Year: 1874




The Oil City Derrick contains an inter-
esting history of David Dougal, the oldest
resident of Butler, Pa, and the most ec-
centric citizen of that county. In 1902,
when the site of the town was laid OF,
Dougal purchased several large lots from
the proceeds of his business as q surveyor,
land as time wore on he created number
of the most primitive houses. which still
stand in dilapidated condition, forming
sharp and striking contrast to the mod
ern edifices which grace the little town.
The writer says:s -...


A gloomy, cheerless apartment, In one of
these antiquated huts, serves the owner as
lodging place. Entering-the creaky
door. the visitor discovers a room about
eight feet wide by ten deep. a small win
dow lets in slight light through the soiled
panes. One corner has CRATE for burn
ing soft coal, over which is a rough man
tel, with piece of tallow candle, and
some matches. On the right side is a ia
bic covered with musty papers and dusty
utensils of various descriptions. Nearer
the trent door is a bureau of the olden
time, which is simply sufficient to accom-
modate the scanty wardrobe of the pro-
prietor. In the leff-hand corner is bed
of the toughest sort. Half-a-doZen poles
are stretched from bench to couple of
rickety chairs; on these a quantity OF
straw is thrown, while a couple OF gray
blankets and homespum quilts complete
the outfit. On this wretched apology for
bed the desolate lodger has slept for
many years, resisting every attempt OF
sympathizing friends to make it in some
degree passable. Two or three stout
chairs finish the category of the furniture.
Dark, cold, untidy and neglected, without
q shred of carpet or single luxury, it
would indeed be difficult to imagine an
apartment more forbidding than the
dreary one so long inhabited by the last
of the Butler pioneers. OF late years the
forlorn inmate of this dismal abode has
taken his meals at the house of a tenant.
but nothing can induce him to cease his
hermit life. How he cOntrives to exist
during the severe nights of winter is
mystery to all his neighbers to whom it
would be no surprise were he discovered
frozen to death some bitter morning.


Unlovely as this room appears, the in
quiring stranger will find it high privi-
lege to converse with its venerable Occu-
pant. His memory is wholly unimpaired,
and marvelOusly tenacious of names and
dates and incidents of auld lang syne. In
a few lengthy interviews with the writer
Ilt CNCtlio VIII biiC
early settlement of Butler that should be
carefully preserved as a valuable contribu-
ton to history. He first saw Pittsburg in
1874, when it contained only two
brick houses, boasted half dozen
stone buildings, and was encompassed by
the primeval forest. Scarcely tree was
cut on the site of Allegheny City, nor
were the great Western States inhabited
save by wild beasts and still wilder In
ans. .... r....


OF Douglas peculiar idiosyncracies
countless stories are related by his ac-
quaintances. His dread of fire is intense,
and for this reason he would never sleep
upstairs under ANY circumstances. Dur
ing visit to Pittsburg many years since,
where he lodged with Judge McCandless,
an alarm of fire occurred soon after mid
night. The Butler guest hurriedly put on
his clothes, bolted through window, and
by daylight had walked fifteen miles to-
ward hOrnel In religion he inclines to
Protestant III, the creed of his Scottish,
| Irish ancestors for generations. Besides
his property in the borough, he owns
farming lands of some value, though nc
one pretends to give any estimate in re-
gard to his precise wealth. AT the culmi
nation of the oil excitement in the spring
of 1873, he could have sold his motley ar
ray Of One-stOry houses for at least seventy
five thousand dollars. That they have ever
netted him 1.-THE of this sum may safely
be doubted. Within the past season he
has made novel preparations for his final
departure from earth. To one of his ten
ants he wills a farm, on condition of his
Iprovidin0 him q burial, in coffin already
manufactured, beneath certain tree on
the premises thus disposed of. The in
heritor of the farm must likewise place a
guard over the grave for specified period,
the testator evidently fearing his body may
become the prey of irreverent students in
quest of subject for the dissectiDg-room
| OF course his wishes will be strictly full
filled in each particular. The last few
months have produced marked change
upon the declining nOnagenarian, who in
the ordinary course of nature must sooT
go the way Of all mankind.