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Dear Jim,
<P>Thanks for the background on Richardson and Murchison. They were
partners in the oil business, were they not?
<P>Joe Trees, Benedum's partner, had no politics that I know of.
Trees was an engineer and easily embarrassed. He met Benedum at a
small hotel still in existance in of all places Wellsville, West Virginia.
It may have been a chance encounter in a very small hotel lobby; Trees
was broke and needed a couple of thousand dollars to continue drilling
in that area. Benedum became Trees partner.
<P>By todays standards Benedums methods were not very scientific.
For example, a <B>blind</B> man once told him that he <B>saw </B>oil gushing
over a fruit tree on his property. Benedum drilled on that spot and
found a large quanity of oil. Another time Benedum followed the direction
of an arrow that had been carved by American Indians on a rock . Another
big discovery of oil. It only gets better...
<P>Another classic story about Benedum concerns an attempted robbery.
A robber with a gun held up Benedum, and, Mike asked the guy why are you
robbing. The robber told Benedum his story and Benedum listened.
He then told the guy come a long with me and I'll lend you some money and
get you a job.
<P>Sincerely,
<BR>Tom Lehman</HTML>