The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-01-26
Correspondent for London Truth
Writes Of Some Phases of 1t and
Describes His Personal
Experiences.
NET FAMOUS Bella KUN
Man Wore a Flat Brimmed Bowler Set
far Down on Back of His Shiny
Hair-Says His Ears Spread
Out Like Palm Trees.

The humorous side OF bolshevism
as it manifested itself in Budapest
under the short lived regime of Bella
Kun is engagingly revealed by cor
of London Truth who was
in the Hungarian capital at that
time. He tells how he was awaken.
ed in the dead Of night to find a lot
of red guards wandering aimlessly
about the hotel room, examining his
shaving soap and things. He con.
tinues:
Il think it was the smell that woke
me up, because it was a good deal
louder than the noise they made. Be.
sides the dirt, they were dressed in
the remains of field gray uniforms,
and they had cherry colored ribbons
around their caps and in their but
tonholes, and rifles and bayonets in
their hands, and | suspect they
thought they looked very impressive.
Il was annoyed. and I told them
SO, and they came and stood all round
the bed like 4 o'clock in the morn.
ing conscience. and we talked a great
deal. / couldn't understand what
they said, and they could only under
was very good word. 1t was Angel,
and had been told in Vienna to use
it freely. 1t means English, by the
way, in Hungary. When l had said
it few times they got the hang of
it, and went away to wake up some
body else. One of them stayed be-
hind-one Of the dirtiest, who CORE
sponded to an officer. He had a sense
of duty, and stood upright by the
side of the bed all night, feeling the
point of the bayonet on his thumb.
Or he may have been cleaning his
finger nails on it. | am not quite
sure, because switched the light off
and tried to get to sleep again. But
he had an unpleasant habit of sniff
ling, and it took me some time"
The writer met Bella kun-or Al
bert Cohan, as his real name appears
to be-the following day. HE wore
a bowler with fiat, brim set far
down on the back of his shiny hair
so that his ears spread out Hike
young palm trees. He had a very
tasty brown overcoat with an amber
colored velvet collar and very large
yellow bone buttons. His trousers
were of very bright and broad stripes
and spread out bellwise over his
bright yellow button boots. He had
a yellow glove on one hand and a
very nice yellow diamond though,
perhaps, it can hardly have been a
real diamond because he would have
had to surrender it to the govern
ment if 1t was real-on the other.
His favorite scent was, think, wood
violet, and he was very fond of it.
1.-THE rest of the government were
all very like Mr. Cohen, though some
preferred patchouli or ess. bouquet,
and some wore rather more pomatum
than others. Z If you happened to see
them all at once, discussing some
nnotty point about the division of the
swag or something like that, with all
The siXty-six hands going at once like
so many seals flippers, the sight was
very impressive. But l cannot hon.
sstIy say that they struck me at all
And to me that Is the
most curious part of bo1shevism, in
hungary and elsewhere.
ITO hear ordinary people in Eng
and talk about what is happening in
,olshevist countries you would
imagine that they are entirely in
labited by murderous monsters,
welve feet high or Whereabouts, who
20 about armed with huge axes, lop-
ling off the outlying limbs of any
me who doesn't happen to agree !
With them, and tapping up the blood |
When l was on my way to Hungary !
had to give UP mentioning my des |
nation to respectable friends be- |
ause they always tainted first and |
urst into tears afterward. And |
7hen you got there you found these |
loody minded monsters were poor
title east enders from London who |
7ere just as frightened as they |
ould be about what was going to |
appen to them, and only kept in
.ower because everybody else was
90 frightened to turn. them out. 1t
solemn fact that the only reason
ne soviet government cam' ITO
over in Hungary was the terror of
lie middle classes who had been re.
uced TO Jumps of jelly by the stories
what was happening in Russia
ine-tenths Of which were not t-ue."