Evening star., 1931-04-30
FIRE VISIBLE TEN MILES.
OIL Well Sends Pail Of Smoke over
GIadewater, Tex.

OH wen Sends Pail OF Smoke over
GIadewater, Tex.
BY ROBERT J. CASEY,
Special patch to The Star.
LON EW, Tex, April 29.-Trage-
dy, tn n Of Fortune in the oil
areas, me to Gladewater, newest
and mo- mic OF the get-rich-quick
capitals ie one-time poverty fiat.
Ten men Town to have been burned
TO death II. eruption of a Vesuvius
OF blazing OF. I'd throughout the night
spear OF flt ne rose nearly 1000 feet
into the sky to mark the spot where
! they died.
| Today, against a slaty sky that
promises rain the burning well still
casts red glow, an eerie aurora visible
from points 10 miles away, and its
black plume spreads out above Glade
| water, Is miles from here, like q dense
storm cloud.
Over the battered roads morning
witnessed the movement of the oil field
shock troopS-the dynamite squads with
roaring trucks bearing explosives to the
scene OF the fire. Texas rangers on
duty in the Kilgore Field, southeast Of
Gladewater, were called to patrol the
highways and hold back thousands of
| automobiles while the nitro men pre-
pared to shoot the well In an effort TO
stop the havoc.
Gusher Becomes Volcano.
The Cole No. we'll of the Sinclair
Co. was gusher before it became a
| volcano. It's history, even without last
| nights fatal denouement, was typical
| of the haphazard romance that came to
| this region last December with the
striking Of pay sand in an area that
within 90 days had become the most ex-
| tensive oil field in the world.
Sunday night the drills had gone
down through two strata Of sand where
| oil might have been expected and the
engineers were convinced that they
we're sinking a dry hole. Sunday morn
ing at $3.50 the shaft suddenly spouted
geySer Of oil that in three minutes
was reaching halfway to the top OF the
derrick. The night shift prevented a
fire on that occasion by a quick rush
to extinguish the fires under the boilers
| For two days the well was out of control.
The black jet rose almost to the tops
| OF the pine trees in the forest surround
| ing 1t. The hastily erected storage
tanks were insufficient to cope with its
output OF l,500 barrels an hour. So
| dams were erected across the creek
which flowed near the foot of the
derrick and the thick stream foated
on top OF the sluggish water.
Makeshift embankments were thrown
up to catch the f1ow over the low places
| In the woodlot and pasture OF the farm
where this and other derricks had
sprouted. Little pools and lakes of
OIL covered the ground yesterday when
the crew went back to put cap on the
drill stem. The work was within a few
minutes of completion when a spark
the origin of which is unknown,
detonated the escaping gas
Leap Into Path of Fire.
Two men, Bill Harroun and Bob
Murdock, of Oklahoma City, were on
the top Of the derrick when the blast
came. They jumped squarely into the
pain Of the blaze. their clothing afire
before they struck the ground. In a
second the impromptu reserve tanks
shght and wide river OF fire was
moving through the pine trees.
smoke rolled through the pines from
the creek more than a mile to the
Kilgore road blotting out the footpaths
and trapping the members OF the crew
VINO might have had a chance to escape.
Across the derrick clearing came w. II.
MSGCIaSsin, sr, OF Winona. Okla his
oll-soaked dungarees blazing on his
oack His son, w. H. McClassin. ir,
pioWn from he derrick floor by the force
| OF the explosion. came after him. a
wavering fame through the black smoke
The father heard his voice and
stopped. Other members Of the stam-
peoed crew stumbled over him in their
night. They stopped to help the father
beat out the flames on the sons back.
tore his own coat from his blistered
back and dragged the pair across
stumps, fallen logs and deep ruts made
by machinery trucks in m instructive
drive through the smoke TO the gates OF
the corral.
Virgil Woltz, Roy Blankenship and
George Albright died few feet from
. the spot where the blast had tossed
them. Martin Cole, 18-year-old son Of
Tom Cole. owner of the farm, heard the
detonation and saw the blast. He rushed
to an automobile and reached the road
ahead OF the smoke. He drove miles
to. -Gladewater. the nearest telephone
connection, and sent In calls for help to
Longview and Tyler. Ambulances were
started at once over the smashed high
ways. The fire went on.
tCopyright. 1891. by North American News
paper Alliance