Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-11-27
USELESS ACQUISITION
French Chef Who Was Out of Place
with Buffalo Bill.
EAs Man Of Many lei soon CAns
TO he Retarded ~ an Expensive
Luxury in the western
w1Ids.

= Some years ago, when Col. Cody
started on a tour of the Rocky noun
tains as the host of a number OF for
eign military officers, having been
feted by them in their clubs and
homes, he was anxious to cater to
their every taste and comfort while
in camp life on this side of the great
pond. relates the Detroit Free Press.
His orders were to spare no ex-
pense, and among the ~"luxuries"
taken along was a French chef with
a record and a price. He was secured
from the Brown Palace hotel in Den
yer, Louis Pierre Gascirgue was his
name; but for the long trail. and the
generous price paid to him, 80
plunks a week." . cowboy said the
chef consented to be called Gas" for
short.
He had the selection of the canned
goods to be carried along, and turtle
coup, of the very best, M. Gas or
dered, and IL took an extra wagon to
hold them. The chef was radiant in
a snow-white suit and Gap, and pre-
scented the appearance the frst night
in camp Of a ghost, and was regarded
with superstitious suspicion by b
cowboys and others Of that ilk.
Gas" set in to show the wild west
erners q thing or two in the culinary
art by his first camp dinner. He had
. patent cooking stove, h wide
world for a kitchen with heaven for
Q roof, while china, hne linen and
wines were right at hand. Six O'Clock
wac the dinner hour that first night
at the base Of the San Francisco
mountains, and Gas was in raptures
over his dinner. Buffalo Bill, the
host, looked serious, the guests more
so. Such q dinner they could get in
any club in a city, but they did not
say so, IL they did keep up a devil of
q thinking. 1t was not what Col.
Cody liked, but it was what he
thought he ought to have for his dis
tinguished guests. The latter stood
it for two days and then went on .
strike.
II say. Cody" ventured Sir St. John
Mildmay, major of the Grenadier
Guards, "do you call this wild west
srn camp fare and cooking? You see,
we are all half dead with dyspepsia
hoW, Dill ShOukhI we WOuLQ kCS bOhiC
good, wholesome food on this thou
sand-mile trip in the saddle with
you"
The others joined in the chorus to
the same effect, while monsieur, the
chef, looked a. solemn as q country
parsons horse. As for Col. Cody, he
beamed with delight, said that Rocky
mountain trails and table d'hote din
ners didn't mix well, and Gas was at
once given leave to go along. as ne
couldn't be sent back, as an orna-
ment, a useless acquisition. and two
scouts were installed as cooks. And
with the chef, the canned goods,
china, fine linen and the stove were
sealed up in the wagon, and tin plates
and cups were brought forth.
And such cooking as these scouts
did could not be improved upon, while
Col. Cody showed that he was a first
class cook himself. He could throw a
fiapjack from a frying pan into the
air IS feet, turn it over and have il
CONF down on the other side, never
once making a miss and falling into
the fire. The guests tried to learn
this trick, but it was found too e1-
pensive, as they never missed the fire,
but always the frying pan. M. Louis
Pierre Gascirgue could not be pre-
vailed upon to taste any of the from
tier cooking, but stuck to his soups
and plum puddings, while he looked
as though he had buried his best
friend. He sought excitement in rid
ing a broncho, and was thrown daily.
He took to a wagon and was upset,
after which he walked, dropped be-
hind, and was scared nearly to death
by the Indians. One day he stood
looking up disconsolately at the sun
and said in a funereal tone: Dat sun
do shine for all persun, but it do not
just seem to shine for me-"
When the long trail ended at Salt
Lake City the French chef was the
only one of the party who had indi-
gestion. and he drowned his sorrows
by getting gloriously drunk, hence
was happy for the time being. But
Col. Cody braced him up and returned
him to Denver, having paid well for
a luxury" not to be taken on a
Rocky mountain trail.
emit to Bar I~ntruders.