The Battle of Texas
On the Rattler, March 22.
Friend Al: Well Al I am writeing this on the old rattler bound for sunny Texas and a man has got to write letters or something or you would gap yourself to death. They don’t have no more poker game Al but just some baby game like rummy that may be OK for birds that has spent all their life at some X roads but take a man like I that was over in France and played in the big game and it kind of sets up a man’s stomach to watch a bunch of growed up men popping their eyes out for the fear that they might maybe have a picture card left in their hand when some other bird lays down their cards. So about all they’s left for a real man to do is write letters or read the paper or look out at the scenery and I all ready read the papers and as for the scenery we been going through Kas. most of the day and you could pull down the shade most any minute and feel pretty sure you wasn’t going to miss nothing.
Well Al we left Chi last night and the 1st thing Kid Gleason come through the car and asked everybody if they had any bottle goods hid in their grips as he says they are getting strick and if they catch a bird carring anything in to dry territory they send you to Siberia or somewheres. So when he come along to me he said “Well you big busher I don’t half to ask you if you are bringing anything along with you as my nose knows but is any of it in bottles?” So I said “No all I have got with me they would half to operate to find it.”
So he said “Well you want to be sure as they are libel to go through everybody’s baggage.” So I said “I would like to see some fresh Alex make a move to serch my baggage and I would knock him for a gool.”
Well they’s 2 or 3 of the other boys besides myself that was in the service or that is they call it being in the service though I was the only 1 that got acrost the old pond outside of Joe Jenkins 1 of the catchers that’s still over there yet, but Red Faber was in the navy up to Great Lakes and Ed Collins was in the marines and 1 of the young fellows is wearing a aviation uniform and I suppose he seen the war from Texas and maybe got up so high that the 1st baseman had to jump for him. But for a wile last night they was all asking me questions about what I seen over there and this in that but every time I would tell them something Collins or 1 of the other smart Alex would say he read about it in the papers and it was different so I said “All right if you seen it in the papers that way it must be so only I kind of figured that me being right up to the front I might be in a position to know something about the war where you take the most of these here reporters and for all they seen of it they might as well of been on Pikes Peek with a pair of opera glasses looking west.” So that shut them up.
Well Al we are supposed to get to Mineral Wells tomorrow noon and they can’t get us there to soon to suit me as I am wild to get out there in the old ball yard and show Gleason that I have got something left and he was telling me this a.m. that he had picked up a lot of good looking young right handers and I would half to step along to hold a job or the next thing I knowed I would be up to Minneapolis wearing a white beard and pitching for Joe Cantillon. But the new recruits that I have met on the train so far that thinks they are pitchers couldn’t pass the physical examination for the Portugal army so it looks like I wouldn’t have much trouble if I get a square deal and if I don’t I will knock somebody for a gool.
Mineral Wells, March 24.
Friend Al: Well Al we landed here yesterday noon and it was raining when we got here and still raining and don’t look like it would ever stop and a man might almost think we had came to France by a mistake. And the only differents is that the harder it rained in France why they would see that we was all out in it wile here they’s nothing to do only lay around the hotel. Well Al I don’t know how many
