The loss of the remarkable craft was quite in keeping with its latter history. It had been the scene of many revels, and had been brightened with laughter, music, and wild merriment. Its brief career ended as suddenly as that of some of the revelers themselves. The river became its resting place, as it has often become the last haven of many a tempest-tossed soul.
Return to Parker's Landing--His three years' Sojourn in that Town--Adventures and Incidents--Attempt to burn Ben's House.
As intimated in the preceding chapter, Ben left Pittsburg after the sinking of the Floating Palace, and returned to Parker's Landing.
There he bought a house from one Johnson, with the intention of fitting it up as a sporting resort.
The town of Parker's Landing takes its name from one of its residents who is familiarly known as Old Parker. At the time of which I am writing, Old Parker owned a good deal of property, and wielded a large influence in the town. No sooner had he heard of Ben's purchase, than he informed Hogan that he could not remain in the place. Ben replied that he had bought the property and paid for it; that he intended to keep a thoroughly first-class establishment; that everything would be conducted in a quiet and orderly manner, and that there would be no disorderliness anywhere about the premises.
Old Parker thought that there mas no such thing as a first-class variety hall, and that two women would be two too many for the morality of the neighborhood. The dispute waxed hot and hotter, until Ben finally lost his temper and resolved to go ahead and run any sort of an establishment he pleased.
Accordingly, the next day he opened up with six people, and the day following procured six more. In a month's time he was doing a business big enough to justify the enlargement of his house, adding a wing forty feet in length. He also bought a nine hundred dollar piano, and with fifteen stars under his management, the establishment was in full blast.
Ben remained in Parker's at this time three years. During that period, he met with innumerable incidents and adventures, only a part of which can here be narrated.
The house, it should be remembered, was really conducted on a high-toned scale. Artists were there who could speak all languages which any of the patrons would be apt to understand. The patrons were drawn from the prosperous citizens of Pittsburg, Oil City and elsewhere, and included speculators, bankers, capitalists and merchants. Many a respectable citizen found it frequently necessary to go to Parker's on pressing business--and the business usually proved so very pressing that it necessitated his remaining over night.