• A NOTED BEERSHOP.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1081, 1 May 1882, Page 2

• A NOTED BEERSHOP.

. » A most remarkable circumstance has I occurred at a town called Franklin, in , the oil regions of the United States. r There is a hill on the borders of a creek in that location which has proved very \ productive to those prospecting after petroleum. In fact, so fruitful was it 1 that it was positively honeycombed 1 with borings. Rial and Son, the enterprising firm which had carried these " on with so much profit, were loath to 1 abandon their workings until they i were satisfied that they had exhausted ■ their luck. They gave orders to sink • the shaft deeper. The workmen pierced i away till they had penetrated to a depth i of nigh five hundred feet, when success rewarded their efforts. They had ' « struck ile' again, and at the first action 1 of the pump up came bubbling in a I full continuous stream the precious liquid. It had not exactly the bituminous colour or smell, nor would it take fire. At last one daring fellow determined to taste it in order to form some opinion of its quality. After he had placed a few drops on his tongue he smacked his lips knowingly, and said, 'This must be looked into." He put the end of the pipe to the mouth l and imbibed such an enormous quantity of the product of the spring that his ■ comrades drew him away le3t he should ; do himself injury. But curiosity impelled them to follow his example, and the consequence was every one of : them drank and drank and drank again until in less than an hour all were stretched insensible around, The tidings spread to the village that there was something very strange in Rial and Son's new welL The entire population ran up to test the wondrous oil, and in a brief period the entire population was seized with a thickness of utterance, an incontinency of the knees, and a species of stupor. Very soon after the entire population was prone in a stertorous coma on the ground. AtJast Mr Rial and his foreman arrived and were bewildered at a sight that met them. The foreman tasted the liquid, and stated that it had a queer savour of beer. In all haste Mr Rial sent for Herr Gorssman, the brewer, the greatest connosisseur of beer in the district, to consult him on the subject The brewer came, tasted the fluid, and exclaimed in agony : " Mein Gott, it is peer, my peer they have pored into my cellar ; Further, research showed the poor man was right ; the cellar was examined, and the huge tank from which the barrels were supplied was run perfectly dry, Happily the workmen and villagers have recovered ; they were not dead — they were only dead drunk.