The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-02-20
MAI. GEN. FUNSTON
DIES SUDDENLY
Commander of Southern De-
partment of Army Vic
tim of Indigestion
FAMOUS AS CAPTOR
OF AGUINALDO
Known as Bantam of the Army He
Had Led an Adventurous Career -
Served Under Gen. Gomez in Cuban
Instruction - Always a Fighter.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Feb. 20. -
Major Gen. Frederick Funston, com
handing the southern department of
the United States army and one of the
leading figures in the country mill
tary history since his capture of Agui-
naldo when commanding a Kansas vol
unteer regiment in the Philippines, died
of acute indigestion last night. He col
lapsed in a hotel soon after dining with
friends and did not regain consciousness
before his death a short time afterward.
General Funston was at his office yes
terday with no sign of ill-health. Dur
| ing dinner he seemed in his usual good
| spirits, and after the meal began to
play with a child of one of the guests.
He fell over unconscious before any enc
could reach him.
Lieut. Col NJ. w Ireland, medical
corps, L. s. A., General Funston S ply
stefan, said last night:
! General Funston death was caused
| by angina sclerosis of the arteries of
the heart. Death was almost immediate
and without pain.
| Major Gen. Frederick Funston, who
was affeetionately known as "The Ban
tam of the Army and 1.-THE Little
/ MAN Oh w Ndu one Oh lHt HlOSl NdE1-
egated and adventurous careers of any
modern soldier. He was at various
times student, railroad conductor, agent
of the department of agriculture, lead
CIR of insurgents in Cuba, and finally q
commanding officer in the United States
army.
Probably his greatest exploit was the
capture of Aguinaldo, the Philippine in
IL
States so long. Funston accomplished
this feat with the aid of only ten Kan
sas volunteers, after a perilous hike. II
addition, he became prominent as the
commander of the American expedition
that occupied Vera Cruz, Mexico, il
1914, when lie was military governor o.
the city until November of that year.
General Funston was born in New
Carlisle, Ohio, and was in his sd year
His father was Edward Hoge Funsto on
and the future general was reared on
farm in Kansas, with which state h
was identified until the day of hi
death. His family had removed to Kan
, sas in 1881. and General Funston, al
though he approved of the simple lif
for others, decided to strike out for him
, self as soon as he was able.
As soon as he was old enough he wen
f to the University of Kansas, where h
soon acquired the name of good studen
, and a trst-class fighting man.
those days he weighed about 100 pounds
and William Allen White, the edito
who was his classmate, often used I
tell how the little student thrashed tn
n village bully, who weighed 200 pound
and hailed him to the Jail. His colleg
o life lasted two and half years, endin
in 1883, when he found il necessary I
work. He got job as a railroad COZ
ductor on a line that ran to the Mexica
border. As a conductor he made a SUI
IS cess, his willingness to fight being {
d. great assistance in those troublous di
L. trictS. 1t is related that drunken coy
G. boy went at him with gun one
a and the little conductor kicked the r
volver out of his hand and chased hi
two miles.
In 1890, Funston became a reporter
Kansas City. A year later he was a
pointed special agent of the Unite
States department of agriculture I
sought this post because he had hea
that there would be certain activity al
his premonition was right, for he W
sent as botanist on the famous Dea
Valley expedition. Always anxious f
fresh fields and new countries, 4
- lrawer the better, General Funston so
= volunteered for service in Alaska a.
the adjacent parts of the British Mort
/ west, where he spent two years.
His desire for adventure was full
l gratitied. On one of the expeditions
| crossed Alaska to the Arctic ocean a
! travelled from the Mckenzie river
| Bering sea, $500 miles During t
y winter of 1S9394, he camped in t