Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-06-20


6rigadier. General Frederick Fun
stcn, HFiehting Bantam" Of the
u. s. Army, who Is giving Vera
Cruz q genuine house-cleaning. !
lHe was shot three times His arm
was pierced, he was wounded In the
lung, his hip was injured by his horse,
which fell upon him, and finally he had
malaria When be left the Cuban army
ION sick leave, in 1898, he was a major
and commandant Of artillery. On
| his way to the coast he was captured
/ by the Spanish and saved his life only
by eating his papers and pretending
that he was on the way to the Spanish
| lines 70 surrender.
One day when General Fitzhugh
Lee was sitting In HIS office in Hav-
Iyana, before the Maine had been blown
lup. the door was opened and a Wis
itors was admitted whose appearance
made him put his hand at once on his
revolver. The man had long hair, IAN
unkempt appearance and scraggfy
picard. His hat was fun Of holes, his
shoes were almost all gone. and he
wore hardly any clothing but q linen
dusters If that fellow had once put
his hand under his duster," said GEN
efal Lee afterward - am positive
would have shot him without waiting
for q word I was satisfied he was
hired to come and kin me. al was
Funston, Of course, and he was snug
| gled on board Ward Line steamer
land taken back to New York. Did he
have enough OF Cuba He did not
As soon as he got the malaria out of
bis system he Joined the American
army, was made colonel of Kansas
regiment, and was trying to get back
again into the war that had by this
time broken out between the United
States and Spain. His regiment never
got farther than Tampa, however,
much to Funstonas chagrin.
But there was other fighting in store
for the Fighting Bantam of the
Army, as Funston came to be called.
The Goth Kansas was ordered to the
Philippines and the newspapers were
soon telling wonderful stories of his
personal exploits, some of them true,
some OF them only half-true, but all
of them calculated to thrill. He be-
came the popular hero Of the Philip
pine war, and, like all popular heroes,
he soon found that good deal of re-
sentiment was being aroused against
h tall
still exists In some degree among West
Pointers. for Funston has come up
from the ranks of the volunteers and
has come rapidly. After the capture
|of Aguinaldo he was made brigadier-
general at an age when most army
men are still lieHtenants. But he had
earned his laurels. He was made a
general on the Recommendation of
General Wheaton. endorsed by Gem
|eral Macarthur, and his popularity
among the people was eeHalled by that
among the soldiers who served under
him. Here is a pen portrait of him
written IL years ago by his friend and
classmate William Allen White: 10 /,
Judging from the life that Funston
has lived, one would fancy him large
man. with a double-bass voice and a
chesty gait. The real Funston is a
little man barely five feet five, with
soft, small, swomanish hands, a gentle,
self-deprecatory, low-toned voice, and
with only so much iron in his blood
and steel in his sineWs as a brave
heart puts there. He is facetieus of
speech to those gentlemen who hold
that the world is melancholy estate.
BY nature he is rollicking, full of the
|effervescence that bubbles in jibes and
|quips and festive repartee. He talks
as an irnpressionist paints-sketching
in the outlines of his discourse in
|jerky illuminated and extra-illustrat-
ed phrases. His Jokes are mostly on
himself. He guys himself and his
achievements with master touch.
With strangers he is bashful and
makes q poor impression. In bust
ness he is scFupulously honest, and in
affairs of the heart he is what a hero
should be-impetuous and steadfast
He married his wife after a six-weeks'
acquaintance. His courtship was a
matter of days, and his wedding jour
ney was a walk around the block
few hours before the transport sailed
for the Philippines with the goth Kan
sas in 1885,, He has no heart for
politics; he loathes intrigue because
1t forbids him to laugh. In all his
dealings the element Of real greatness
shows forth unwaveringly. He is
simple and direct He knows no simu-
.lation or pose He never walks on
stills. He despises CANT and canters."
Either Funston has a marvellous
amount of luck or he has a strange
prescience that takes him into the
Genes OF coming trouble in advance.
He was in Dawson City before gold
was discovered. He was in Cuba be-
fore the Spanish-Anaerican war; He