In the shadow of the oil rigs
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In the shadow of the oil rigs (French original title: À l'ombre des derricks ) is a Lucky Luke album , which was drawn by Morris and written by Goscinny . The album was first released in French in 1962, having previously appeared as a sequel in Spirou . It was published in German as Volume 32 by Ehapa-Verlag .
The volume tells of the oil rush in Titusville, Pennsylvania , which broke out in 1859 and earned the city the reputation of being the birthplace of the petroleum age.
action
In 1857 the oil prospector Edwin L. Drake arrives in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He's been given the job of drilling for oil in the area. On August 27, 1859, he actually struck gold. The news spreads like wildfire and attracts all sorts of adventurers, like shortly before the gold rush in California . The mayor wants Lucky Luke to be sheriff and to keep things in order. At first he doesn't think about riding to Pennsylvania in the east. When he sees what's already going on on the way there, he nevertheless decides to leave.
In Titusville, the oil itself is ankle-deep in the streets and all shops are closed because of the intoxication. Of course, the event also attracts dubious characters, including Bingle, who wants to mess with Luke, but ends up in jail. When Luke later meets Colonel Drake, it turns out that the Derricks are now ubiquitous and that hundreds of them tower into the sky.
Next, Barry Blunt appears in town and says he wants to help the sheriff to restore order, because even the judge can only be persuaded to exercise his office with threats. In fact, he and his gang, which includes Bingle, want to take over all the oil rigs and take over the whole town. The first thing he does is to kick all the guests out of the hotel and pay Bingle's deposit. But he doesn't want to get out of prison, because he also found oil in it.
Immediately, Blunt set about using dubious methods to steal people's oil towers or, if necessary, simply set them on fire. But since Blunt knows how to use all laws to his advantage and there is no evidence of fraud, he soon owns all of the oil fields. Meanwhile, Bingle takes responsibility for every offense in order to get back to prison and his oil well as possible, but he does not succeed.
When Blunt owns all the oil wells except Drake's, he reinstates the former owners as very cheap labor and threatens them to work for him like slaves .
Luke, who is now on guard with Drake at the source, catches Bingle trying to set fire to the oil field. He can persuade him to insult Blunt in such a way that he gets violent, which is enough for Luke to imprison him. When the judge learns that he should lead the trial against Blunt, he leaves in a hurry. Colonel Drake then runs for election as judge. Blunt's men are preventing citizens from voting at gunpoint. But Luke, Drake's and Drake's companion Billi Smith's votes alone are enough for the election. In fact, Blunt is now convicted, but his gang set fire to all the fields during the night and used the resulting excitement to help Blunt escape.
While the gang rides straight into the hands of the cavalry , Blunt seeks revenge on Lucky Luke. He can be employed by Drake for this and wants to shoot Luke from the derrick when he appears. However, he missed and was arrested as well. Drake says goodbye to Luke, who wants to return to Texas by the fastest route , where there should be no oil ...
literature
- Morris and Goscinny: In the shadow of the derrick ; from the French by Gudrun Penndorf; Berlin 2012; ISBN 978-3-7704-0143-7