“I have been engaged in operating oil wells in Pennsylvania, for ten years. On December 6, 1869, I obtained a torpedo containing six pounds of Nitro-Glycerin from the agent of Robert’s Torpedo Company, which he said was from New York, and of the best quality. I had it put into an oil well where it was exploded by said agent. “The explosion of said torpedo, in said well, had the effect of reducing the production of oil in said well from two barrels of oil to one and a half barrels of oil in a day of twenty-four hours. “On the sixteenth day of December, 1869, I put in another torpedo in the same well, which I obtained from the same agent of the same company. It contained the same quantity of Nitro-Glycerin, which was represented to me to be the same as before-mentioned. This torpedo was exploded by the agent in said well on the day last mentioned. Before the explosion of the torpedo in said well, it produced one and a half barrels of oil in a day of twenty-four hours, and the explosion of said torpedo caused no difference in the production of oil from the same well. About the first day of October, 1868, I employed G. M. Mowbray to explode a Nitro-Glycerin torpedo in another well of mine. He exploded said torpedo in said well in my presence. He used in the torpedo six and a quarter pounds of Nitro-Glycerin. The effect of the explosion was to increase the production of said well from five barrels to one hundred barrels in a day of twenty-four hours. After this, Mr. Mowbray put in and exploded other Nitro-Glycerin torpedoes in wells for me, and always with the effect of increasing their production. “Judging from my knowledge as an expert in operating oil wells and the explosion of torpedoes of all the various kinds therein, I consider that G. M. Mowbray’s Nitro-Glycerin is far more effective than that of any other party, or that his method of exploding is more effective.” February 19, 1870. DAVID CROSSLEY. Evidence of Jesse Smith, Oil Well Operator. “In November 1869, I had a torpedo from the Roberts Torpedo Company exploded in my well in Crawford Co., Pa., by their agent. The explosion was an utter failure, one-half the contents of the torpedo still remaining in it; this the agent said was Nitro-Glycerin.” February 19, 1870. JESSE SMITH. Evidence of George West.