desperate struggle on a bridge with a thief carrying

a carboy filled with nitroglycerine—narrow

escape from death of prisoner

and captor.

early in the 70's, while i was chief of police of oil city, pa., a long, wooden covered bridge spanned the allegheny river at oil city. this bridge was at least fifteen hundred feet in length, had a driveway through its center wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other. this driveway was boarded up closely with siding, which separated it on either side from[pg 92] the footwalks, which were about six feet in width with a high railing on the outside. there were lights at intervals along the footwalks, about a hundred feet apart. the main structure of the bridge was about forty feet above the river.

the bridge connected oil city and south oil city, extending from the south end of seneca street in oil city to south oil city. south oil city then, as it is now, was the principal residence portion of the city, while the north side of the river was, and is, the business portion. this bridge was a toll bridge, and there were night and day toll collectors stationed at the little house provided for their use at the north end of the bridge. their duty was to collect the toll from all drivers of vehicles, and two cents from each pedestrian who passed their window at the toll house.

there lived in oil city at that time a notorious character by the name of tommy griffith, whose face and form had become familiar to all the residents of the town, also of the adjacent country. griffith was a welchman by birth, middle aged, stout and heavily built in stature; had a wife and a large family, and resided in south oil city, at that time owning his own home, and was apparently fairly prosperous. he was a man addicted to drink, and was known throughout the country as the "prince of moonshiners."

moonshiners, in the oil region, were men who made a business of putting explosives, which were called torpedoes, into oil wells for the purpose of increasing the flow of oil. the oil-bearing rock, or crevices in the oil-bearing rock, which were usually found near the bottom of the oil wells, would get clogged with an accumulation of parafine. after the well had been producing for a while the inlet to the well would become clogged with this accumulation, when the owner of the well would resort to the torpedo. these torpedoes were composed of a tin can or case, which would hold from one to four quarts[pg 93] of nitro-glycerine, which is a liquid that resembles lard oil very much, and is one of the most powerful explosives known, if not the most powerful. the cases, or tin cans, were round and nearly the size of the wells in diameter. the oil wells in those days were usually four and one-half or five inches in diameter. the cases were long enough to hold the quantity required for the explosion, and were lowered from the top of the well by means of a copper wire, which was attached to the percussion cap at the proper depth in the well, then a heavy weight, the wire through its center, would be sent down from the top over the wire and would strike the cap on the torpedo. this would cause the explosion, and would shatter the oil-bearing rock and jar the parafine, thereby making the opening by which the oil found its way into the well, and increased the production wonderfully for a period, or until the opening became clogged again from the same causes. then the same remedy would be applied, and for this reason the torpedo business was a very profitable business, as this nitro-glycerine was sold at the rate of about ten dollars per quart.

there was, at the time i am writing of, a company known as the roberts torpedo co., who had a monopoly of all the explosives and torpedoes used in the oil wells for the purpose before mentioned. the roberts company owned and operated the factories at which nitro-glycerine was made. they employed only men who were experts in the torpedo business, as the handling of torpedoes was very hazardous and dangerous, the nitro-glycerine being treacherous and liable to explode at any time, either from concussion, friction or heat. in fact, nitro-glycerine is liable to explode spontaneously or without any apparent cause, so that the most expert handler of the stuff does not really know when he may consider himself safe when near a quantity of it. the roberts company also had a [pg 94]number of what they call magazines, which were located in isolated spots all through the oil regions. these magazines were places for storing quantities of the nitro-glycerine, and usually close to a producing district, so that the operator in charge of said district could obtain a supply of it when he required it for use in his territory. the moonshiner made a practice of breaking into these magazines and stealing the explosives, which usually were placed in a square tin can which held from twenty to forty pounds. these heavy tin cans, or cases, were called carboys, and had a heavy wire handle attached to the top with a short spout at one corner of the top of the carboy from which the nitro-glycerine could be poured. as i said before, it was like lard oil, and of about the same consistency.

these moonshiners would steal three or four carboys at a time, concealing it in the mountains, and when they got an order from a producer for a torpedo they would fill the order and put in the torpedo in proper shape, as they were as expert in the handling of this dangerous explosive as the roberts company's men were, as many of them were ex-employes of that company. prejudice existed among the smaller producers against the roberts torpedo company, as they complained that the roberts company were charging them extortionate prices for torpedoes, therefore the moonshiners were protected to an extent in their nefarious business.

upon the night of which i am writing it was after midnight when i left my office at the city hall on the north side, and started for my home on the south side. i started on foot, and when i reached about the middle of the bridge before described, i heard footsteps coming towards me on the same foot-walk that i was on. i looked up and saw and recognized the familiar form of tommy griffith, as he was passing a light which was about a hundred and fifty feet from me. he[pg 95] was coming directly towards me, and was evidently intoxicated, as he staggered from side to side of the foot-walk. first he would stagger against the enclosed side, and then back to the outside railing. every time he came in contact with the bridge i could hear a slight thud. he was carrying a gunnysack upon his shoulder, containing a carboy of nitro-glycerine, and i thought it would explode any moment, as he was continually striking it against the sides of the bridge as he staggered. then again he was liable to stumble and let it fall, which would have been fatal both to himself, me and the bridge. i thought of all of these things in a great deal shorter time than it has taken me to write about it. it was in the winter, and i was wearing rubber overshoes, and for this reason i made no noise in walking. after recognizing griffith and his condition, i instantly turned and started back for the north side of the bridge. i am satisfied that i made a record-breaking sprint until i got safely to the toll house at the end of the bridge, where i hastily told samuel ervin, who was on duty as night toll collector. i insisted on ervin remaining at his position as usual until griffith arrived at the window, where i felt sure he would stop long enough to pay his toll. ervin was sitting in a bay window with a slide in front of him through which he could take the toll, and he could also see every person coming or going over the bridge. i hid myself around the angle of the bay window in such a manner that griffith could not see me as he approached the toll window, and when he neared the window he presented his toll with his right hand while he was holding the end of the gunnysack with his left hand. this bag contained the carboy and was hanging over his back. i noiselessly approached him from behind, and, seizing the gunnysack containing the carboy, jerked it away from him, while ervin held on to his collar so firmly that he could not get away or interfere with[pg 97] me until i had deposited the case of nitro-glycerine on the ground, which, of course, did not take me very long. i then grabbed mr. griffith, and he being a husky, stout little fellow, and full of pluck and whiskey, made a struggle, but i quickly overpowered him and promptly conveyed him to the lock-up.

[pg 96]

recognizing griffith

"recognizing griffith and seeing he was loaded down with nitro-

glycerine, i hot-footed it to the end of the bridge."

i then returned to where i had deposited the nitro-glycerine. i found mr. ervin standing upon the railroad crossing, which was about seventy-five or a hundred feet from the tool house. i was then obliged to carry the carboy of nitro-glycerine on my shoulder to the nearest roberts magazine, which was located in a ravine known as sage run, and about three miles from the north end of the bridge. the carboy weighed about forty pounds, and the walking was icy and slippery, and of course my progress was necessarily very slow. it was nearly daylight when i got home. it is needless to say that i was very tired.

we had been informed of the theft of more than a ton of nitro-glycerine from a roberts magazine, which occurred a few days prior to the night in question, and after daylight the following morning i visited the home of griffith, which was situated in a good residence portion, and surrounded by a number of good homes and families. i found in the basement of griffith's house the remainder of the ton of nitro-glycerine, which was hidden under a stairway running from the kitchen of the house into the basement. at the time i entered the house i found griffith's children playing and running up and down these steps under which the explosive was standing in the original packages. there was nitro-glycerine enough under those stairs to have blown up the entire city.

i was then compelled to procure a team and sleigh and do the driving myself, and to load the stuff into the sleigh and drive it to the magazine and there unload it. i could not induce any person to assist me, as i did not have time, being[pg 98] compelled to move the stuff immediately for the safety of not only griffith's family, but the whole neighborhood, and, therefore, could not wait to send word to the roberts co. and have them send their own men, who were accustomed to handling it. it was one of the most trying situations i ever found myself placed in.

griffith was tried in the court in due time, and was sentenced for seven years in the state penitentiary at allegheny, on the charge of grand larceny.

col. roberts, who at that time lived at titusville, pa., and was president of the roberts torpedo company, sent me a check for five hundred dollars, which i accepted.

griffith served out his sentence, and returned to oil city, where he was living at my last account of him, and was following his old vocation, that of moonshining, in a more moderate manner than of yore.