The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-06-30
GENERAL FRED FUNSTON.
About the Sketch of Him in the July
Cosmopolitan.


Cosmopolitan.
c. S. Gleed, of Topeka, has, in the
July Cosmopolitan, an intensely interest
ing character sketch of General Fred
erick Funston. The article was referred
to in these columns a week ago. 1t is
entitled Romance and Reality in
Single Life Under that heading it
gives the remarkable career of the hero
of the Philippines, remarkable and
heroic long before the United States en-
tered into war with Spain and Agui-
naldo. 1t covers a life of adventure in
the tropics and above the arctic circle as
well as in the temperate zone of the
United States proper. The sketch shows
how Funston grasped the situation IN
Cuba years before the Battle of San
tiago and was in a score of battles with
Spain before this country fired a shot.
1t details F'unston's two thousand mile
ride down the Yukon before the dis
coveries of the klondike.
Before the campaign in the Philip
pines" says Mr.. Gleed, Frederick Fun
ston, of Kansas, considering his extra
ordinary experiences as an American
explorer and a soldier in the Cuban
army, was too little known. Since his
exploits in the Philippines, while it can
not be said in any sense that he IS too
well known, it is true that his fame
came in a somewhat extravagant and
distorted form-particularly in some
publications and some localities. L am
sure he would himself approve this last
suggestion, though he would likely Ob-
ject to the first. l am sure he is sorry
that many untrue things have been said
about him by kind, enthusiastic, but I'M
wise, friends; and L am sure he would
maintain, with all the earnestness which
is characteristic of him, that the ava
lanche of praise which has oVertaken
him ought to be ratably apportiOned
4E6 of mo XJh
as ready as he to fight and die for their
country and its flag. 1 know him well
enough to know that he wishes he could
divide equally among his FELLOW soldiers
the thanks and applause which his
cOuntrymen have given him. Every
line he has written from the war is an
indication of his belief that what he is
credited with having done has been done
as we'll by those under his command
and otherwise associated with him. In
a letter to me he said: When [ tell
them to charge, the trouble is not to get
them to come on, but to keep from be-
ing run over by them and every letter
he has written is filled with praise of
General Otis, General Macarthur and
other commanders in the island work.
Passing over his boyhood and college
days it is found that his first important
public service was for the United States
department of agriculture as a member
of a party sent TO explore the famous
Death valley, in Southern California.
Here for nine months he braved death
counted of him that here he recorded
the highest temperature ever taken by
government agent, as a few years later
in Alaska he recorded the lowest. He
went to the latter country to make a
botanical collection for the department
of agriculture, and there he spent two
years in solitary explorations, penetrat-
ing as far north as the Arctic ocean
and undergoing hardships such as have
fallen to the lot of few men. About
three years ago he enlisted in the Cuban
York, where he had signed with the
Cuban junta- In the twenty months
spent in that war he participated in no
less than twenty-five enga gements, and
he was rapidly promoted to the rank
of lieutenant colonel with command of
all the artillery east of Havana He
was shot through both lungs and one
arm, and was dangerously injured be-
meath a falling horse. While suffering
from the latter injury he returned to
Kansas, and was still lame from it
when he was appointed colonel of the
Twentieth Kansas" Returning to the
personality of his man, Mr.. Gleed says:
1T is probab BILE that General Funston's
chief characteristic. aside from his in
dustry and intrepidity, is that of mod
esty. He certainly has the appearance
of mOdesty. This is not merely because
he is small in stature. 1 do not know
certainly what the rule is about small
men, but they are probably apt to be
vain as large men. Not only is Fun
ston modest in appearance, but also in
on any subject that interests him, and
he is willing to share his information
with any really interested listener But
in all his conversation there is little
use of the pronoun T. an absence en-
tirely of anything like arrogance or
boastfulness. He has never enjoyed be-
ing exhibited or exploited in any man
ner. Once, after he returned from his
remarkable trip to Alaska, he escorted
a lady to an affair. to which both had
been invited. On the way he
was informed of somebody's
intention to introduce him as
returned explorer. This struck ter
ror to his heart, and he contrived to be
absent until it was too late for any
one to exhibit him. To the best
of my belief he has never foreseen him
self as a heroic figure in gay military
attire, doing heroic things wearing
the decorations of victory. His mind
loves the concrete. He has always
aStOnished me by his unaccOuntable ac-
emulation of dry facts, such as those
relating to the tariff, to the style and
size of armament of the government
ships, statistics of the army, geographic
cal measurements, statistics of Arctic
fisheries, facts about whaling, statistics
about mining in Alaska, mathesnatical
and scientific facts concerning railroad
and ocean commerce, and facts pertain
ing to agriculture and similar subjects.
Funston is a fine talker about any
topic that interests him, and is a. better
listener than talker. He does not write
readily, and is little disposed to crowd
into print Socially he is easy, cheerful
and in every way companionable. IF
there are children in his vicinity he