The Tacoma Flower Clerk Who Woke Up an Heiress

By a strange move of fortune, Mrs. Meta Dixson, former keeper of the pantry at the Hotel Washington, and now in charge of the Tacoma branch of McCoy's Seattle flower store, has fallen heir to property valued at from $600,000 to $1,100,000. This happened several weeks ago, but Mrs. Dixson's modesty would not permit her to make the matter public. Some of her friends, however, did some talking, and the story of her good fortune came out.

The story as told by her friends is a romantic one. When she was eighteen years of age she met and married a poor man in Australia. The act so enraged her brother, her only living relative, that he disowned her. They were both living in New Zealand at the time, and although he was rich he positively refused her the door when one year later she humbly returned a widow.

Discouraged but not disheartened, this girl left her brother's home and went to Melbourne. There she worked to support herself. A little more than a year ago she came to this side of the Pacific. She went to Seattle and secured employment at the Washington hotel. A short time after going there she met Mrs. McCoy, who runs a flower store on Second avenue, Seattle, and went to work for her. In two months she became so proficient in handling the flowers and gave evidence of so much business ability that Mrs. McCoy sent her to Tacoma to take charge of a branch store.

When the first dispatch came, telling Mrs. Dixson of her brother's demise and that she had been made his heir, she could not believe it. She had not seen her brother in years, and as she had heard but little of him, she had no idea of the immensity of his wealth. Letters followed, however, and she became convinced that she was perhaps the richest woman in the entire state.

There is no telling what the estate is worth. It is known the brother left $150,000 in life insurance, 35,000 pounds in money, two big ranches, two gold mines in the heart of the Australian gold fields, one big coal mine, three hotels, one in Melbourne and two in Sydney, the world-renowned race track near Melbourne and a stone building in that city recently erected at a cost of $100,000.