Hide Article Text (OCR)
Excitement at Pithole CityPiteous City, Fxb. 9tb, 1866.On Thursday morning last, the late sleepers of thia quiet and orderly city were aroused from their slumbers 1jy the cry of fire, and found that two of. the hotels now so much reeded here to accommodate the teat throngof Visit ora and citizens were in flames. The Syracuse House and Tremont House are now no -more. .The United States, the pioneer hotel of the place, where the hungry were fed and tqe weary lodged In the early days of Pitholian excitement, was saved only by tha greatest exertion a r The burning of the hotels, though a great misfortune, is not the greatest calamity that befel connected with the fire.— All the water wells in the vfciaity were pumped vigorously to supply water to extinguish the flames and save adjacent building?: To the astonishment and mingled horror and delight of the people, it was observed that, in the course of an. AcSr the excited firemen were throwing pure oil upon the flames I Thewater having been exhausted in the wails, the pumps were throwing oil! -The wells are about fifteen feet deep, and have never been suspected of containing anything but pure water. They are situated on the side of the hilt opposite and above the United States Hotel. The springs in that locality aro also becoming strongly impregnated with oil Some three or four barrels have been taken from the first well struck at ten o’clock A. M. A new well is just reported in the rame locality, sixteen feet deep, and pimping oil the full size of the spout, the pump being a common wooden one.Fears are entertained and were openly ex-pressed that the remaining Pitholian?, who bad fondly drearced to pass their days in oleaginous contemplation, are doomed to a similar fate to that of ih^ mythological person-who suffered by.recetving the long prayed for power of turning everything into gold. So wo denizens, of tLe oily metropolis may be ferced to abandon the still prolific field of our labors, because we pan find nothing to drink but oil. Thia danger is rendered moro terribly imminent by the Burgess having closod by proclamation all' tjie drinking saloons.—■ Whiskey is contraband, and strong waters interdicted. A melancholy crowd, still haunt the thirsty Free and Esj’s, and strive vainly to find satisfaction in sour cider and sourer beer. Disconsolate waiter girls find their charms no longer aided by rifle whiskey, and are retiring to the suburban villages around— such ar Titusville. ; The Court of Quarter Sessions is our qaly hope, and if they fail to license some ec ibliahments where parched Pitbolians can imbibe according to law, it is proposed by some capitalists to immediately begin the construction of an aqueduct from Lake Erie to Pithole city, to commence at.the foot of State street in Erie, and run Southwardly along up Brown’s Hotel and the Park.Dryly yours,] Bxh Zixi.
Newspaper Details
Erie Observer
Erie, Pennsylvania, US
Thu, Feb 15, 1866
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Carnegie L.
Pennsylvania, USA 27 Sep 2020
Other Publications Near Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie Nittany Cub
Erie Weekly Observer
Erie Observer
Erie Behrend Collegian
