Banana oil or black gold? The curious case of Fredericktown's flammable wells

Amyl acetate is a paint solvent and flavoring agent commonly called banana oil. This became slang for nonsense or insincerity in the 1920s and 30s, possibly because banana oil’s fruity smell hides its artificial nature. The debate between real and fake oil became front page news in 1925, when a Fredericktown man found his well full of flammable liquid — did it come from a reservoir of black gold, or a leaky gasoline tank?

No issues available: March 1, 1925; March 2, 1975.

SATURDAY

75 years ago

March 1, 1950

• An ongoing coal miners’ strike brings desperate truckers to Randolph County. Mine operators near Moberly said trucks from Illinois are in line alongside transports from across Missouri. Many are leaving with empty beds since most mines reserve their output for established customers — local individuals, municipalities and industries. Only the smallest mines in the area supply “crisis buyers.”

50 years ago

March 1, 1975

• The Daily American Republic and one of its carriers are doing their part for an upcoming charity drive. The proceeds of all Monday, March 3, papers sold by Robert “Kit” Carson will be donated to the upcoming Celebrity Telethon for cerebral palsy. Carson sells papers on the corner of Pine Boulevard and Second Street for 15 cents each but hopes customers will pay a little extra for a good cause. His daily average is 150 papers sold but his goal for Monday is 175.

SUNDAY

100 years ago

March 2, 1925

• Post Office employees are getting raises thanks to a bill signed by President Calvin Coolidge. Poplar Bluff Postmaster Whitworth said every worker’s salary will increase by $300 per year, bringing them up to $2,100. Rural carriers will get increases according to their mileage.

Postage prices will rise to cover the new salaries. The new rates are: two cents for private mailing and parcels, one and a half cents per pound for second-class mail, and half a cent per two ounces for third-class mail.

75 years ago

March 2, 1950

• Around 10,000 people employed in Southeast Missouri’s cotton industry will lose their jobs this year as new government regulations force a crop change.

Over 210,000 acres in Scott, Stoddard, Mississippi, New Madrid and Dunklin counties will be taken out of cotton production and planted with soybeans. This will impact around 2,100 families. The DAR found many will be ineligible for welfare programs because families with able-bodied members are considered “employable” even if they can’t find new jobs.

MONDAY

100 years ago

March 3, 1925

• “It would seem that the oil discovered at Fredericktown a few days ago is more likely to prove ‘banana oil’ than commercial oil,” The Daily Republican reported. However, banana oil — slang for nonsense or exaggeration — probably isn’t as flammable as whatever is leeching into city wells.

After discovering an oily substance mingled with his well water, a Fredericktown man lit a match to see if the well would burn. This ignited gas within the well and caused “quite an explosion,” followed by a frenzy of speculation. A Poplar Bluff woman named Mrs. H.J. Morrison brought a sample of the so-called oil to the newspaper office today: “It is a clear liquid, stained a little from a clay coloring and burns like gasoline when a match is applied.”

The Democrat-News of Fredericktown said opinion is divided on whether real oil has been struck or if this is leakage from three nearby auto garages and gas stations. Sporadic claims of oil in water wells have sprung up for two decades, and multiple wells were filled in due to tainted water, suggesting a large underground deposit. On the other hand, drilling operations always come up dry, and the substance in the well appears “highly refined,” lighter than crude and highly volatile. Is it gasoline? Maybe, but the paper doubted any stations could lose enough fuel to saturate the ground without noticing.

Samples have been sent for identification, and Fredericktown waits with fingers crossed.

• In Marble Hill, a mother and daughter are on trial today for the murder of a former pastor.

Rev. Lee Buckner was ambushed and shot to death outside his rural Zalma home on Thanksgiving Day, 1924. His wife Mrs. Lee Buckner, 40, and her mother Mrs. Nell Gibson, 56, stand accused. The Buckners were married for about 15 years and had two sons. Witnesses reported they “had trouble on numerous occasions” and Gibson was known to get involved; she was arrested once prior.

It was unclear if the prosecution had any other evidence.

75 years ago

March 3, 1950

• The Poplar Bluff Fire Department’s new, two-ton GMC fire engine is being delivered today. Chief Sam Knight said the truck was equipped with the latest fire-fighting technology by the Central Fire Truck Corporation of St. Louis. It replaces a firetruck destroyed in a wreck several weeks ago. CFTC loaned the PBFD another vehicle to use in the meantime.

50 years ago

March 3, 1975

• New Poplar Bluff Police Chief Don D. Maxon was sworn in this morning. Maxon is a Nebraska native whose career in law enforcement took him to California and Alaska before he and his family opted to settle in Southeast Missouri. He is a former sheriff’s deputy, state trooper and investigator with a degree in criminology.