CHAPTER XXIV.

One More Challenge to Allen--Return to the Oil Country--Ben and McDonald--Opens Dance House in Elks City--Bullion House--Kitty Runs away.

While our hero was in Grand Rapids he made still another effort to bring about a match with Tom Allen. To effect this end, he published a challenge of which the subjoined is a _verbatim_ copy:

"_Mr. Tom Allen, St. Louis._

"DEAR SIR: Noting in the Chicago _Times_ of the 3d instant, in an account of the fights you have been engaged in, a reference to myself, which is both unprofessional and ungentlemanly, written by your trainer, and instigated, as I believe, by yourself, I hasten to put myself aright before the public.

"I had retired, as I hoped, permanently from the ring, with loathing and disgust of the practice, but cannot permit so insulting an allusion to myself to pass unnoticed. I hereby challenge you to meet me in the ring at any point within fifty miles of Detroit, in Canada, for fun, simply to decide who is the better man. I will pay, on a week's notice, your expenses to Detroit.

"If you prefer not to fight for sport, but money, I will agree to fight you for one thousand dollars a side, within three months from this date, which is more than is at stake in your coming mill with Goss.

"You promised to meet me in the winter of 1875, in a barn on Thirty-second street, New York, to fight for a purse of one thousand dollars. You excused yourself to go and change your clothes, and never came back. You published a card in a Pittsburg paper, boasting that you had driven me out of New York. I was in that city two months afterwards. You were then matched to fight Rourke, but the engagement never came off. In the summer of '75 I challenged you to fight me near Pittsburg, when you claimed to have retired from the ring. Now that you have again entered the ring, I tender the above challenge, simply requesting that not more than twenty-five friends of either party shall witness the engagement.

"Yours truly, "BEN HOGAN."

This fair and manly offer, which certainly gave Allen an opportunity to prove his metal, had he cared to do so, was not accepted. Ben, tired of his attempts to bring the redoubtable pugilist to terms, made no further efforts to bring about a meeting.

Shortly afterward he left Grand Rapids, and returned East, striking his old home, Syracuse. There, in company with Charley McDonald, he filled a week's engagement at Barton's Opera House, giving highly successful sparring exhibitions.

The desire to return to the oil country took possession of him once again, and with two hundred dollars, which he borrowed of his mother, he set out, in company with McDonald, for his old haunts. In Buffalo he fell in with Joe Goss and Steve Taylor, and the four proceeded together as far as Erie, where they put up at the Reed House, spending a day or two in a jolly manner. At that point they separated, Ben and McDonald going on to Parker's Landing.

The two pugilists made arrangements to give a series of sparring exhibitions through the oil towns, but the enterprise did not prove a success. Finally, having got rid of all his money, Hogan struck Elk City with just ten cents in his pocket. He saw that the place offered an excellent field for the sort of work to which he was most accustomed, and he therefore resolved to open a free-and-easy and variety theatre.

He endeavored to lease a lot adjoining the premises of a Mr. Spencer, but this gentleman objected to Ben as a neighbor, and the latter was therefore compelled to seek another location. He found a site directly opposite the one first proposed, and, with fifty dollars, borrowed from Mr. Lynch, he went to work to erect a building suitable for his purposes. The lumber, furniture, and other necessary articles he procured on credit, and in a short time had completed his building. This done, he made his way to Petrolia, and there once more made up with Miss Kitty. He promised her, if she would behave herself, to give her a home for life, and she professed to be glad to accept this offer.

With Kitty and music, and four women to do the honors, the Elk City House was thrown open to the public. So decided was its success, that from the very outset the profits averaged two hundred and fifty dollars a day. The chief revenue was the dance hall, where a full brass band--composed of a fiddle and an organ--made persistent, if not exquisite, music. From eighty to ninety sets occupied the floor during the twenty-four hours, each set yielding two dollars to the management.

With a view to increasing his business, Ben fitted out Kitty for a trip to Pittsburg, to secure additional people. Having perfect confidence in Miss Kitty, Ben, on this occasion, bought her a handsome outfit of costly clothing, and gave her fifty dollars wherewith to defray her expenses.

Instead of going to Pittsburg, Kitty made her way to Petrolia, and there met and married one of her old admirers. This left Ben in some distress; but it was not altogether a new thing for him to be thus deceived in women whom he had trusted.

Upon Kitty's unexpected exit, Ben himself went to Pittsburg and secured the services of six people, among whom was E. J., known familiarly as Jennie. This latter he soon after made his housekeeper, and to the present day she occupies that position. Not only is she attractive in personal appearance, but her bearing and manners are those of a lady, while her loyalty to Ben and his interests is beyond question. It is not to be wondered at that Hogan was at once attracted toward so pretty and lady-like a person as Jennie. These observations are made to refute in part the scandalous statements that have appeared in some of the oil country newspapers respecting Ben Hogan's present consort.

At the time Ben found Jennie, his advertisement in the Pittsburg papers was answered by scores of young girls, who were innocent of the sort of work which would be required of them in a free-and-easy. To all these Ben gave a bit of wholesome advice. He not only refused to accept of their services, but he told them in every instance to go back to their homes and to continue in a virtuous career. Not a few of these young girls were accompanied by their fathers, and had Ben been so disposed, he might have secured many innocent victims. That he did not do so, shows that even the business that he followed had not wholly blunted his ideas of honor.

Among the people whom he did take back with him were two who passed under the names of Mary and Maud. These young women, at the expiration of their first week's service, claimed that they had been deceived in regard to the character of the house, and threatened to bring a suit against the proprietor for alleged damages.

Women who would voluntarily accept of a position in a dance-house are not the ones to whom the world is accustomed to look to for the strictest morals. The probabilities are that Mary and Maud were not so astonishingly innocent nor so amazingly ignorant as not to know the character of the place to which they went. Be that as it may, the injury to their reputation was not of such a serious nature but that it could be made good by the application of a soothing plaster in the shape of a greenback. A ten-dollar note paid to each sufficed to heal their wounded honor, and prevent them from appealing to the law for vindication. Let it be added, however, that the women hailed from Pittsburg, which may explain for their natural tendency toward blackmailing.

During the history of the Elk City house it was not an infrequent occurrence for farmers from the neighboring country to drive up to Ben's place with lumber or produce, which they offered for sale. Although Hogan rarely had any use for these articles, he would invariably offer to take them at the farmer's own terms. Once inside the house, and with the prospect of a good bargain before him, the rural visitor would avail himself of the opportunity to see, at least, a part of the elephant. The animal usually proved so interesting that it was hard to turn away from the sight.

Ben would post the girls, who in turn would one and all profess to be smitten by the farmer. This would tickle his vanity, and besides indulging in every dance that was called, he would order the wine with the utmost liberality. The more he danced, the more he drank; and the more he drank, the more firmly he became convinced that every woman in the place was desperately in love with him. This was pleasant while it lasted, but it was also expensive. Before he had finished seeing the elephant, the farmer would invariably find that he had run up a bill considerably in excess of the amount due him for his produce. If farmers had only been plenty enough, Ben would never have been called upon to expend a cent for eggs, butter, or vegetables.

While still managing the house in Elk City, Hogan went to Bullion, where he bought Frank Nesbit's hotel, paying him therefor four thousand dollars. He did not really want this property, but was forced to take it because he failed in his efforts to get a lease of any more suitable premises. Mr. Sincox, who refused to grant the lease in question, was particularly anxious to prevent Ben from locating in Bullion. When he found that the latter had secured the hotel, he drew up a petition to have him ejected from the town; but, to his surprise, he found that the very men whom he had counted on to sign this petition were ready to sign one in favor of Hogan's right to remain. Nesbit, who knew Ben to be a thorough man in his line of business, readily disposed of his property to him.

While Ben devoted his time to Bullion, Jennie managed the place at Elk City. Ben's energy found a new field in Bullion, in the way of erecting an opera house, which was a neat and creditable building for the neighborhood. This house was opened by Wildman's company, the very appropriate play of "Ten Nights in a Barroom" being chosen for the initiatory performance. Whatever else may be said of Ben's appearance in this town, it is at least certain that he infused into it a good deal of life.

The success of the Elk City and Bullion enterprises were such as to warrant Ben in taking a somewhat protracted pleasure trip, which, in company with Jennie, he did.