Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1912-04-16
LEA, AMERICAN SOLDIER OF
FORTUNE, ALLY OF DR.. Sun

From them it is believed he learned
Of his chance of utilizing his military
knowledge in China and making a
name for himself He used to have
long conversations with the Chinese
and began to pick up their language.
tie studied civil engineering and some
of the technical sciences. TO most
Lea. was quiet. reserved and taCi,urn
Just before graduation day he was
stricken win smallpox and never
graduated. Tho next any OF his col.
lego mates saw of him was I'm July,
1880 "" vas sighted boarding a
liner for China. lurcd by the rumb.
linps that preceded the Boxer out
break. When that came he Joined the
relief forces that went TO PCkin
Afterwards he dropped out Of sight
but now and then he was heard Of as
mystcriOuSly appearing in remote
parts of China as If he had a mission
of some kind. Then he returned to
San Francisco early In the last de
cadc. He announced that he had been
made a lieutenant general in the Chi
nese reform army and offered com
missions to his old college friends
Though the movement that was des-
tined to end the ManChu rule was
only In the bud then, It gave such
promise that price OF 100000 had
been put on the head of Kang Yu
Wei, then hiding in Vancouver. and
Lea's head would have been worth as
much II II could have been tossed
over the wall of the Imperial Palace
in Pckin
In san Francisco Lea started to
drilling Cinnamon for the serious
work that he saw was ahead, but this
only excited the derisiOn of his Old
college chums. Lea went on in his
quiet way. but this time well used to
ridicule. and was the leading spirit
in the associations of young China.
men that sprang up along the Pacific
coast. When Kang went to Europe
to arouse interest in the new China
Lea went with him. Among those
Lea met At San Francisco was Dr.
Sun Vat Sen. later to gain glory AS
the president OF the first provisional
Chinese republic. The aslutc China.
man conceived great admiration for
the little Americans military genius
and made him his military adviser.
How well Lea justified his judgment
Of men was shown by the success OF
the rCvOlutiOnaries' arms. For years
Homer Lea has worn the uniform of
Il Chinese officer. and despite his
small stature and defurmity, the Chi.
nese leaders appear to have the great.
est respect and admiration for him
and his advice. In the new republic,
If he RECEIVERS from his illness, it is
expected he will have high place.
Perhaps II will require a great war
on the Pacific to class him among
those prophets not without honor en-
cept in their own country. His book
on the military unpreparedness and
weakness of the United States. though
Crammed from cover to cover with
irrefragable proofs of our military i'm.
potency on the Pacific coast. seems
to have fallen by the wayside and to
have made little impression on Amer.
leans except among military men, who
already held the same views as the
author and We're not therefore I'm le.
climate line for conversion. The
military legislation of Congress since
the publication of his book bears no
trace of any wider knowledge of our
military weakness on the part of our
national legislators than If Lea had
never dipped pen in ink and never un.
1ertaken the stupendous task OF
awakening the American people from
the lethargy of Over.conhdencc, the
hypnotism of self cOmplacency. Per.
haps II is not too much to say that
had the Chinese taken the advice
given them by Lea with the same sell.
sufficient air as has marked the
Amergican reception of his warnings,
there would be no Chinese republic to-
day.