They hated Rockefeller as much as they feared him, yet at the very moment when the Titusville operators were hanging him in effigy and posting the hoardings with cabalistic signs against his corporation, this mysterious, almost uncanny power was encircling them: Men who one night were addressing public meetings denouncing the Standard influence would suddenly sell out their holdings the next day.

In 1875 John D.Archbold, a brilliant young refiner who had grown up in the oil regions and who had gained much local fame as opponent of the Standard, appeared in Titusville as the President of the Acme Oil Company.

At that time there were twenty-seven independent refineries in this section.

Archbold began buying and leasing these establishments for his Acme Company, and in about four years practically every one had passed under his control.

The Acme Company was merely a subsidiary of the Standard Oil.