking
10 per cent for commission, and that
after the stock was sold the contract
had been changed so as to credit the
company with but cents on each
share sold, Slater pocketing the diff
ference. This Slater emphatically
denied.
II am here tonight to meet the
criticism that has been leveled against
me-" Slater said. II am the best
friend the stockholders have had. I
also want to state that Mr.. William
son has acted honestly throughout
and believed he had oil at 1886 feet"
Mr.. Slater here told Of the early
history of the Tenino oil field and
told how he became interested.
"Mr. Williamson came to me-" he
continued, land begged me to help
him. He said they needed $1,000 to-
continue work and that the we'll was
bankrupt at that time. I tried to-
raise the money for him. went to-
100 people and asked them to pledge
$50 apiece. Not one Of them would
90 it. So I put in the money myself
and took mortgage on the we'll.
1.-THE Crescent company gave me an
AFFIDAVIT that the well was all right
and that the hole was clear. When I
took charge I found that the drill
wouldn't work and threats were made
against me warning me not to pull
the casing. One night we did pull
the casing and found that the shoe
was bent and broken. had to get q
new shoe. When we reached the
level of 1886 feet where oil had first
been discovered there was no oil.
Good Oil Showing Now.
1--WE went down to 1910 feet and
the side walls Of the we'll caved. Then
the cable broke. The gas pressure
was terrific and we had to fight for
every inch. At 1875 feet I sent 81
bailer down and 1t came up with oil
streaked all through It. Another
bailer made a better showing and al
third and fourth showed still better.
I Immediately ordered the we'll closed
down and cemented.
Right here is where made mis-
take. I announced that oil had been
struck and that we would open the
we'll in 10 days. We did so and the
cement had not had time to harden
and broke away, undoing all curl
work. 1t took 80 days to remedy thel
fault because we had listened to pub
lie opinion Had we MT onened thol