The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-02-06
NHEY nicknamed him "The
Dreamer" at Yale. This was


Dreamer" at Yale. This was
because he went around most
of the time with a preoccupied
look on his face muttering to himself.
Yet, if they had known him Alright
they would have found that he was
anything but a dreamer. He was
popular, as far as quiet, unobtrusive
man can be popular He seldom said
anything, but what he did say was
always sensible. But they did not
know him; not even "Chubby," who
was ds intimate with the Dreamer as
anyone ever got to be. If someone had
told them that the Dreamer was a
desperate, INSCRIPTIONS man with a
genius of the first magnitude combined
with a colossal ambition he would have
been met with burst of laughter
"Oh, we know himw they would have
said. Yes, they knew him.
The Dreamer had passed four years
in southern military school before
entering Yale, and this decided his
future career, as we shall see later on.
When he left college he possessed an
independent fortune of his own, but he
was not the man to remain idle. He
tried law for while but the income
was not sufficient to please him. The
Dreamer had dreams, but to realize
these he needed an immense sum Of
money, and he needed it quickly. Then
came the Cuban revolution. The little
brown men OH the Pearl of the Antilles
decided to throw off the yoke of Spain
once and for all time. They needed
arms to do this, so filibusterers were in
demand. Quick sales and big profits
for the man who dared. The Dreamer
was "a man who always dared He
made three trips safely but on the
fourth Spanish gunboat destroyed his
little ship and the Dreamer and his
crew barely escaped with their lives.
This accident ate up the profits of the
other three trips, so the Dreamer quit
Cuba as bad investment Whether
the Cubans secured their liberty or not
was no concern of his; he was in the
business for what he could make out of
it.
After that little revolution broke
out in Central America. The national
forces held the sea coast and had the
insurgents penned up in the noun
tains. There was big money in it for
the man who could get arms to the in
surgents. The Dreamer could and did
get arms to them several times. "This
is dangerous man," said the president
de factO, "we must negotiate with him."
So he sent agents to the Dreamer. "We
will pay you more not to smuggle in
arms than the other fellows will pay
you to smuggle in arms" The Dreamer
agreed. After receiving his price he
went back to New York and waited
for something new to turn up.
On the night of February 4, 1899, two
armies lay facing each other on the
outskirts of Manila. Two powder
magazines in close proximity. 1t needed
but a spark to explode them and the
spark was not lacking. Suddenly shot
rang out, followed Immediately by the
shrill cracking of musketry, then the
heavy volleys of platoon firing. A
great insurrection had just begun;
Aguinaldo's troops had just fired on
the American flag.
The Dreamer kept track of all this.
But he waited little. They would
not need arms just yet; besides, he had
just dreamed another dream, a grander
dream than any of its predecessors.
When the proper time came he got in
touch with the agent of the Filipino
Junta. "Yes, they needed arms and
perhaps he would like to serve,"
said the agent, "officers they had in
plenty, but what were they? low caste
natives. What they needed was Eu-
ropean officers to keep the men in