[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.When the oil was first discovered there,operators of wells would sometimes open them up and let theoil fly out through the top of the derrick for the entertainmentof people on the trains riding through Beaumont.The original Spindletop blew in and spouted for nine daysbefore anyone thought to try to put a cap on it.CaptainAnthony Lucas, the owner, never realized a tenth of what hemight have done had he been able to control what was hap-pening and conserve the oil that had been lost.And now it was happening all over again, thirty years later.Nothing stood between East Texas and loss except Lone WolfGonzaullas and his new Texas Ranger partner, Bob Goss.Inthe mud and filth they operated while everyone else violatedthe law.The price of oil had increased since Spindletop as moreuses, in particular the general ownership of automobiles,increased the demand.Now with the overdrilling, its price fellto a dime a barrel.Chili con carne was thirty-five cents a bowl.Within the city limits of Kilgore alone were seven hundredderricks.The sun was blotted out by the fires from the wells.146 outrageous texans 08_147_07_Ch06.qxd 5/13/08 6:01 AM Page 147The very air smelled of oil.It spattered everywhere on win-dowpanes, on porches, on clothing hung out to dry on the line.Clothes, towels, sheets, pillows smelled like it too.Tiny blackspots, like pepper, appeared on the children s books when class-room windows were opened.The food set on the tables by thewives tasted like it.One man swore when he cut his arm, thefirst drops from the wound were oil.In the dead of night, thieves drove trucks and wagons upto storage tanks, opened up the cocks, and hauled their lootaway for sale.Though the drillers hired guards, they couldn tbe everywhere.Sometimes the guards themselves would acceptbribes.Robbers would tap into pipelines that ran from the wellto a storage tank and steal it from under the noses of the menoperating the rigs.Sometimes the roughnecks worked in col-lusion with the robbers, ignoring the thievery for a price.Lone Wolf reported to Governor Sterling that there werenot enough rangers in Texas to make a difference.Finally, thegovernor declared a state of martial law and sent in theNational Guard.The citizens were more angry and defiantthan ever at this intrusion into their business, resulting inmore lawlessness and anger against another phase of govern-ment.The men who drilled maintained it was their oil, andthe government was keeping them from making a living.Theirattitude was if they wanted to drink it, it was none of the gov-ernment s damned business.Any kind of lawman ranger, sheriff, deputy, town con-stable was in danger from angry men who were determinedto defy the law.Sitting on a stakeout, lawmen wereapproached, thrown down on, dragged from their cars,robbed, and beaten.The thieves would then drive away in theofficial patrol car and sometimes purposefully wreck it.Lone Wolf was determined not to allow himself to be anobject of such humiliation.In February 1932, he took deliveryof a special Chrysler eight-cylinder coupe.Outrageous indeed.The glass in its windows was bulletproof.The windshieldthe hollywood ranger 147 08_147_07_Ch06.qxd 5/13/08 6:01 AM Page 148could be swung outward and up.Mounted on a swivel basebehind it, next to the driver s seat, was a machine gun.Lone Wolf was dangerous enough.Armed with a machinegun, he was too much for the men who might have otherwisetried to humiliate and even kill him.Fortunately, he never hadto use it to dispel an angry crowd.Indeed, he was never both-ered.Frequently, the sight of that car coming down the roadwith Lone Wolf behind the wheel was enough to send anunruly mob melting away into the shadows.The answer to saving East Texas seemed to be prorationdrilling.Sterling placed the Texas Railroad Commission incharge of allocating the number of days a month a man couldpump oil [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl trzylatki.xlx.pl
.When the oil was first discovered there,operators of wells would sometimes open them up and let theoil fly out through the top of the derrick for the entertainmentof people on the trains riding through Beaumont.The original Spindletop blew in and spouted for nine daysbefore anyone thought to try to put a cap on it.CaptainAnthony Lucas, the owner, never realized a tenth of what hemight have done had he been able to control what was hap-pening and conserve the oil that had been lost.And now it was happening all over again, thirty years later.Nothing stood between East Texas and loss except Lone WolfGonzaullas and his new Texas Ranger partner, Bob Goss.Inthe mud and filth they operated while everyone else violatedthe law.The price of oil had increased since Spindletop as moreuses, in particular the general ownership of automobiles,increased the demand.Now with the overdrilling, its price fellto a dime a barrel.Chili con carne was thirty-five cents a bowl.Within the city limits of Kilgore alone were seven hundredderricks.The sun was blotted out by the fires from the wells.146 outrageous texans 08_147_07_Ch06.qxd 5/13/08 6:01 AM Page 147The very air smelled of oil.It spattered everywhere on win-dowpanes, on porches, on clothing hung out to dry on the line.Clothes, towels, sheets, pillows smelled like it too.Tiny blackspots, like pepper, appeared on the children s books when class-room windows were opened.The food set on the tables by thewives tasted like it.One man swore when he cut his arm, thefirst drops from the wound were oil.In the dead of night, thieves drove trucks and wagons upto storage tanks, opened up the cocks, and hauled their lootaway for sale.Though the drillers hired guards, they couldn tbe everywhere.Sometimes the guards themselves would acceptbribes.Robbers would tap into pipelines that ran from the wellto a storage tank and steal it from under the noses of the menoperating the rigs.Sometimes the roughnecks worked in col-lusion with the robbers, ignoring the thievery for a price.Lone Wolf reported to Governor Sterling that there werenot enough rangers in Texas to make a difference.Finally, thegovernor declared a state of martial law and sent in theNational Guard.The citizens were more angry and defiantthan ever at this intrusion into their business, resulting inmore lawlessness and anger against another phase of govern-ment.The men who drilled maintained it was their oil, andthe government was keeping them from making a living.Theirattitude was if they wanted to drink it, it was none of the gov-ernment s damned business.Any kind of lawman ranger, sheriff, deputy, town con-stable was in danger from angry men who were determinedto defy the law.Sitting on a stakeout, lawmen wereapproached, thrown down on, dragged from their cars,robbed, and beaten.The thieves would then drive away in theofficial patrol car and sometimes purposefully wreck it.Lone Wolf was determined not to allow himself to be anobject of such humiliation.In February 1932, he took deliveryof a special Chrysler eight-cylinder coupe.Outrageous indeed.The glass in its windows was bulletproof.The windshieldthe hollywood ranger 147 08_147_07_Ch06.qxd 5/13/08 6:01 AM Page 148could be swung outward and up.Mounted on a swivel basebehind it, next to the driver s seat, was a machine gun.Lone Wolf was dangerous enough.Armed with a machinegun, he was too much for the men who might have otherwisetried to humiliate and even kill him.Fortunately, he never hadto use it to dispel an angry crowd.Indeed, he was never both-ered.Frequently, the sight of that car coming down the roadwith Lone Wolf behind the wheel was enough to send anunruly mob melting away into the shadows.The answer to saving East Texas seemed to be prorationdrilling.Sterling placed the Texas Railroad Commission incharge of allocating the number of days a month a man couldpump oil [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]