Gold Hill Daily News

An Old Prince Despoiled.
[From the Titusville (Penn.) Herald, Jan. 17.]

The house of John Benninghoff was feloniously entered on Thursday night about half-past seven, and robbed of $200,000. Mr. Benninghoff resides in a farm-house on the celebrated Benninghoff Run, about three-quarters of a mile from Oil Creek, west side, and a mile and half from Petroleum Center. His house stands near the road, not frequented much of late, either by travel or teams, and the nearest neighbor is a quarter of a mile distant. Mr. B. is a Pennsylvania German, a plain, hard-working farmer, about sixty years of age. He has a large family of grown-up children, many of them staying at home. The old gentleman all of a sudden had riches thrown upon him by the discovery of oil on his sterile acres, and is one of our petroleum millionaires. We believe the first well was struck on his farm on Pioneer Run, in the Fall of 1857; the production of his whole farm for last month was six hundred barrels a day, and ten new wells are now going down on it. Mr. B.'s income for December last was reported at $40,000, but his sudden and dazzling fortune never made a fool of him, and they say he cares nothing for appearance, and wants to live as frugally and work as diligently as when he used to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow. But he had taken the notion into his head to be his own banker, and to deposit his bonds and greenbacks in his own safe and house. And now he has paid the penalty of a very foolish and short-sighted temerity, and he may thank heaven that he was not beaten or killed by the villains who robbed him. The whole community have known that Mr. Benninghoff kept his money—and a great deal of it—at home, and will not be surprised to learn of the perpetration of this villainy much as they may pity his misfortune. The circumstances of the robbery show careful premeditation and preparation, but with prompt and vigilant police effort, we believe, the criminals can be traced or intercepted in their flight and a good deal of the booty recovered. The house was entered about 7:30 P. M., by four men disguised by handkerchiefs over their faces, and robbed of $200,000, forty thousand in bonds and the rest in currency. They presented revolvers at the heads of the inmates, when they proceeded to tie Mr. John Benninghoff, his wife, and two sons, and a hired man and girl. Taking the keys from Mr. Benninghoff they entered the safe and extracted the above amount, after which they sat down and waited half an hour for the return of Mr. Joseph Benninghoff, another son, who was absent, but he did not return until the burglars had left, taking with them three horses and a cutter.