Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-02
WHY THE DOG STAYED

Probably the 'onneryest'' looking small
dog ever observed within the limits Of the
District of Columbia has been prowling
snuffily and rubberingly through the halls
and corridors OF one Of Washington's lead
ing hotels during the past week or so. and
nobody has said him nay.
The hotel clerks stroke his common-look-
Ing head and the bell boys pet him. while
guests who know nothing about the ki-
yoodle wonder.
And this, too, in a hotel at which dogs.
even Of the highest degree and pedigree. and
belonging to big-money. suite-occupying
guests. are, according to the hostery's IRON
clad rule. absolutely barred.
This onnery-looking dog. however. doesn't
appear to be over-elated on account of the
distinguished consideration with which he
Is treated by folks who know about him
and his record. In the first place. the dog
| Is old, and long past the age at which some
CANNES exhibit stuck-up spirit. and, in the
second place, he is used to being pampered.
after a good many years of that sort of
thing.
The dog was born an Irish terrier but a
circumstance over which he had no control
has taken that distinctive mark of breeding
away from him, leaving him to resemble
| nothing so much as cross between ella
monster and young alligator.
His hair was burned off of him a num-
Der OF years ago. along with many size
| able patches of his yellow hide and the
hair never came back any more. The read
| err may figure out for himself that a hair
| less Irish terrier, especially after age has
crept upon him. hasn't chance in the
| world to look pretty, much less to go after
bench prizes for pulchritude.
When Mr.. and Mrs. George NJ Fellman of
| st. Louis appeared at the Washington no.
! tel In the auto bus with the dog the hotel
clerk shook his head politely and said that,
while he was sorry and all that, why. of
course. the hotels rule against dogs was
| absolute and not to be broken.
Then Mr.. Feliman sent for the manager
of the house and told him a few things
| about Gossoon, the wheezy old mutt of an
| Irish terrier that he was carrying around
1 with him.
| you want to--the best in the house isn't
| good enough for him. said the hotel man
ager, at the conclusion of the story, and the
| dog was duly installed as guest of the
house,
1 For it had come to pass that two oc-
| casions Gossoon had saved his mistress and
| master from being burned to death in hotel
| fires.
| famous hotels in San Francisco went up in
| flames. That fire broke out at 2 o'clock In
| the morning. Mr.. and Mrs. Fellman had
| been to the theater and to supper AFTER
l
| turned in at their hotel apartment. The
dog, as usual, slept on blanket placed on
| top of one of the trunks.
| Mr. and Mrs. Felman were awakened by
| q dog Shaving with all his might and main
| at their chests, while he whimpered and
| barked crafty. They thought. upon awak-
| ening suddenly, that the dog had gone MAD.
and Mr. Fellman grabbed the animal by
| the scruff of the neck and chucked him
| pretty roughly to the floor. Instantly the
| dog picked himself up and was back on
| the bed and clawing at them again,
Then Mr.. Fellman smelt smoke and
| Jumped up and switched on the electric
| light. The room was rapidly filing with
| smoke and the Fellmans heard the roar OF
| flames down the hall.
They both threw their mackintoshes on
over their night clothes. Mrs. Fellman de-
| termined to save the dog, passed suit
case strap through Gossoons collar, placed
| both ends of the strap in her teeth (thus
| leaving the dog suspended from the strap
| in her teeth so that she could have the use
| of her hands If necessary, and they rushed
| into the hall. one end of which was already
| ablaze.
| the elevator. and they yelled at him as he
| passed down by their floor. He stopped the
| elevator and tried to open the door But
| the elevator door had been warped IN It's
| frame by the heat and he could only get
| it partly open. The elevator man reached
| through the small opening and grabbed
| Mrs. Fellman, and. with Mr.. telimah ald'
| dragged her through the small aperture
| In getting through the narrow opening,
| however Mrs. Fellmans teeth lost their
| grasp upon the strap holding the dog, ana
] he fell in the hall. With tremendous ex-
| ercse OF strength Mr.. Felman squeezed
| himself through the small opening and
| down to the ground went the elevator, leay-
| ing the dog on the fourth floor, which by
| that time was almost entirely wrapped IN
| flames.
| When the Fellmans made their way to the
| street, and Just in the very nick and PIN
| point of time, at that, there was Gossoon'
| with nary hair on him, and his hide bis
| running up and down the street, within the
] fire lines. looking for them
| They did not recognize him at first in his
| sad-looking state, but when he began to
sniff at them and TO wag ms fldlcuious-
| looking tail, and when, after recognizing
| them and finding that they We're 0. X, he
| toppled right over in a dog faint of ex-
| haustion and agony, they looked him over
| carefully and saw that he was Gossoon.
| Gossoon had pretty soft thing of 1t dur
| ing the two months that he put in in the
| San Francisco hospital, recovering from his
| frightful burns, but he never got any of his
| hair back. 1t remains one of the unsolyed
| mysteries of that great San Francisco no.
| tel fire how the dog ever got down to the
| street from the fourth floor of the blazing
| hotel. But he did it, all right. and just
| three years later, while his master and
mistress were sound asleep in a Chicago
| hotel that was already a mass of flames,
| Gossoon scratched them awake once more
| in time to save their lives.
| This time the poor little beggar scratched
| a hole in Mrs Fellman's forehead in his
| frenZed eagerness to awaken her, and she
| will carry the scar of that timely and benev-
| client scratch always, but she has never
| minded that part of it little bit. She
| carried the dog closely pressed to her side
down the smoke-choked stairs that time,
| so that even If he'd had any hair to lose,
he wouldn't have lost 1t on that occasion.
Mr. and Mrs. Fellman and Gossoon had
| barely reached the street before the floor
upon which they had been sleeping col
! lapsed.
| Gossoon isn't wearing any medals or
| crosses or vaor badges on the blanket
| which he has to wear in the open air to
| keep from taking cold. but he Is coming
| nretty close to having a swell time of it
| with his master and mistress during these
closing years of his life. There is sort of
| tired, pathetic expression in his little old
fire-scorched eyes, and he appears to be
| perfectly wen aware of the fact that he
isn't any real toppy locker. But his rec
ord is such that he doesn't have to be
pretty to make hit.