his dismay that there was not the slightest trace of oil on his land. He
kept his own counsel, however, and paid the workmen to hold their
tongues. About the same time it became rumored throughout New York that
he had struck oil. He at once organized a company, and had a committee
appointed to go West and examine the well. In a few weeks the committee
returned in high glee, and reported that the well contained oil of the
very best quality, and only needed capital and improved machinery to
develop its capacity. In support of this assertion, they brought home
numerous bottles containing specimens of the oil. This report settled
the matter in Wall street, and the stock issued by the company was all
sold at a handsome premium. When the sales ceased, it was rumored that
the well had ceased to flow. This was true, for there was no oil
anywhere on the land. That in the well had been bought in Pennsylvania,
and poured into the well by the agents of the owner, and the examining
committee had been paid large sums for their favorable report. The owner
of the well was enriched, as were his confederates of the bogus company,
and the holders of the stock were swindled, many of them being ruined.

Said the New York _Herald_, at a period when speculation was rampant:

"Within the past few days we have seen the most gigantic swindling
operations carried on in Wall street that have as yet disgraced our
financial centre. A great railway, one of the two that connect the West
with the Atlantic seaboard, has been tossed about like a football, its
real stockholders have seen their property abused by men to whom they
have entrusted its interests, and who, in the betrayal of that trust,
have committed crimes which in parallel cases on a smaller scale would
have deservedly sent them to Sing Sing. If these parties go unwhipped of
justice, then are we doing injustice in confining criminals in our State
prisons for smaller crimes.

"To such a disgusting degree of depravity do we see these stock
operations carried, that members of the church of high standing offer,
when 'concerned,' to betray their brother 'pals,' and, in their
forgetfulness of the morality to which they sanctimoniously listen every
Sunday, state that 'all they care about is to look out for number one.'
A manager of a great corporation is requested to issue bonds of his
company without authority, offering 'to buy the bonds if you are caught,
or buy the bonds with the