The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-05-21
KANSAS LIVELY HERO.
BRIG.-GEN. FUNsTON,S EXPLOITS IN
PEACE WAR.

PEACE AND A
A College Career still Remembered but
Net Observation-Disclosures and n
Sensation in tho Arctic-His Services in
Cuba with the Patriots of That Land.
Fancy q little man. with a slight limp a little
mar who weighs less than 100 pounds and is
under Ave feet four: n little man withia Van
dyke beard. and q sense OF humor that bub-
bles In him like the efreryescence OF wine.
and you have the exterior picture OF Col.
Funston OF the Twentieth Kansas. the man
who elorined the army In his famous charge at
Malolos and by his swimming feats before
Calumpit. Fancy q man who hates shams.
who jeers at pomp and circumstance. who
loves TO sit in his shirt sleeves In the
wilderness reading Kipling. who is I'm
pulsive. generous and always kind. who
avoids the forms. functions and punctilios Of
this world as he would shun q pestilence fancy
q merry heart that takes nothing seriously
save the goodwill Of a friend and the honor OF
his country: fancy Cyrano de Bergerac minus
his buster and the gad6y without his sting
rolled into one body SO years old and hav-
ing O wandering foot that has taken him
from the Arctic Ocean to the tropics finding
adventure. and you have q picture OF the
happy. courageous. kniEhtly soul Of the little
Kansas Colonel who Is winning lame III the
Philippines.
Fred Funston came from the farm on Deer
Creek. Allen county. Kan. to the State Uni
versity OF Kansas fourteen years ago. He re-
manned In the university Off and on for five
years. He was u round faced fellow. full OF fun
and OF the type that instructors yearn to
strangle for the levity that he bred In the class
room. II Funston ever got a grade above 30
In any study, the instructor who gave that
grade will have to answer for a great crime; for
his sin Of silence has established for Funston a
record for unbroken scholastic mediocrity that
has been rarely equalled in that institution. He
was a member OF the Phi Delta Theta
fraternity. Funston gave moro atten-
ton TO his fraternity than he did
TO his books. and 1t Is u matter OF fraternity
record that he broke four chairs learning to
waltz with them. On festal occasions Funston
grew solemn and melancholy and felt called
upon to go forth without hilarity and ribaldry,
but In terrible earnest. and tear up tho board
sidewalks OF the town OF Lawrence. because he
deemed their presence dangerous to the public
welfare. Because he was small Of stature he
Knocked athletics into disfavor while he was In
school; no was the maker Of nicknames. the
dictionary OF mirth. Ten years have elapsed
since he called the Greek professor 'Zues." and
the auburn hair OF the professor whom Funston
called "Old Sunset" has turned gray; e Purple
Whiskers have lost their lustre. but the names
still stick. and afford comfort and solace to
those unfortunate students who funk in the
departments where the dignitaries reign. Per-
haps the shudder OF horror that ran through
the faculty mt the mention of Funston's name
years and years after he had left school has
somewhat subsidized. but 1t Is likely that the
faculty Of the University OF Kansas can come
moro nearly knowing how Aguinaldo feels than
all the anti-imperialistic leagues in this broad
and patriotic land.
Funston Spant much Of hia time In the nnf-
versity library. reading whatever his hands
could find Of the fiction Of war and the poetry
OF romance. Early in life he had the prairie
boys knowledge Of every sort and condition Of
frearm In the hardware store. He had a Yam
kee knRck for screws and bolts and nuts. and
could tinker. This knowledge is as much "a
part OF every farmer boys education as the
knowledge OF the points Of the compass. The
farm Ia a manual training school it also teaches
individual initiative. and many OF the recent
military exploits Of Funston before Caloocan
and Malolos and Calumpit are merely outcrop-
pings OF the farmer boys training to go ahead.
and not go clear across the field and back to
the house for orders.
During his off years-the years when he
earned money to attend the university the next
year-he turned his talents to various and prof
table account, and he accumulated the capital
OF experience which he has invested In glory.
For instance, in 1893. an off-school year. he
became a Santa Fe train collector. At different
times his route lay all the way from Kansas
City to Albuquerque and south to the Gulf Of
Mexico. Among his other duties was that OF
train bouncer. He weighed little more than
100 pounds then. but that didn't stand In the
way OF his success as o bouncer. The record
Of his grit is still in the ologged Supreme Court
OF Kansas. where damage suits against the
Santa F6 are awaiting the judgment day"
And among the greasers and cowboys OF New
Mexico. Colorado. and western Kansas there ia
myth to the effect that the Santa Fe once put
q human marmot on it's trains. who concealed
death in its right hand and lingering illness In
his left.
After a peaceful year in the university Funs-
ton longed for something less monotonous than
encounters with cowboys and sought to satisfy
the lust in his soul for excitement by going
into the newspaper business.
He had never been in a city newspaper Office
when by the force OF sheer audaoity he struck
a Kansas City city editor for O place and got a
probationary job. Luck brought him a beat
which the first day convinced the city editor
that Funston was a phenomenal reporter.
When q letter came from a man In Fort Smith
20 the newspaper office asking the city editor
70 send him a trst-class man to take care Of a
country daily Funston went. He didn't know
any more about a country daily than he knew
aboutthe climate OF Mars. but he tackled 1t.
When the United States District Court met at
Fort Smith. Funston started In to take sides
In o murder case. and Judge Parker. the IA
nous hanging Judge. who has sentenced
over a hundred murderers to death, called
Funston into HIS study one evening osten-
Slbly to talk about the case in question. The
Judge opened the conversation by telling MIR.
Funston in confidence that journalism wasn't
his profession. and closed the incident by inti-
mating that the climate OF Arkansas was very.
very unhealthy at that particular season. Not
desiring to 60 to jail for contempt. Funston got
cut OF town on a night train. and the owner Of
tho paper found a new man the next morning.
But Funston had enough money saved up to
60 to school another year. and so went back to
the university. At tho end OF the year he took
the civil service examination and got aplace In
the Agricultural Department at Washington.
and was sent to Montana and the Dakotas
making a botanical collection OF grasses. After
that he Joined the Government expedition that
made the first oficial survey OF Death Valley,
the famous California death tran.