The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-03-08
HOW COWDY LOST
 BED COVERING
IA K ANY ARE the stories that have
 MI been brought over here by N'A athletes who took up arms


 WI been brought over here by >'A athletes who took up arms
 against the Hun in the recent war,
 but the yarns they tell about Hank
 Gowdy, the first baseball player to
 enter the service, are perhaps the
 most entertaining. But here is a
 yarn that is absolutely true, undenied
 by Gowdy and one that brought 6
 giggle even from the busy censor.
 The story was told to a Times sporting
 staff correspondent at the Friars
 club in New York by one who was
 on the spot. Here is the story:
 'In great awe we approached the
 beautiful chateau at Rolandsek on the Rhine, marveling as we drew
 near its splendor. It was sort of
 cross between Clark's Fifth Avenue
 house and the Colorado State Capi-
 tol, set in grounds that suggested
 Golden Gate Park in Frisco. We have
 expected to see stately duchesses
 walking about among the trees fol-
 lowed by trains of ladies in waiting.
 As we came on the lee side of the
 gorgeous pile, we became aware of a
 queru1ous voice lifting itself from the
 premises.
 "'Oh. we thought the duke is
 bawling out his vassals.'
 "'It ain't right the voice was say
 ing, It's a dam shame, that's what
 1t is.'
 For no apparent reason then we
 found our memory floating back
 across quite some months. The old
 Rhine, slugging It's 1ethargic way be-
 tween it's storied hills, suddenly faded
 from view. We again saw the Polo
 Grounds and felt again the heat of a
 broiling summers day. And how
 mind did wander back to those good
 old days.
 Finally we came to a. chateau and gasped for a few moments at its in
 ward magnificance, then trailed with peevishness to the luxurious chamber | where sat the junior color sergeant | of the 166th Infantry of the Rainbow | Division-Ohio's Own-Hank Gowdy, | otherwise Lankus Hankus.
 i Are they better than me- Henry
 was saying. Now do they make more | money than do when I'm making it. No. Then why the duce can they | snatch off my bed c1othes-especially | a good counterpane. It's a fine way l to run war
 The one time hero of a world s l series was sitting on the edge of a magnif1cently carved bedstead which seemed quite denuded of all cover | save a skinny army blanket and a half shelter tent. He was obviously low in his mind. But otherwise the same old Hank. He was addressing his plaintive remarks to a gentle
 man who seeMed most sympathetic and who turned out to be his buddy, George Forester, senior color ser geant of the 166th.
 "'Oh, hello,' he said as his eyes fell on us. He was too depressed. how ever, to rise on either of the two feet | on which he recently trudged 300 kill l ometers to get to Germany. I'm talking about my officers he 1 said You see this bed. Nellie and l George here and several other fellows are billeted here, and when we first got here this bed had g. lot of swell clothes on it--big fat, sort of silk comforts, thick blankets and lace
 counterpane. I hear 1t took several 1 hundred women several hundred years to make it. But it was a pip
 pin, this counterpane. I never did see such a bed. It made me sleepy. "'After sleeping with them cows,
 rooming with them pigs and horses { 1 Christmas every night to me. That big joint across the river there be- | longs to Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis | and I could lay in my bed morning | and look at 1t and wonder why them | St. Louis clubs don't do better. "'Then what happens? Well, some | officer comes along, sees my bed clothes, gets jealous of them-es- | pecially the counterpane, and tears | off with the whole works. Amt tha. i a disgusting way to run a war? You 1 know who owns this joint? A guy | named Schnitzell. No kidding. They ] say he's one of the rich merchants | of Cologne. Got more dough than
 most folks have hay.
 "'You wouldn't figure that guy l named Schnftzell would know much | about beds, but this bird must have
 been a regular bed shark. wish you | could have seen that counterpane. It | would have made you sore the rest Of
 your 1ife.'
 If you think this is a swell dump, | though, you ought to see-two cha
 teaus our General MacArthur's got
 at Sinsig. Either one makes tlis
 look silly-and this ones got the l Deshler Hotel in Columbus skinned | for size and accommodations. "I wish I was a general. No one | can cop a generals bed clothes, not | Tn this army, anyway. Don't ask me | anything about baseball. I'm too up- | set All I know Is that they wouldn't | stand for nobody turning a good guy | off for his bed clothes-especial1y if
 he was hitting. The league wouldn't 1 allow it. Man, what Q counterpane that wasv"