Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-04-03
FAMOUS FIGHTER
COMES TO COMMAND
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(continued from Page H.
eyed To be Up and doing ever since his
college days, and his field OF operation
mas extended from the Arctic circle &c
the equator. He has explored the
turning afkalf deserts of the south
west; commanded an exploring expe-
.JItion 10 Enthusiastically floating
down the yukon alone in a canoe
been a newspaper" reporter; fought
the Spaniards in the cause of Cuban
liberty, and later fought them under
the stars and stripes; fought the Fill
Pinos, capturing the redoubtable Agui-
Ialdo, and fought earthquake. fire and
iawlessness in STRICKEN San Fran
cisco. Truly red-blooGed record for
a man just entering his 48th birth
day.
Personally General Funston is
rather retiring, and is not given to
drawing on his large fund of individ-
ual experience except when among his
intimate friends. Men to whom he
mas given his full friendship would go
through anything to retain it, and
friends and enemies alike-and like
every man of positive personality he
has some of the latter-unite in say
ing that he has absolutely no knowl-
edge of personal fear He faces dan
ger without heroics, and merely as
though it did not exist at all. T..
A Busy Man. .%,... ..:.----
The new department commander is
mildly tolerant of society in the gen
orally accepted sense of the word, not
meaning that he by any means is a
.recluse, but merely that he is too busy
to, take amusement and entertainment
very seriously. He spends a great
part of his spare time in the company
OF his books, being one of the most
Omnivoreus readers on military sub
jects. Book after book, and history
after history he reads and assiini-
iates, storing up the experiences of
the great commanders of the past for
his own knowledge and professional
advancement. He has a wonderfully
retentiye memory, and a faculty for
quickly grasping salient points and
important passages.
General Funston is a great man in
the field, and as woodsman. or plains
man he has few equals. His bump
of locality is rnarvelously developed,
and it seems almost impossible for
him to get lost when left to his own
resources in the open spaces.
From military standpoint, his spe-
cialty in time of peace is maneuvers
as preparation for war. He is a
great believer in working all arms of
the service in conjunction, and it is
safe to predict that although this is
not the year for Joint maneuvers
with the national guard, for which a
special appropriation is made by con
gress, the troops, of the Hawaiian de-
partment will take the field for more
extended mimic campaign Than ever
before.
Reporter First. r. 60. -.
General Funston was born in New
Carlisle, Ohio, November, 9, 1866.
When he was only two years old, his
people moved to Kansas, where he
spent his boyhood, rounding off his
education at the University of Kansas
from 1885 to 1887. He began his life
OF activity and adventure as reporter
in Kansas City, in 1890, but a year
later the rowing spirit took possession
of him, and he became attached to
the expedition of the Smithsonian In
stituticn, which explored the little
known and much-dreaded territory of
Death Valley, California. Funston was
hotanist of this party. Two years
after facing desert heat and drouth,
he tackled the snow and ice of Alaska,
as commander of an expedition sent
by the department of agriculture to ex-
.piore Alaska and report on it's flora
He camped in the K1ondike during the
winter of 1914, making his memorable
solitary canoe trip in the spring.
Civilization couldn't hold Funston
for long, and in 1867 We find him
espousing the cause of oppressed Gu
la, and serving through the grades of
captain, major and lieutenant colonel
in the insurgent army. He served with
distinction. for eighteen months, was
wounded, and returned to the United
States to recuperate. .... -
Colonel of Volunteers.
When the war between the United
States and Spain broke out. Funston
was commissioned colonel of the goth
Kansas volunteer infantry, consider