Show by ELMO SCOTT WATSON years ago america had a new national heio lie wasa a little man with a slight limp a little man who weighs less than a hundred tf j pounds with a vandyke beard and a sense of humor that bubbles in him like the effervescence ot wine ills name was frederick funston and hla mad cap enterprise as be himself called it put bis name on the lips of mil lions for funston had captured emillo aguinaldo Agul naldo the leader 0 the Insurrect os the most talked of man in the orient it not in the whole world at that time who for three years bad been leading some american troops and native auxiliaries a merry chiase from one end of the province of luzon to an other on march 23 the chase came to an end when through the daring and the strategy of the little kansan this wily native leader was taken prisoner insignificant though may have been in appearance few mens lives bad been packed as full with adventure as bad his when be sprang into fame almost overnight lie was born in ohio in the son of a first lieutenant in the union army who in 1807 moved to kansas v lien ia rederick reder lck was two years old where he was elected to the kansas state legislature and later elected and repeatedly re elected to congress young funston was educated in tola kan attended the university of kansas for two years and then went to work as a newspaper reporter first at fort smith ark and later on the kansas city journal during the eummer of 1890 he at tended a mass meeting in new york called to arouse sympathy for the cubans who were struggling to throw off the yoke of spain lunston became interested in the cause of cuban liberty and offered his services to the cuban junta after drilling recruits under its direction he joined a filibustering expedition and aided in delivering to general borocz the first kiss guns owned by the cuban two weeks later he was placed in charge of these guns as captain of artillery during bis IS months in cuba fun eton took part in 22 engagements and EO fearful was the execution wrought by his guns five pieces including a pneumatic dynamite gun the first ever used in battle that the spaniards beet a price upon his head at the battle of samal his lungs were pierced by a mauser bullet and while he was re covering from bis wound his hip v as injured by his horse failing upon it during a cavalry charge this wag followed by an attack of fever and with his health broken at tempted to reach the coast and escape to the united states lie was arrested by the spaniards but succeeded in them that he was a deserter from the cuban army after swallowing the passport which would have betrayed him and although they at first sentenced him to a firing squad and a stone wall he finally freed and sent to the united states this was tn 1800 and the next few years funston spent on the lecture platform at the outbreak of the amer lean war tie organized the twentieth kansas volunteers a regiment similar to th rough riders of which he was made a colonel his was or tiered to the philippines and in io vember he joined gen wesley merritt at manila and aided in the capture of the capital it Is at this point that aguinaldo Agul naldo comes into the picture the early life and ancestry of this leader Is cloaked in mastery lie Is said to have much spanish blood in his veins froni which came ills intelligence his courage his military ability and his political acumen when in august 1898 he declared himself president of the revolutionary lutio nary government of the philip pines and general in chief of its army he called himself don emillo agul naldo y famy lie was even then dreaming of independence for his na alve land after the americans had defeated the bated spaniard and these dreams led to the insurrection against the new masters of the islands almost from the beginning of the insurrection funston had been in the field against aguinaldo Agul naldo s followers ills strict discipline had not made him especially popular with his soldiers but after the affair at marilao river in april 1809 he had their unbounded respect there he found the bridge across the river destroyed and a strong force of Insurrect os on the other side to resist a crossing by the americans selecting 20 of those who volunteered to accompany him fun eton fro am the river drove the enemy back and took 80 prisoners A few daas later with only 45 men he crossed alie rio grande at calumpit on a raft and after a desperate fight drove 2500 of the enemy from an in trenched position for this feat he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers throughout 1809 and 1900 there was constant fighting but always the lead er of the Insurrect os eluded capture sometime during 1000 he seemed to have dropped out of sight entirely but in january 1901 from ills hiding place in the province of rs abela aguinaldo Agul naldo ecat oat a letter denouncing the sub chiefs who had taken the oath of at lectance leg tance to the united states and or dered certain insurgent forces in southern luzon to join him at the rendezvous in isabela I 1 he messen ger entrusted alth this letter dered to an american in february lebr uary and upon securing the in formation BO long desired general funston determined upon a daring plan for capturing aguinaldo Agul naldo going to manila to lay hs plans before his superiors generals macarthur and he finally gained their con sent to the attempt taking with him caits 11 W newton and russel T hazzard I 1 heuts oliver P M biaz zard and burton J matchell Ml and a company of SO Maca bebes who spoke the languages he was landed on a beach south of Casl guran in the province of principe on march 13 1001 messenger and taft AIa cabebe scouts were to pass themselves oft as a detachment 0 insurgent Taga logs who had captured the five americans and were taking them as prisoners to the alon of bunston and his companions was a dangerous one everything depended upon the of the Ma cabebe should they turn traitor to the americans it meant certain death but they remained faithful and after a fatiguing and dangerous march of seven dais and nights the party reached a point eight miles from calanan Pa lanan aguinaldo s hiding place A message stamped with th seal of general lacuna an aguinaldo Agul naldo supporter which had been found among the papers handed over by the insurgent leaders messenger was sent for ward to aguinaldo and a prompt response was received welcoming the party the americans and their fake Taga logs hastened forward funston himself was not present at the actual capture that he entrusted to a span lard lazaro segovia and a detachment 0 the scouts the story as funston told it later follows running up the bank toward the house we were met by segovia who came running out his face aglow with exultation and his clothes spattered with the blood of the men he had wounded lie called out in spanish it Is all right we have him we hastened into the house and I 1 introduced myself to aguinaldo telling him that we were officers of the american army that the men with us were our troops and not his and that he was a prisoner of war lie was given as that he need fear no bad treatment he said in a dazed sort of way Is this not some jokey I 1 assured him that it was not though as a matter of fact it was a pretty bad one on him while naturally aal bated his bearing was dignified and in this moment of his fall there was nothing of the craven in after years aguinaldo was loud in his praise of funston for the audacity and skill of his plan saying that only by the stratagem used could he have been captured the news that aguinaldo was captured was flashed to the united states and was hailed with delight as the sign that the long end weary war against the insurgents was over at last president on march SO commissioned furston a brigadier general in the regular army and had it not been tor his untimely death in 1917 it 13 probable that he would have been commander in chief of the A E F when the united states entered the world war ills only part in that great conflict was to give his name to a training camp in kansas where thousands of men ed their training tor over by union |