The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-03-21
Copyright 1918, the Bobbs-Mer-
rill Company.
Ola PTER

yesterday We got the mud shoveli
cd out of the cellar and found
Peter, the spaniel that Mr.. Ladley
left when he went away" The
flood, and the fact that II was
Mr.. Ladley's dog whose body was
found half buried In the basement
fruit closet, brought back to me
the strange events of the other
flood five years ago, when the
water reached more than halfway
to the second story. and brought
with 1t. to some, mystery and sud-
den death, and to me the worst
case of shingles" | have ever
seen.
My name Is Pitman--in this
narrative. II Is not really Pitman.
but that does we'll enough.
belong to an old Pittsburgh fam
lily. l was born on Penn avenue,
when that was the best part of
town. and l lived. until | was fif-
teen, very close to what Is now
the Pittsburgh Club. II was a
dwelling then; have forgotten
who lived there.
l was a girl In seventy-seven
during the railroad riots, and !
recall our driving in the family
carriage over to one of the Allie
gheny hills, and seeing the yards
burning, and great noise of
shooting from across the river. 1t
was the next year that l ran away
from school to marry Mr.. Pitman,
and | have not known my family
since. We were never reconciled,
although / came back to Pitts
burgh after twenty years of wan
dering. Mr.. Pitman was dead ;
the old city called me, and came,
l had q hundred dollars or so, and
| took a house in lower Allegheny,
where, because they are partly in
undated every spring, rents are
cheap, and i kept boarders. My
house was always orderly and
clean, and although the neighbour
hood had bad name, good
many theatrical people stopped
with me. Five minutes across the
bridge, and they were In the the
alter district. Allegheny at that
time, | believe, was still an indie
pendent city. But since then II
has allied itself with Pittsburgh; ;
1t Is now the North Side.
/ was glad to get back. work.
ed hard, but l made my rent and
my living, and little over. Now
and then on summer evenings
: went to one of the parks, and sit
, ting on bench, watched the chill
dren playing around, and looked
at my sisters house, closed for the
summer. 1t is very large house
her butler once had his wife
boarding with me--a nice little
woman.
1t is curious to recall that, al
that time, five years ago, | hat
never seen my niece, Ida Harvey
and then to think that only the
day before yesterday she came II
her automobile as far as sh,
dared, and then sat there, wavinf
to me, while the police patro
brought across In a skiff a bias
ket of provisions she had sent me
l wonder what she would have
thought had she known that the
elderly woman in a calico wrap
per with an old overcoat over it
and a pair of rubber boots, wal
her full aunt!
The flood and the sight o.
Ida both brought back the cast
of Jennie Brice. For even then
; Ida and Mr.. Howell were inter
ested In each other.
This IL April. The flood o.
1907 was earlier, In March. II
had been a long hard winter, will
ice gorges in all the upper valley
Then, In early March, there came
a thaw. The gorges broke vi
and began to come down, fillint
the rivers with crushing grinding
ice.
There are three rivers at Pitts
burgth, the Allegheny and tn,
Monongahela uniting there at tn,
Point to form the Ohio. And al
three were covered with broker
ice, logs, and all sorts of debril
from the upper valleys.
A warning was sent out from
the weather bureau, and I got my
carpets ready to lift that morn
ing. That was on the fourth oil
March, q Sunday. Mr.. Ladley
and his wife. Jennie Brice, had
the parlor bedroom and the room
behind it. Mrs. Eadley. or Mis-.
Brice, as she preferred to bt
known, had a small part at a 10.
cal theater that kept a perman.
ent company. Her husband was
In that business. too, but he had
nothing to do. II was the wife
who paid the bills, and a lot oil
quarreling they did about 1t.
| / knocked at the door at ter
O'Clock, and Mr.. Ladley opened II
He was short man, rather stout
and getting bald, and he always
had a cigarette. Even yet, the
parlor carpet smells of them.
What do you want?" he asked
sharply, holding the door open
about an inch.
THE waters coming up very
fast, Mr.. Ladley," I said. tits ur
to the swinging-shelf in the eel.
lar now. I'd like to take up the
carpet and move the piano."
| Come back In an hour or so,'
he snapped, and tried to close the
door. But / had got my toe In
the crack.
Il "I'II have IN have the nfanc