Evening star., 1940-07-14
by ROBERT A. ERWIN.-
Substituting for Philip n. Love-
,Junior star Editor.

1
angry. always . nomad. 7 knew
him when I was q student at Gen.
tral High School in Evansville. Ind.
Almost . book could be written Of
the legends behind him.
It seems Wolf was brought to
Evansville by . marine who had
been wounded in the war. The ma
rine went to Evansville's Marine
Hospital, and Wolf went along. What
happened to the marine, I don't
know. Wolf was said to have been
at the front during the war. Later
he moved to Main street and South
First street. At one time or another
as many as so boys and girls adopted
| him.
Sometimes. Wolf would live at my
house for few days and follow my
friends and me to and from Central.
At other times, he piled his peace
full way up and down Main street,
ate at the kitchen doors Of hotels
and restaurants and slept where he
chose.
The German shepherd led this life
for several years. Among his many
masters were the Jackson brothers,
Dudley, Donald and Albert. Their
mother was a widowed music teacher
with soft spot in her heart for
animals as well as children. She
had come to Evansville from Prince
ton, Ind, a small town nearby.
When Wolf began to show signs of
age, she found a nice home for him
in Princeton, and SO far as I know,
that's where he passed his last days.
4 + 4
Tom was no legendary figure. As
circus performer. he was the real
Mccoy, as some folks say. A. circus
man discovered that Tom, twice the
size Of the average tomcat, was
quite intelligent. and went to work
on him. Tom learned to turn back
lips, jump through the paper-cov-
cred hoop, do the barrel-roll and
other tricks. He was q real trouper
for some years, and when old age
overlook him, his master gave him
to a friend, Theodore Sowders, my
next-door neighbor
Tom, as I recall him, was brown
and almost as big as an ordinary
fox terrier. You could call him
as you would a dog-"Here, Tom {!
Here, Toni and he would come
a-running. He had good legs and
travelled fast. You could form your
hands into hoop and he would
Jump through in just no time fiat.
You could paper a hoop and he
would break through in q flying leap.
His greatest weakness was sleep
Ing in bed. When Tom wasn't
around we would call for him. Nine
times out of 10 he would come flying
down the steps from the second floor
and a visit to the bedroom would
reveal that he'd had a nap right in
the middle Of the bed.
Despite his age, the 10-foot wire
fence separating our back yard from
Sowders' was nothing to Tom. He
would climb up one side, shiny
halfway down the other and then
Jump to the ground. He ate about
half his meals at our house and was
the playmate of all the children in
the neighborhood. Occasionally
Wolf stayed with the Sowders and
he and Tom were good friends.
\ X 4 X
Mr.. Sowders' sister was Miss Ella.
When he returned home each eve
ming he would call, Where's Ella I?
Is Ella here?" The parrot took up
the cry and day in and day out she
would call from her cage, ELLA! Oh,
Ella! Where's Ella? Is Ella here?"
Now and then the green-and-red
parrot with the iron lungs would
escape her cage. Wher she did she
flew outside and then she was a Job
for the hook land ladder truck from
No. Fire Station. She would fly
into a big evergreen tree and give
her ELLA" calls.
All the children in the neighbor-
hood-and often their parents and
passersby-would throng the side
walks as the f1remen backed their
truck to the curb and shot a big
ladder into the air. A courageous
fireman would climb the ladder and
reach into the limbs for Ella. Often
as not, the parrot would let out yell
and fly across the street to another
evergreen.
This meant turning the truck
around and guiding the ladder up
ward into another tree. After an
hour or 50 Ella would be captured
and would yell at the top Of her
lungs as she was returned to her
cage.
They were interesting characters
Wolf, Tom and Ella-and I will
always remember them.