Report on “The Murder of William Marsh Rice” and The Spindletop Oil Gusher
The purpose of this report is twofold: to discuss the novel “The Murder of William Marsh Rice,” by Paul Spellman and to discuss the Spindletop Oil Gusher, one of the significant Texas history events that serves as the backdrop for the story. The book is a fascinating combination of fiction and history. Though the main character and others are fictitious, the events that happen around them—the Great Galveston Hurricane, the murder of William Marsh Rice, and the Spindletop gusher which started the Texas oil industry—are all very real and critical to understanding the development of Texas (and places like Houston) over the past century.
First, let’s go over two of the three …show more content…
Reading through the events of the storm gives a fascinating first-person perspective of the storm itself. Seeing it through Lincoln’s eyes really gives the reader a good idea of the trauma, both physically and mentally, that the storm inflicted on those who survived, and the impact that it had others who lived at the time. In total, more than 6,000 people perished in the storm, and nearly the entire town was reduced to rubble—except for a few buildings here and there. The next location is New York. Halfway into the book, we learn of Mr. William Marsh Rice’s death. Lincoln goes down to New York to attend the funeral. While he was there, Lincoln learns of a $25,000 check that was supposedly written to Albert Patrick, Mr. Rice’s lawyer. It does not take him long to figure that Mr. Rice’s death was not of old age, but it was a murder. Even so, he was not too sure who to suspect. After a lengthy investigation, culminating in a last interrogation with Charlie Jones, it was found that the check was a forgery and that Albert had conspired to kill William Marsh Rice with the assistance of Mr. Rice’s own butler, Charlie Jones. Not long after that, a man named Peck Byrd came to the apartment where Lincoln and …show more content…
Over the course of the first year, the Lucas well would produce about 3 million barrels of oil. The next year, that number would be dwarfed by producing roughly 17 million barrels. Of course, Rockefeller’s Standard Oil wanted in on this, but the only problem was that Texans were suspicious of the big corporation’s outside the state, especially those of the big monopoly holders such as Rockefeller (Wright). As a result, new companies were formed—companies that today are known as Chevron and Exxon among others. Once these companies started getting off the ground, Rockefeller, along with others, saw their once proud monopoly empires falling before their very eyes. However, not all was well with this major oil boom, as the TSHA said “while some had made fortunes, others lost everything” (Moor). First of all, making such a drastic increase in production for anything is sure to bring the price of that said thing down, and oil is no different. In fact, it is estimated that oil prices plummeted from $2 per barrel to a mere 25 cents per barrel (aoghs.org). Also, the over-abundance of wells at Spindletop caused a rapid decrease in production, from 17 million barrels in 1902, to 10,000 barrels just 2 years
The purpose of this report is twofold: to discuss the novel “The Murder of William Marsh Rice,” by Paul Spellman and to discuss the Spindletop Oil Gusher, one of the significant Texas history events that serves as the backdrop for the story. The book is a fascinating combination of fiction and history. Though the main character and others are fictitious, the events that happen around them—the Great Galveston Hurricane, the murder of William Marsh Rice, and the Spindletop gusher which started the Texas oil industry—are all very real and critical to understanding the development of Texas (and places like Houston) over the past century.
First, let’s go over two of the three …show more content…
Reading through the events of the storm gives a fascinating first-person perspective of the storm itself. Seeing it through Lincoln’s eyes really gives the reader a good idea of the trauma, both physically and mentally, that the storm inflicted on those who survived, and the impact that it had others who lived at the time. In total, more than 6,000 people perished in the storm, and nearly the entire town was reduced to rubble—except for a few buildings here and there. The next location is New York. Halfway into the book, we learn of Mr. William Marsh Rice’s death. Lincoln goes down to New York to attend the funeral. While he was there, Lincoln learns of a $25,000 check that was supposedly written to Albert Patrick, Mr. Rice’s lawyer. It does not take him long to figure that Mr. Rice’s death was not of old age, but it was a murder. Even so, he was not too sure who to suspect. After a lengthy investigation, culminating in a last interrogation with Charlie Jones, it was found that the check was a forgery and that Albert had conspired to kill William Marsh Rice with the assistance of Mr. Rice’s own butler, Charlie Jones. Not long after that, a man named Peck Byrd came to the apartment where Lincoln and …show more content…
Over the course of the first year, the Lucas well would produce about 3 million barrels of oil. The next year, that number would be dwarfed by producing roughly 17 million barrels. Of course, Rockefeller’s Standard Oil wanted in on this, but the only problem was that Texans were suspicious of the big corporation’s outside the state, especially those of the big monopoly holders such as Rockefeller (Wright). As a result, new companies were formed—companies that today are known as Chevron and Exxon among others. Once these companies started getting off the ground, Rockefeller, along with others, saw their once proud monopoly empires falling before their very eyes. However, not all was well with this major oil boom, as the TSHA said “while some had made fortunes, others lost everything” (Moor). First of all, making such a drastic increase in production for anything is sure to bring the price of that said thing down, and oil is no different. In fact, it is estimated that oil prices plummeted from $2 per barrel to a mere 25 cents per barrel (aoghs.org). Also, the over-abundance of wells at Spindletop caused a rapid decrease in production, from 17 million barrels in 1902, to 10,000 barrels just 2 years