| Sometime before Ellen joined Leo in America my granddad was considering the move. He even had the cheek to ask his brother to help pay his passage. Ellen was not amused. In a postcard to her husband dated 17 March 1909 she wrote: | |
| "Dear Leo, Just a few lines to ask you if your Dick has told you that he has got stopped at work at a
minutes notice. I heard at work to-day he was at home last Friday but your mother said that he was ill. She did not tell me, she was talking of him coming out if you would borrow the money for him. I hope you will not for he would not do that much for you for he would not buy you a cap for fear you would not send the money. he said he could not afford but he can go to the skating rink and pay 1-6 every time. I would have sent a cap if I had known your size. let him borrow himself for you have enough to pay and to send for me as well which I hope you will this summer. from your ever loving wife and child". |
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| Elsie believed that she was an infant when my granddad, her Uncle Dick, came to stay with them in Tacoma and, according to Elsie,
"He made my mother's life a misery". Ellen finally told her husband, "Either Dick goes or I do." Leo asked his brother to leave and this is apparently when they
lost touch with him. Life in America was a constant struggle for Leo and Ellen and when Leo began to suffer health problems they decided that they would be better off back in Preston. They had to sell most of their possessions to pay for their return to England, and made the journey home in December 1913. No one knows where my granddad went or what he did. Perhaps he did join up with a Vaudeville troupe and tour as "The Human Top". He may have had an accident that ended his show business career - and that accident may help to explain the mystery. When I first began to realize that everything we knew about my granddad's early life was untrue I wondered what he was trying to hide. Was he an escaped convict? Was he a Titanic survivor? Had he deserted a wife and children back in England? Thankfully, none of these wild ideas were true. So what is the truth? |
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