The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-04-22

~1J 0eoA No 03S UOU80I LOT
street ours that were hungry on win
ter nights when he would see them
o ne was on his way to the restaur-
ant from the Tribune office.
years ago little fox terrier-then
only puppy-attached himself to
the Tribune composing room and was
adopted by the printers. He was
given the name of Plea. For a
dozen years he made his home be-
neatn composing stone in the back
ofiace. He was q friend to all the
printers and knew them all. Strange
printers on the street whom he would
meet In his daily rambles would be
welcomed by Plea with bark Of
pleasure, for his keen little nose rec
oenized the odor Of printers ink
ABOUT them. But his closest friend
was Pat" Patten. Every morning
after the paper had gone to press,
Plea would wait by the door TIL
pat" put on his coat and started
out for breakfast. Together they
would 60 to the restaurant. pat"
always saw that Plea had a good
breakfast. Then the pair would
OFTEN stroll through the city parks
Tor exercise before turning in. Plea
would leave pat" at the latter's
rooming house and return to the
Tribune office, where he would wait
TIL some one opened the front door.
He could make his way through the
swinging doors that led to the COM
posing room, and there he would
sleep all day till the night shift ap-
peared in the late afternoon.
When Plea died, Pat" appeared in
the news room and announced the
sad tidings. Elk him IN with m
obituary." he said to Harry Mitchell,
VINO was managing editor at the
time.
So Plea had an obituary written
end printed in the Tribune. It fol-
lows:
IN MEMORY OF Plea
Plea is dead. and in the Tribune
office is sorrow thereat. Plea was
only dog, and a little bit of a dog
at that. but for something over ~
years his home has been in the Trib-
une office. For over twelve years he
has never failed to report when the
night force went to work, and in his
dog mind the doing of this had un-
doubtedly become Z duty. Possibly
It was the kindly word and the pat
that drew him In the first place, un-
TIL the habit had become q confirmed
one. but whether so or not the news
paper force Of the office liked to
think of Plea as one Of them, inter-
ested in seeing that things started
right. Everybody had a kindly feel
Ing for Plea and there were never
cross words; he minded his business
and he never made trouble. And,
as he was with his men friends, 50
was he with dogs. He never sought
q fight or ran from one; when he
was forced into fight he was game
and in his time could whip any dos
near his size in the town.
For some time the friends of Plea
have noticed that he was aging. The
vivacity of his younger years was
gone. He quietly came to his accus-
toned place and lay down until it
was time to go. Swinging doors that
he used to open easily were getting
beyond his strength. For the past
week or more his legs seemed hardly
strong enough to carry him. The
light had gone from his eye and he
became deaf. Yesterday veterin-
arian was consulted, and diagnosis
resulted in the decision that he
could not live more than a few hours
at most. Chloroform was suggested
as merctful way of ending his suf-
ferfngs. and Plea passed on to the
great unknown.