| Show A a merican in mes ican dl adventurers by elmo scott watson 2 indian painter T THE HE early painters of american L indian life were all adventurous men but john mix stanley had more than his share of perils and narrow escapes from death stanley first became interested in indians in 1838 and went to port fort snelling minn to paint them during the next eight years he made frequent visits to picture the tribes of the southwest in 1846 he joined the famous march of general kearney and his dragoons from santa fe to san diego during which time he laid down his painters brush to take up a gun and fight in several engagements the next year stanley found more excitement awaiting him in the north nora he narrowly escaped being in the whitman massacre when that missionary his wife and 11 others were killed by the in eastern washington he had another close call when he returned to san francisco to take ship for new york via cape horn for he arrived just too late to go aboard that ship was lost at sea and was never heard of again in 1853 stanley was appointed artist to the expedition sent to explore a route for a pacific railroad from st paul to puget sound after a series of adventures with that expedition he returned to the east where he died in 1872 the last years of his life were saddened by the loss of more than paintings g s of indian life which he had spent 10 years in making and which were destroyed by a fire in the smithsonian institution in 1865 a Aguin aldos captor TN N 1901 america had a new nation al hero a little man with a slight limp with a vandyke beard and a sense of humor that bubbled in him like the effervescence of wine his name was frederick funston former student at the university of kansas newspaper reporter and member of a filibustering expedition to deliver to cuban revolutionists five hotchkiss guns for use against the spanish he was made a captain of artillery and in 18 months fought in 22 engagements then the spanish put a price on his head and he barely managed to escape and return to the united states at the outbreak of the spanish american war funston raised a regiment of kansas volunteers and was made its colonel he was sent to the philippines and aided in the capture of manila in august 1898 emilio aguinaldo started an insurrection against the new masters of the is islands ands and for the next three years led american soldiers and their native auxiliaries a merry chase finally he was located in southern luzon and funston by now a brigadier general of volunteers formed a daring plan to capture him taking two captains and two lieutenants funston led a party of 80 Ma cabebe scouts toward agui baldos hiding place they were to pass themselves off as a detachment of insurgent Taga logs who had captured these five americans and were bringing them to aguinaldo it was a risky business for everything depended upon the faithfulness of the Maca bebes but they played their part to perfection and the american captives were delivered to aguinaldo then they revealed their identity and calmly informed aguinaldo that he was their prisoner 0 western newspaper union |
