The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-03-05
A Work That Is Being Done to
Straighten a Bad TangIe.
FORMER CONDITION OF THE CITY
Compared with That at the Present
Time - Amusing Experiences That
Delight the Men Who Make No End
of Trouble.

or another everyone has discovered how
convenient these numbers sometimes are.
or all the departments in the City Hall
there Is none about which SO little is
known as that where Captain Pettis reigns
supreme among his signs and numbers.
OF course people know that such de-
partment exists and when they go home
and find that the number on their house
has been changed, they find the little Of
flee and proceed TO kick. Then the Cap
tain takes them i'm hand and when they
leave the City Hall their faces have broad
ened into expansive smiles and the man
who made all the trouble is smoking
good cigar.
There is no one I'm the city who is more
thoroughly acquainted with the streets of
Providence than Captain Pettis. He
knows them all. Their entire history Is
well known to him and while the
directory gives the names OF only
1900 he can tell where nearly 1900
thoroughfares are located. and while he
has recently made himself conspicuous by
changing the numbers on nearly every
house in the city there is method In bis
madness.
Previous to 1890, when the captain took
the Office there was no method in the
transaction of the business of the depart
ment. Everything was done in hap
hazard manner. For instance new house
was erected on Broadway and when the
work was completed it was found that
there was no number for the building.
The house OH the left was 1872, the house
on the right was 1874. thorough inves-
tigation Of the city was then made and it
was found that this was nothing unusual.
fat nd xyffb N anna M If,-
Der and everywhere several fractional
aud many duplicate numbers were found.
Besides this the odd and even numbers
were scattered about in most promis-
cuous manner.
This, however, has now been changed.
The streets i'm the First and Second wards
now run west and east and south
and north, North Main and
South Water streets being the
only exceptions TO this rule. The
streets i'm the Third and Tenth Wards run
east and west and north and south, while
those in the remainder OF the city, which
comprises the Third District, are laid out
like those in the First District.
A similar system has been introduced
in regard to the numbers. In the busi-
ness portion OF the city number is sallowed
for every 10 feet while in the residence
sections every 20 feet is numbered.
When Captain Pettis starts out upon
his trip of exploration he attracts consid-
erable attention. Besides his box of tools,
his bag Of numbers and other material,
| he carries a little hoop in his hands.
This is divided into four sections each
one ending in sharp point. As
he walks along he revolves this wheel and
each revolution stands for so many feet.
The children, however, cannot understand
what the man is doing and they follow
him about, laughing and shouting with
delight at the strange sight and doing all
they can to interfere with his work.
Captain Pettis has had no end of strange
experiences while engaged in this work.
One day his man was standing on a ladder
at cottage house on Washington street.
The ladder stood against the house, and
just as the man had completed his work
a woman who had heard the noise came
to investigate. She unbolted the
door and in moment she was lying on
the floor mixed up in delightful tangle
with strange man and ladder. OF course
the woman was very angry, but Capt.
Pettis has not stopped laughing yet.
A few weeks later a similar experience
occurred on Gladstone avenue. The man
was numbering grocery store and as the
topof the door was very high the ladder
was placed on two soap boxes. Suddenly
one of the boxes was overturned and i'm
an instant the man found himself lying
on his back in the mud in the middle of
the road and the ladder had disappeared
through the glass door of the grocery
store.
Another strange experience occurred in
the Tenth Ward few months ago. On the
day before election one of the wardens left
an order to have a hack called for him at
o'clock the next morning in order
that he might go TO the City Hall
before the ward room was opened.
That afternoon Cahtain Pettis
remembered the houses on that street and
the warden who formerly lived at 72 now
resided way up among the zoos. The
warden, who had not noticed this change,
got up at $3.50 o'clock, and after light
breakfast he sat down to wait for
his carriage. Thirty minutes passed,
and the 80 minutes became an hour
but no carriage appeared. At last the
man left the house and on his way down
town he saw a carriage standing by the
curbstone while the driver was roaming
from house TO house, ringing bells and
"Who are you looking for?" asked the
warden.
Trying to find a." was the reply.
"What the blazes are you way down
here for?" shouted the angry ward officer.
"That house is half mile up the strsst.n
"What do you mean?" said the driver.
"Here is 20 and "a, bnt can't lind ~"
SWELL" said the warden, 4" I'll get into
your carriage and show you where live"
The driver went back until the man
called to him to stop and then they went
up and looked al the numbers. The driver
lit match aud held II up before the num-
bers. Then he smiled. The warden said
never n word. but when they got down
town the two men smiled together.
Captain Pettis sometimes has consider
able trouble In certain sections OF the city.
One man threatened 10 aus the city for
damage. He went to all the Aldermen and
tried TO make trouble and was generally
disagrecable for many months. Women
often threaten to call the police and some