John D Rockefeller and the Oil War

Ida tarbell was 15 when she saw oil producers and refiners, many of whom her family had known and worked with for years, either forced to sell or driven out of business. Ida's father made his living as a con man pretending to be deaf and mute so that he could sell bogus medical cures. Her mother kept another woman in the family home and had fathered children with her. William senior was also at one point accused of rape by a household employee,. although that had not ever gone to trial, like ida tarbell.