OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: S. J. Kelly Newspaper Articles [3]
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
August 15, 1999
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Historical Collections of Ohio
The Kelley Family Collections
Newspaper article, Plains Dealer
compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925
And Then They Went West
by Darlene E. Kelley  1998
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Elizabeth (Payne Burton)
Corethers writes:  " Here is another transcript from S.J. Kelly. The
article is not complete as the bottom of one column is missing and I
suspect that another small portion may be missing from the end of it,
but probably at least 80% of it is there."

When James H. Clark Choked John D. Rockefeller.   by S.J. Kelly

At Billiards--

The billiard balls are clicking in the billiard house of James H. Clark
out on old Cedar Avenue.  It is 1872. The house is located a few hundred
feet west of his home on his twenty-acre estate. Mr. Clark is telling
about John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil. I was there and heard
the story. I can remember Mr.Clark, one of the three founders of the
great oil company,as if he stood before me now. Typically English,
medium height, powerfully built, deep chested, voice well modulated, his
accent was that of his Malmesbury ancestry. as in everything else, "Jim"
Clark excelled in billiards. He was reputed to be a boxer. The neighbors
long had heard his splendid solos on the cornet. Mr. Clark was winning
as usual and as he leaned his muscular frame over the table he played
accurately. If he missed a shot he would slowly draw up one foot.
Although one of the founders, he was out of the Standard Oil. He had
just sold his one thousand shares in the company to his friend Col.
Oliver H. Payne for $113,500. Had he retained those thousand shares
until 1899, they would have been worth $700,000 and his yearly income
would have been $231,000 by the books of the company. But something had
happened between Jim Clark and John D. Rocefeller. The shares that Clark
had sold to Payne, he had received for the Clark, Payne & Co., an
independant oil refining concern, which they had established and sold to
the Standard Oil Company. He offered part of the same stock to a member
of our family for a certain frontage on E.71st Street.

Standard Oil

The great Standard Oil Corp., originating wholly in Cleveland, and from
which up to 1936 permanent public foundations amounting to $800,000,000
have their source, has an early history that is being lost in oblivion.
John D. Rockefeller dismissed the subject with these words; " In the
early sixties we organized a firm to refine and deal in oil. It was
composed of Messrs. James and Richard Clark, Mr. Samuel Andrews, and the
firm of Clark & Rockefeller." The latter firm was Maurice Clark and
himself. But there is more to the story. Behind the statement of Mr.
Rockefeller, and the few hazy items given by contradictory historians of
the Corporation, is the real origin of the Standard Oil Co. It is
doubtful if stockholders of Cleveland and their descendants who have
shares in its dividends for the past sixty years know the beginning,
always the hardest part, of their worldwide concern. In 1862, the
striking of great oil wells in the east was at its height. [ Here, part
of the bottom of the article is missing.] ----firm of Clark &
Rockefeller at Nos 39,41,43,and 45 River Street. Rockefeller was the
junior member and attended to the bookkeeping and finances.  Maurce
Clark was the buyer. James H. Clark and Richard Clark were men of all
work of the firm. They had prospered and in 1862, Clark and Rockefeller
had each received $ 17,000 as profits of the business. At the time there
came to the office another young Englishman, Samuel Andrews. He had
erected a small still on Walworth Run, one of several that had been
built there, housed in flimsy shacks. He had but little money and urged
Clark and Rockefeller to invest. The tidal wave of the boom in the oil
regions had reached Cleveland. Rockefeller had visited Titusville. He
and the Clark brothers invested several thousand dollars in Andrew's
hillside shanty distillery and converted his ten-barrel-a-day plant into
a refinery. Rockefeller was only a silent partner. The firm was Clark &
Andrews! "Jim " Clark, active and shrewed, was delegated to represent
their interests at the plant.

Three More Years

In three years the Clarks and Rockefeller had drawen $1000,000 each from
the profits and each had an investment valued at that sum in the
refinery. The first barrels of oil of the massive Standard Oil Co., of
New Jersey that in 1903 paid $81 on every $100 worth of stock owned,
were distilled at that plant. Cleveland, although two hundred miles from
an oil well, was destined to become the center of the refining business
with 26 plants pouring their wastes into the Walworth and Kingsbury
Runs. John D. Rockefeller attended to the financial end of the growing
Clark & Andrews Oil Refinery in the office of the Clark & Rockefeller
commission house. He kept well in advance of the money demands of the
company by a system of borrowing and he was casting longing eyes on the
ownership of the oil refinery to the exclusion of the Clarks. He had
already made overtures to Andrews that they become owners of the plant.
Distrust had entered the hitherto friendly relations of th firm. As Mr.
Clark told the story, he says that Rockefeller sent him out to collect
$5000 for the comany. This had taken several days and he did not report
until he had the money. Rockefeller had become suspicious and when he
entered the office he acted uneasy. Finally he approached Clark in a
determined manner and demanded what he had collected and in a choking
voice upbraided him.

Battle

This was a signal for fight with "Jim" Clark. He grasped Rockefeller,
swung him from his feet and threw him to the floor. All his bulldog
nature aroused, Clark seized Rockefeller's necktie and half choked him.
Maurice and Richard Clark were present and dragged "Jim" from the
prostate Rockefeller.The future oil magnate arose, adjusted his clothes
and went on with his accounts as if nothing had happened. But the first
gun had been fired. Rockefeller himself says, " I had already arranged
to get financial accomodation to buy the Clark-Andrews plant." He
aproached Maurice Clark but he demurred against selling. At a meeting it
was proposed off-hand to auction off the plant. Maurice Clark, thinking
the bid would not go beyond $ 40,000, quickly assented. The bidding
quickly ran up from $500 to $50,000. Rockefeller had quietly secured
financial backing beyond the resources of Maurice, Jim, and Richard
Clark. They bid $72,000. "$72,500," said Rockefeller.
The brothers saw their investment of three years gone.
" I can go no higher. The plant and business is yours, Rockefeller,"
said Maurice Clark meekly. The Clarks were out of the future Standard
Oil in which, if they had been able to retain their interests, they
would have been one of the largest stockholders. Rockefeller says that
as the bidding mounted higher he almost feared he could not buy the
plant and pay for it, but at the finish he blandly said, "Shall I give
you a check for it now?"
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