THE HONGKONG Telegraph, Thursday, SeptemBER 22, 1938,
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Personalities of Old Hongkong
Lieutenant-General
AN interest in things Chinese
led to a little hump-backed foreigner becoming a high-
nking offleer in the Chinese Imperial
He Lieutenant-General Ilomer Les,
Army.
A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD. Hongkong Hotel born in Denver, Colorado,
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The
Hongkong Telegraph.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1938.
are flashed to another autpost
WAH
Homer Lea
BY
T. PAUL
GREGORY.
ments
Loads Chinese Army
ever
the his
und
1908
had succeeded TSZ a milllary work in two trance,
relief
and
one. The res
43
British
to
It
Len whe appointed commander of the 2nd Army Division and by 1904, had risen to the rank of Lieutenant General. The fighting while san- tiny did not produce any concrete results, and the news of Kuang Hsu'n After the collapse of the
death 1908, ended for- an American adventurer, who,
any hopes of Boxer movement, Len stayed on speedily diminishing power of the in the Far East, and his erst monarchy, Len, therefore, decided PRE WAX during the first decade of the
while patron
to Kang
return home Yu-wei
"cash in" on the present century played an im-
having arriving in the Colony, He now took to the pen, and
benent of his Oriental experience.
d int portant part in the history of
he came here to consult with published a Chinese nov
novel entitled Chinn, He was, morcover, a
him. As Fate would have "The Vermillion Pencil." This was familiar figure here, and while
it, a new possibility of mill- speedily followed by a
drama called tary service arose for him. "Crimson Spider," and later
ter by Hongkong could not be said to
The Empress Dowager,
remarkable Valor, of Hsi have been his abode for any
volumes. in in de this book, Lea advanced the idea great length of time, neverthe-
that posing the Emperor, Kuang Hsu, unless the United States embark less, he always gravitated back
and there was a patriotic move-ed on a large scale scheme of nationak ment afoot to restore him to the come the victim of an Asiatlea
preparedness she was doomed to be- to the Colony, and his sojourn here was fairly consistent.
Throne. The plan which was sor, and he named
09 the naturally Lieut. General Homer Lea was enthusiasm and military ardour formulated in Hongkong was possible
that Len organise
furore, a body enough created a
and al- on of the American public which of troops
though it was distinguished, as were undertake the rest of his literary efforts, by November 17, 1876. He was was then glorying in the ex- the
of the dis- erudity and extravagance of style, it the son of Alfred Erskine and ploits of Lieut. Colonel The tressed Emperor. He accord- was marked by undoubted sincerity. Hersa (Coberly) Lea, both des- odore "Teddy” Roosevelt and ingly proceeded to North China, In Japan, it was hailed as a master- piece, and strange to say the trans- ceudants of English emigrants his gallant band of
"Rough- and was a leading participant in lated version went through twenty- an attempt which, however, four edillons in less than one month. who had established themselves riders."
proved unsuccessful. In 1901, in Virginia during Cavalier He now conceived the rather he returned to the United States. his belief that there were lament- His slay in Hongkong stimulated times. Lea, from his earliest extravagant idea of carving and most impressionable years out a military carcer
It was then thought that if able signs of weakness in in the the reform movement was to auc- "expose" them in hala next work
policy, and ho proceeded dreamed of the profession of Orient. At least, all his ceed, the Emperor must be entitled "The Day of the Saxon." arms- vocation incidentally endeavours from now on restored to his rightful position Lea
Was radically opposed which seemed singularly in- seemed to be concentrated on on the Dragon Throne, and nations, and thought that if the Brl- any idea of a commonwealth of appropriate to one of his physi. the one thought that they would that the Empress Dowager and tinh Empire wished to remain strong prove useful to him later on in her clique must be dispossessed it must emphasise contralisation of cal handicap and short stature China. He began to haunt the of their power if China was to Government (he was only five foot three); Chinese
fundamental faundries and chop- continue as a nation. Such was from this would likely prove danger-
policy, and warned that THE CONQUEST OF
uny trend but like most enthusiasts he toy- suey restaurants in the China- the opinion of most
from Chinese ous. MALARIA
et with the idea and determined towns along the Pacific coast, liberals of the day, and the sub- Lea now became acquainted with to bring his visions of martial and the genial proprietors of sequent events proved that they Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and soon became Malarin threatens the native splendour into practical reality.
these Oriental business establish- were largely right. Much of
his adviser and right-hand-man, He accompanied the "Father exceptionally the blame for the chaos of Chinese Republie to Nanking and proved
of the population of a great copper The surge of patriotic fervour obliging in teaching the young the country in later years was was with him in 1911, when the mining district in Northern which swept the country at the American the rudiments of Can- to be laid directly to the reac- visional government was formed and
pro Rhodesia and urgent messages outbreak of the war with Spain tonese. In fact, so apt a stu- tionary movements fostered by ever, was not fated to get on
Sun elected President. Len, how
on well in 1898, affected him as it did dent did Lea prove that he this strong-willed woman who with the
great Itevolutionary. T+ thousands of other youths, and was soon fairly conversant with had seized the reins of govern-
might
have been his Increasing of the Colonial Empire for he did his best to impress the Cantonese colloquial. Indeed, so ment from the hands of the ill-health that brought about their assistance. It is a striking tri- various
much so that the leaders of the effete but still liberal-minded United States shortly thereafter. His separation; for he returned to the recruiting sergeants San Francisco Chinatown were Emperor. To the end of restor- success as an author did not appear bule to the work done
in with the fact that he was fit favourably impressed. He was ing Kuang Hsu to the Throne, very heartening; for after the sensa Hongkong by Dr. R. B. Jackson, to serve. One hard-boiled Non- fortunate, too, in meeting Kang Lea was conimanded to start tionalism of his books' first appear- O.B.E-for it he received re-com told him: "Uncle Sam will Yu-wei, the head of the Chinese training Chinese volunteers in ance had subsided, they did not sell,
and Association, the San Francisco Chinatown consequently, cognition from His Majesty the use you when you have out- Empire Reform
his Income from thiy source grown your hump?" This was
then in the United and many of these Cantonese re-
was practically existent.
Jll-health and King in the last Birthday
like a douche of cold water to States on a propaganda mission cruits subsequently returned penury now seemed to dog him, and
himt Honours-that he should be the hopes of the twenty-two- among his compatriots. Kang with
to China
although he made the recoup his declining fortunes by pen-
a herole attempt to was especially delighted with next year, when a more formid- ning another book. approached by the Secretary of year-old would-be recruit, and Lex, and upon learning that he able attempt was made to defeat the Political Development of China," History of State for the Colonies and he determined to learn Civil possessed some military know the troops of the Empress in Los Angeles, California ats
he died before it could be finished, asked to undertake a new anti-Engiucering instead. He ac- ledge immediately took him Dowager in battle.
carly age of thirty-six years. malarial campaign in the heart cordingly entered Occidental under his patronage.
College in Los Angeles with that Served In Boxer Riots The story of the ravages of halls of learning was symptoma- end in view, but his stay in, the
Conditions in China were now A. Minimus and A. Jeyporicnsia tic of the restlessness of his in such a chaotic state owing to in Hongkong, and of the final spirit; for during the next year the Boxer trouble that Kang IVING on an island is fun-not a,
felt his plans for conquest of these two vampire or so
Far more important, It accms, that reform palm-fringed South Sea paradise, the pets should be got heme dry he was registered as a must be temporarily shelved. but a mountainous, West of Scotland and the coal boat should be in to Fladies of the mosquito work by student in two more Californian Whether it was through Kang's island, with a population of croftera morrow.
Dr. Jackson and his able col-colleges--the University of the advice or due to his own initia- and a climate that can be both ap-
Weather plays an important part leagues of the Malaria Burcau, Pacific and Leland Stanford tive we do not know, but any pulling and sublime.
in the lives of the Islanders. There way Lea determined to go out
are days when the chief tople of con- is a story that started almost at Palo Alto.
to China immediately. Upon ing one
There, with miles of sea separat-versution is whether the sea is suf- from the mainland, one fletently rough to prevent the boat founding of this Militarism His Hobby his arrival in Hongkong early in finds content and a glorious feeling from crossing with the malls; there
July, 1899, he stayed here for In the meantime, he was not sometime apparently studying Barrie-like about island life.
of security. There
are nights when the wind is a hur- Is something
ricane, and then the talk is all of days Hongkong shared with the neglecting his lofty apirations to the political situation in Canton. these
In stacks blown down and hen-houses sweltering
Im- upset. fever-ridden follow a military carcer. and
In Meanwhile, in August, 1900, amersed in their own doings, one has coast of Guinen the sobriquet of fact, it possessed him more than foreign relief expedition to Pe- the feeling that the people are apart, prese
Islanders are happy folk, well king had been formed, and Lea that the perplexities of the world, Parties are numerous, visiting is un in all the courtesies. "White Man's Grave". and ever. His lack
of interest in who had been turned down at with rumours of war and dictatorial institution, and concerts are meet- malaria was known throughout sports perhaps accounted for his Home succeeded in joining as a rumblings,
offeeting-places with Invariably a cup of the Far East as "Hongkong Hingular stevotion to what now soldier.
tea served in the middle of the pre- became with him a hobby-the
ceedings. Fever". Four years after the first British flag was, holsted on military science by drilling the acquirement of a knowledge of the barren slopes of the Peak, most motely group of freaks General D'Aguilar, whose name and mis-fits that could be found is commemorated to-day in anywhere. Somehow or other. street and a cape, declared that Lea managed to get together to retain the Colony would about a thousand men-practi- "require the loss of a whole re-cally all more physically infirm than himself-with the strange giment every three years." Be-
idea of forming a cavalry regi- tween June
and September, ment, and with himself, of 1844, more than one hundrod course, as commander-in-chief. men of the 55th Regiment died of malaria alone; to-day the old tombstones at Wanchai and Stanley bear mite testimony to the ravages of the disenso.
of
S. Moutrie & Co., Ltd. unturial frien
York Building
Chater Road.
with the
Music hath charms colony in 1841. In its early
Sunday Classical Concert
at Repulse Bay Hotel Under leadership of
Gea, Pio-Ulski
Programme for Sunday, 25, Sept., 1938. 1 p.m.2.30 p.m. PROGRAMME
1. Le Barbler de Seville, Ouverture.. Rossini. Brunette or Blonde. Waltz..Waldteufel,
2.
3. Rapsodle, Andalouse
4.
Faust. Selection
.Ross.
..Gounod.
B. Je me souviens de Naples ...Boninconto.
0, Was Blumen Tracumen ...Translateur.
7. London Again
For Reservations
phone 27775.
REPULSE
BAY
HOTEL
.Coates.
The enthusiasm which swept this singular corps was most remarkable, and while it did not last long. Lea at any rate, was ascute enough to profit by pop- Even in the early decades of valuable military training for ular ebullience in order to gain this century Hongkong was himself. The success of this hot-bed of body-racking, teeth-venture was, of course, directly rattling fever, and not until the attributum the tremendous appointment of Dr. Jackson in
|April, 1930, was anti-malarial
work tackled on a 'comprehen-disappeared from the central sive scule. To-day, thanks to districts of Victorin and Kow- the achievements of this re-loon, and the work of clearing markable malariologist and his rural districts of the scourge is colleagues, the disease from 80. far advanced that the Colony
THE HONGKONG & SHANGHAI HOTELS, LTD. which Hongkong derived its re-need no longer fear the Vectora
doooooooor (putation of unhealthiness has of Paludism,
who was
them.
GRIN AND BEAR IT
YOUR TORTUME TOLD WITH EVERY 751 DINNER,
In
Gefact
ISLAND LIFE
Hitle communities, Ꭶ .
cannot possibly
By Lichty
I'll have an extra dessert instead of my fortune!"
non-
the
summer's
Go to a dance on evening in a vilinge hall, where the music is that of an accordion. It. may not be so dignified as the form-· nl invitation ball, but, given a simple heart, you will be happier there.
Wander out by the sea, watch the twinking lights of the fishing boats,. listen to the ery of the seagulls, und Romance is yours. Then home, over rough roads, the scent of honeysuckle in the air and the eyes of the sheep glistening strangely in the lights of the car.
Old customs linger long in the is Tands.
Fast Days are still observed, precentors..can be seen with their tuning forks in many of the little kirks, while the celebration of the New Year is an arduous affair that extends lang into the month.
Time is not the stern muster it is to the townsman. Wants are simple here, the desire for wealth is not. prevalent, even if the poor Boll would allow it. There is always. time for a crack with a passer-by.
There may not be a picture-house, but acting in the plays for the drama festival
more thrilling than watching synthetic beauties being languorously unite-like.
im could beat the beauty of a sun- And no set as seen from our own Western Islands.
Year after year holidaymakers re- turn, drawn by an irresistible fas cination. And now, with all this talk of air raid precautions, may they not prove more desirable than over?