The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-07-30
LOVE md FORTUNE GAME.
now an ungatnly Dance Hail Girl
Won . Rich HushanA-Once q
Laughing stock In This City. New

DO you want TO hear . true story TIA,
sounds like fictiony'
The cigar dealer in . popular down.
town stand interrupted the general con-
versasion of knot Of customers with this
question. The chung O: the slot ma
chine was stilsed while the man behind
the counter continued:
Possibly some Of you gentlemen re-
member team Of girls which used %
draw large audiences at Clancy's because
they were reputed TO make up the most
uncomely and ungraeefu dancing and
singing combination in the business.
want TO tel you what has happened to
one of those girls. Remember. this Is
a true story
The men leaned against the glass case
In attitudes OF attention and the speaker
began:
Some years ago there broke out OF a
Kitchen in New Jersey 4 pain. uneducat-
ed Swede girl Positively, gentlemen, she
could neither read nor write. and locked
10 have been made II such a aurry that
hardy an attractive feature had been
given her. She came TO this city and
became an associate Of the lowest pub
lie women. The pace SON proved too fast
and the girl, whom l ~ul call Ethel,
though that Is not her name. was laid up
with a serious Illness. She had a room
on Pike street, and when the little money
she had ran out she was in a most pitia-
bic condition. II came 10 such q low ebb
that she went days with barely a crust
10 eat.
About this time q rounder and sure
thing man named 'Yank' took compassion
on the starveling and bought her medic ne
and food AS soon as she was well enough
10 be out the girl agreed TO live with
'Yank,' and TO help support the Alliance
she worked In Cisncy's saloon and dance
hall. selling drinks on a percentage.
While there she associated herself with
a thln-faced. washed-out blonde. called
Maud. The two worked together in Clan
cy's for long time. rne customers Of
the place ioked them a good deal on their
appearance, and finally persuaded the two
that a bright future awaited them on tbs
stage. The proprietors Of the hail con-
sented 10 their appearance. and thy
bought couple OF cheap costumes and
went at II.
I'm those days the stage It Clancy's
was small box-like affair just of the
side entrance. l wish / could give you
some idea Of the ridiculous figure cut
by those ungainly women They could &
a lits.e with their right feet. but seemed
to lack power Of motion In the left. AS
for the s!nging-oh. gentlemen. Il was
positively awful. They had no more idea
of tune than this rubber rag" the his
toran picked from the counter the disc
or which change IS made, and could no
more carry an air than fly. OF all the
d.scords ever punched together those fur
nished by these self-discvvered stars were
the most original and startling.
We'll. sirs. 1t was so positively awful
that 1t made great hit. The house WIS
packed night after night. When the girls
sang the applause was deafening, and
when they attempted to dance the audi
ence would jus, rise up and howl. at
tended three or four times. II wa he
funniest sight ] have ever witnessed.
And yet, believe me- gentlemen. II was
pitiable as well. The girls really belev-
ed they could act. and did their turn with
conscientious seriousness night after night.
They were simply tolerated by the man
sgement. and received hardly any salary.
From Clancys they went TO Juneau
and We're employed in dance house there
Maud afterward left Ethel to return to
Seattle, and Ethel. having saved a little
money. started for Dawson. She reached
there in safety. and for a while | heard
Of her occasionally from men coming out
Then she dropped from my mind alto
gether"
The story teller paused to sell cigar
10 stranger. He closed the case slowly
and turning to his interested audience,
said impressIve,y:
DO you know, gentlemen. that ungainly
Swede girl has just reached here on one
OF the treasure ships as wife Of a man
with a quarter OF a million. Her hus-
band is crazy about her He recently
gave her $4,000 In cold cash. She has
diamonds galore, and the noisiest aggre-
cation OF wearing apparel that ever dag
zled this city
On the silence following the denouemen;
fell the quiet voi-e OF the man at the
slot machine: Love Is like the gentle
dew that fails from heaven into a fair
garden" he commented. ut may light
on a fragrant blossom or it may And rest
on the rank stalk OF a neglected weed"