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.