The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-05-18

I party that explored the terrible Death
Valley He wrote magazine articles
about his adventures which were ac-
/ cepted by the New York magazines
1 Most young fellows Of twenty-three or
four would have sent the narratives of
their exploits to their county seat pa
pers.
PERILOUs JOURNEY IN THE
FROZEN NORTH
The ambition which was urging him
| onward knew no compromise. While he
was doing these things he showed up
| every year for a term or two at the
/ State university He was determined
/ to learn He left school in go and went
to Alaska and made botanical survey
! of certain portions of the Alaska coast.
] His eyes failed him, and he returned to
! the states to have his eyes repaired
/ Then, early in 1893, he went back to
/ Alaska. On this trip Funston made his
/ first reputation in the west as an adVen-
/ turous and efficient young man. He
went over Chilcoot Pass with a half
! dozen Indians before the days of the
/ Aondlke-an unspeakably lonesome and
deSOlate trip He Went down the Yukon
to its junction with the Porcupine, and
up the Porcupine TO Rampant House.
For long January afternoons diver
sion, Funston took a few Indians and
started overland to Herschel's Island
| where a British whaling fleet was win
tering. The Funston party wandered
two hundred miles out of the direct
course making the round trip, eight
hundred miles. in the dead of winter
in an Arctic twilight Peary became
In the spring Funston set out from
Rampant House and travelled down the
Porcupine 10 the Yukon. He drifted
on the Yukon fifteen hundred miles
absolutely alone. For two weeks he did
not hear the sound of human voice;
but one of his literary companions on
this journey was Soldiers Three He
Jcurneyed IN an open boat, made with
his own hands, gathering botanical
specimens and cataloguing them he
was picked up, according to prearrange-
n 0fr Ef1f-
revenue cutter Bear in the summer of
1894.
He stood the monotony of civilization
for less than a year, and then went to
Central America and engaged in the cot
fee growing business. Here he lost the
money he saved on his Alaskan trip He
came back to New York in 'a6 and
was appointed an assistant auditor of
the Santa Fe Railway company Funs-
ton considered the place a makeShift-
1t promised no promotion for him. He
did not wish to get into a nut, so he
gave up the place and went to Cuba.
For months before he left his intention
to go was determined He found that
artillerymen were scarce In the Cuban
army, and whenever Funston could
spare a moment from the auditors desk
in the Santa Fe office he spent it study
ing guns He went to the places near
New York where heavy guns are made;
he acquired what theoretical information
he could from books and men, and then
stole quietly out of New York on
nlfbustering expedition with Captain
O'Brien on the Dauntless, and landed
in Cuba in the summer Of 1896 He was
made a captain Of artillery under
Gomez
He fought in cuba for two years. He
was wounded three times: once in the
arm once through the body, once his
horse fell on him, tracturing the bone
of his thigh.
GOMEZ'S MAJOR BECOMES UNCLE
SANS VOLUNTEER.
Funston left the Cuban army on sick
leave in 1898 with the rank OF major. He
was the commandment OF artillery under
Gomez. On his way to the sea he was
captured by the Spanish soldiers. but
before they could identify him he swal-
lowed his parole papers, and, after
spending few weeks in a Spanish prs
on. he came to the United States in the
spring of 1898.
He delivered a few lectures on the Gu
ban rebellion before the war spirit that |
was moving over the land swept him |
from the lecture platform and made him !
colonel of the Twentieth Kansas vOIun- |
teers- Governor Leedy. who appointed |
Funston, was a POpulist; Funston was a /
Republican; but his distinction and his /
fitness for the cOlonelcy were 50 APP |
parent that the appointment was inevi- /
table. But Funston was ordered to /
Tampa. where his knowledge of the |
topography Of Cuba would be valuable /
to Cen Miles. After the battle of San
tiago Funston left Tampa and joined /
his regiment in California
He drilled 1t vigorously, until it be /
came model on the parade ground The /
Twentieth Kansas was one of the last /
Of the volunteer regiments to leave for /
the Philippines But when it got there /
it began to make history F'unston's /
drilling, his enthusiasm, and his mill /
tary training counted. There was no ac- |
cident in the fame that the Twentieth /
Kansas won in the Philippines. Every i
man in the regiment could read and I
write. 1t was composed of farmers
lawyers. school teachers and the like I
skilled labOrerS, railroad men, carpen-
tiers. printers. A majority of its com
missiOned officers could sign A 3. or I
\. NJ after their names, and half a doz-
en- of them were from the Kansas State
university. where they had gone to /
school with Funston They knew him
There was never a minority report on
his decision TO strike out across country
and do something not set down IN the
books 1t was a case OF follow my
leader with Funston and the boys.
FOUGHT HIS WAY TO THE FRONT.
All the world knows that Funston was
the hero of the Philippine campaign of
1899. As colonel of the Twentieth kan
sas. which became part of the First
brigade, Second division, Eighth army
corps, he won on many batuefelds in
Luzon. He was present with his regl-
ment at the outbreak Of the insurrec-
ton. and he commanded it in all the
earlier actions. and fought on the
northerly line on February A, 5 and z, in
the year mentioned He was at the de-
cisive battle of Calocan. February 10.
and participated in the entire seven
days marching and fighting Of the cam
paign against Malolos, which began
March %. and closed with the capture
Of the Filipino capital, March 81. He
was at the TuEahan river on the morn
ing of the first day out, at Polo and at
Guiginto, at Meycauayan and the River
MiralaO: he was among the very first
American soldiers to enter the Filipino
capital, then in flames by Aguina1do,s
order Later in the campaign north of
MalOlOs he was at Calumpit. at the Rio
Grande de Ia Pampanga. at the RIO
Bag-Bag. and in all the actions of that
hard and hot campaign, until the muster