Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-04-06
Gen. Funston, Fighter.

|
| albuquerque and the Gulf. His weight
as youth-he is today only five feet four
inches tai and l25 pounds or SO IN weight
w Wns nor allowed to handicap him. as is
| Witnessed by the. traditions of the line
ana the dusty file of damage suits s;ill
! IN the archives of the logged Kansas
Way Why supreme hip enc, court In the followng
| MOUNTAINS. where he earned money for
ms university expenses as a guide. THIS
proved IN way, turning point. for
| shortly afterWard he quilted the univer-
| sity, leaving behind him a reputation as
| an original funmaker and as bequest
TO the faculty. divers satirical nicknames
which they say. stick to this day.
! On leaving Lawrence, in 1899. his father.
| sill a congressman. secured his appoint
ment as botanist in The department of
| agriculture. After a trip to Montana ana
the Dakotas he was attached to the party
! which made the first government survey
| of Death Valley. the famous California
eath-trap. Seven months were spent in
this work. and Funston is the only man
| of The party alive and sane today, ten
years after the survey. In 1912 the gov
eminent sent him to MAKE botanical tan r Il
| coast. and in 1923 he returned to the Arc
! tic and made Similar survey OF the
/ Yukon. He negotiated Chikoot Pass. then
! an untrodden pathway. and Went down
! the Yukon to Forcupine river and up thar
| 70 Rampant House. an abandoned Hudson
Bay Companys trading post far within
/ the Arctic circle. Here he wintered with
{ missionary named Pratly. Indians
J brought rumors that the American whal-
ing feet was being crushed in the Arctic
indian guide Funston started To snow
shoe to the scene. They lost the way and.
after travelling some 800 miles. were pl-
iot.d by other Indians to ,i.e fleet. which
, was found not to be in trouble. 1t is re
! lated that Funston was none the less
! heartily welcomed and that the effects
! thereof are still Il tradition Of III" Arc
! tie. The Re turn to Rampant House was
| safely accomplished. and with the adj
vdnciEg summer Funston floated down
the Yukon to the mouth. bent on mis- To-
! tanicai business. The specimens he gath
- arr in the department of agriculture
| at Washington. lie was picked UP by The
revenue cutter Bear and reached civiliza-
ton again in the TALL of 1891.
Trying To start coffee plantation in
Central America gave Funston several
job as an assistant auditor of the Santa
Fe Railroad brought him to New York.
These tasks We're too commonplace with
the torch of the Cuban inSurrecton burn
ing as a beacon to his adventurous spirit
He joined iilibustering party which the
Dauntless landed al Camaguay in Au-
gust. 1896. He was assigned by Garcia to
the artillery arm of the insurgent service
and made second in command to Osgood.
the Pennsylvania football player. who
was soon to lay down his lf, for The on
ban cause. When Osgood fell. Funston
was made chief of artillery. about which
he knew far less than he did of The cult
vators and ploughs of his fathers farm
| in Kansas. He studied his guns with th,
eye of YANKEE. however, and soon had
them under due discipline-all but The dv-
Mantle gun; This was new thing in
warfare and poser for Funston. But
| let Funston tell it:
We'll. | looked her over and nrodded
around her for day or two till / found
| from the printed directions that came
with her which end was the shooting end
| | didn't let the Cubans know that / was
| scared, but | was We got into little
mixup one day. and the old man sent for
the dynamite: l waltzed her out. kept
the directions in my head as we'll as |
could and loaded her up. When the or
| der came | sighted her and let her go
| For a second she seemed to wheeze. It's
all up. | thought; the Cubans ran: bur |
didnt dare to; ii was only a second and
| then she coushed, and the air in the
s Spa, fort was filled with misfit logs
| turned around and grinned like the eat
| that swallowed the canary, and no ona
knew that ! had finished making four or
| five kinds of Il fool of myself. After tba,.
had set EN- up in the other alley We
| rolled EN- again.
| Twenty-three battles in Cuba was bis
record with his guns. Casgorra was III.
tirst important action. Al La Machuca
| tlon shortly afterward Il shell cripDlcd his
arm once he was captured and SEN
fenced to death: but escaped. Later still
i,,, sleei-tipped Mauser bullet pierced his
|
MN down. and compelled his return to
| .ne l nlted States to recuperate. n colonel
IN the Cuban service. AS he was prepar
ins 10 return to Cuba the Maine was
with Spain would result he awaited one
| issue. 1t was not for long Governor
| Leedy OF Kansas called for volunteers to
make up three regiments of infantry and
| knowing OF Funston's Cuban service tel
egraphed for him, and at Topeka offered
h him reg GIN It, The commission was
| Twentieth Kansas into shape was begun
| This tell largely upon the two ma jors-
one a second lieutenant in the regular
army. the other a militia colonel-for the
| day after the regiment went into camp
Colonel Funston was detached and or
dered to Tampa on special duty attached
to the stan OF General Miles to advise
him as to the Cuban army. Three days
after Funston reached Tampa his regi-
ment was ordered to San Francisco. but
held there for drill When General Niles lies
| started for Cuba the latter part of June
| 1895. Colonel Funston asked for orders to
it sailed for Manila. had welded ii into a
| first-cass military organization.
| Three weeks before he sailed Colonel
Funston met Miss Ella Blankhart OF Oak
land. AS impetuous In love as In war ne
! wooed and won her the marriage taking
place the day before the transport sailed
There are divers stories to how Mrs
Funston made her trip to Manila. One
has it that she went on BOARD the trans
| port in the army blue of a private of the
twentieth Kansas, for the orders deny
ing passage to army women We're very
strict But at all events the bride of
day was successfully got on board and
| sailed with her husband.
The Twentieth Kansas was In at the
fall Of Manila. and had been In garrison
but n few weeks when the break with
Acuinaldp's troops came. FunstOn's reSi-
,nent was uuartered in the Binondo as
trict of Manila, and swiftly took up its
allotted position when the Nebraskans
were attacked on the night of Feb. l..
1899 At daylight Funston led a charge
which carried two lines of works, only
70 he Obliged to retire since the regiment
was directly in range of the navy'S guns.
This was a gallant achievement. but it
was I'm the later campaigning that Col
j"rel Funston first came commandiugly
INTO public notice. With his Kansans AMI
The Montana volunteers he waded and
ewam the river before Malolos in April.
1909 in the face of rifie-tire from en-
tronchments stormed the works and
took the first Filipino capital. Before
Caii1mpit the same thing happened. At
10 baad of a handful of volunteers Funs-
tno swan the river in face of Il hot fire.
d dpa with them q heavy rope, Land
e." IL front of the insurgent trenches
~ lied IL to a tree, forming line by
.,i,icb several boatiOads of men We're fer
We'd over Then charging the trenches
Colonel Funston drove out the defend
orn and held the bank TIL the main body
efactcd a crossing. The Insurgents raj
led and attacked, but too late. the re-