Lawrence M. Kaplan Homer Lea: American Soldier of Fortune. The University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, Kentucky, pp. 314 pp. 2010, 1912, 1905
[p. 75] The Imperial Reform Army (CIA)
Liang Ch'i-ch'ao's visit to Los Angeles [offered Lea an opportunity] to establish his own plans, recruiting and training cadets for the reformation movement in China. Late in 1903, George W. West, civil engineer and West Point drop-out was engaged as the chief drill instructor. With roughly the same number of recruits in San Francisco as Los Angeles, in a ceremony held in the Pao Huang Hall, West was installed as captain and drill instructor in the reform army and California National Guard Captain Frank C. Prescott Jr. as the first lieutenant and assistant instructor.
On May 20, Lea added West's friend Floyd G. Dessery, a civil engineer and future business partner of West's, who had served as an army private in the Phillippines during the Spanish-American War.
[p. 78] ". . . The establishment of his first cadet company also marked a change in Lea's attitude. His days as a young, impetuous adventurer seeking glory on far-off battlefields, seemed far removed from his present position within the Pao Huang Hsi. He no longer boasted of single-handedly saving China from the dowager Empress. He was proving himself to be a skillful manager and strategist.
. . .
[p. 79] In the summer of 1904, West resigned his reform army commission and left Los Angeles . . . Lea's friend Dr. A.J. Scott knew about the cadet training and happened to be in contact with former cavalry sergeant Ansel O'Banion . . .
He became a captain in the reform army at a ceremonial banquet at the Pao Huang Hui "Armory" in Chinatown.
"O'Banion established an excellent working rapport with Lea and the cadets and soon proved to be a valued officer and first-rate drill instructor. When Lea decided to expand the training program, which necessitated O'Banion being seen around Chinatown more often, O'Banion agreed to open a commercial business, a hay and feed market, in Chinatown as a suitable cover. As an added measure of security the reform leadership eventually successfully petitioned the City of Los Angeles to appoint O'Banion as a special deputy sheriff to help protect Chinatown. The ploy worked; no one outside of the Chinese community suspected O'Banion's secret intentions in Chinatown. These precautions provided him with a profitable daytime business and afforded him the accessibility to Chinatown and the cadets that his covert services required."
. . .
[p. 80] [Lea] recruited several senior militia officers. For example, Lieutenant Colonel William G. Schreiber of Los Angeles, the assistant adjutant general of the First Brigade, California National Guard, served as the adjutant general of the blossoming CIA. He had responsibility for composing the various general regulations governing Lea's army. Thomas A. Nerney of San Francisco, the former commander of the Naval Militia of California, served as the CIA supply officer . . .
. . . To protect against accusations of violating neutrality statutes, he found a loophole in the law. With the help of his friend and attorney John M. York (Judge Waldo M. York's son), on November 28, 1904, he obtained a charter from the State of California to operate a private school called the Western Military Academy. It served as a legal facade and as model; Lea envisioned branches of the academy opening in different cities . . .
"Lea next arranged for a reputable board of directors. Five prominent Los Angeles civic leaders-G.G. Johnson, president of the Board of Trade; Roger S. Page, an attorney and high school friend of Lea; and bankers, Archibald C. Way, Newman Essick, and John Altoon . . .
[p. 82] . . . the academy was part of a larger conspiracy to train a covert Chinese military force. Over the course of the new year, branches opened across the country.
[p. 83] When Lea and O'Banion decided their Chinatown armory was too small for all their training needs, Lea rented supplementary outdoor properties in the small town of Hollywood . . . There, the cadets could occasionally be seen training on some relatively flat ground north of Norton Avenue, just below Sunset Boulevard, or on some hilly land on the corner of Vermont Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.
. . . Since many Californians treated Chinese with contempt and discrimination, Lea determined to preserve the school's credibility as a cover and orchestrated a public relations campaign. He planned to quiet the cynics and skeptics by having his cadet company participate in the upcoming Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. Lea had Roger Page seek legal actions in order to carry arms in the parade.
. . .
[p. 94] The Tournament of Roses Parade on January 2, 1905, marked the culmination of Lea's public relations campaign. Seventy-five thousand people crowded Pasadena's streets along the parades's line of march to watch the dazzle and glitter of the pageant. Lea viewed his cadets in the company of Envoy Wong Kai Kah, the Chinese imperial vice commissioner general to the St. Louis World's Fair . . . The Los Angeles Times reported: "Perhaps the most interesting among the marching clubs were Gen. Homer Lea's half a hundred Chinese soldiers from Los Angeles . . . They were very dangerous looking in their new uniforms and attracted much attention . . . They swung up the street like West Pointers, perfect alignment and cadence, rigid as German dragoons."
" . . .
[p. 87] The Falkenberg Comedy
". . .
[p. 95] . . . Homer Lea arranged meetings for K'ang Yu-wei with prominent people, which included a March 21 [1905] visit to Los Angeles mayor Owen McAleer.
The triumphs did not last long for K'ang Yu-wei and Lea. A few days later Richard Falkenberg brought on a storm of discontent and embarrassment to the reformers when he attempted to take command of all reform military training in America. Falkenberg's recent difficulties resulting from his recruiting practices had not dissuaded him from exercising his command perogative. With reform cadet companies being successfully organized nationwide, he believed the time was ripe to assume command of Lea's CIA. He relied on the help of Dr. T'an Shu-pin and Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Hotchkiss, Los Angeles society leaders and relatives of his wife, to help him.
. . .
"Falkenberg's scheme began taking shape when he arranged for Dr. T'an Shu-pin to visit Los Angeles and meet with K'ang Yu-wei, whom he had invited to be the guest of honor at a luncheon at the Hotchkiss home. Falkenberg did not plan to be present. The luncheon, given on March 22, was a ploy; Dr. T'an Shu-pin and Albert Hotchkiss, a prominent attorney with political and social connections, were to praise Falkenberg and arrange for his introduction to K'ang Yu-wei at a later gathering.
[p. 96] Meanwhile Falkenberg appeared in the San Francisco headquarters of the CIA announcing he was the Commander-in-chief of the reform army . . .
". . . On March 29, Lea and O'Banion read with disbelief a report in the Los Angeles Times that K'ang Yu-wei had apparently recognized Falkenberg as the reform army commander . . . Lea felt angry and betrayed as he read the details of a dinner given at the Hotchkiss home for K'ang Yu-wei and Falkenberg, during which K'ang Yu-wei upheld Liang Ch'i-ch'ao's commission.
[p. 97] The controversy had actually stemmed from an inaccurate paraphrase of K'ang Yu-wei's comments given by Albert Hotchkiss to the press. In realtiy, K'ang Yu-wei had never endorsed Falkenberg as Lea's replacement in command of the CIA . . .
[p. 98] "What is the Chinese Imperial Reform Army?"
Chew Kok Hean giggled and said very low, "There isn't any.
"Then those schools scattered over the county are all there is to the Chinese Imperial Reform Army? . . . "And Gen. Lea is in supreme command of those?"
"Yes."
After the reporter left K'ang Yu-wei's residence, Chou Kuo-hsien (Chew Kok Hean), telephoned Lea and O'Banion to come over immediately to confer with K'ang Yu-wei. When they arrived K'ang Yu-wei was still visibly disturbed over the reporter's questions concerning Falkenberg. Lea acted calm and surprised at K'ang Yu-wei's discontent. He did not accuse K'ang Yu-wei of treachery but patiently listened as K'ang Yu-wei expressed regret over the entire affair and claimed he had been misquoted and placed in a most embarrassing position.
Although K'ang Yu-wei reassured Lea and O'Banion of his continued support, they left the meeting suspicious and apprehensive. 'They still did not know much more about Falkenberg than before, or what arrangement he had with K'ang Yu-wei and the reformers . . . [p. 99]
After the Times reporter left K'ang Yu-Wei's residence, he went to interview Falkenberg, who was staying at the Hotchkiss mansion. The reporter was satisfied with Chou Kuo-hsien's repudiation of Falkenberg and his Imperial Reform Army . . . Falkenberg told the reporter, "The fact is [Lea] is the head of those military schools. I have nothing to do with them . . ."
[p. 100] . . .
"While Falkenberg remained in Los Angeles contemplating his plans, the excitement and embarrassment of the affair began to take a toll on its participants. Albert Hotchkiss had been in ill health for several months, and the anxiety and strain provoked by the accusations of the previous few days were seen as contributing factors to the fatal stroke he suffered on April 1. K'ang Yu-wei and his entourage abruptly left Los Angeles for a few days . . .
". . . Lea and O'Banion did not trust Falkenberg, and still wanted to know more about him, his commission, and his connections with K'ang Yu-wei . . . they decided to take matters into their own hands. William Sager, an employee of the National Creditors' Association and an acquaintance of Lea and O'Banion, apparently offered to help them gather information about Falkenberg. Since Sager was not connected with the reformers or their cadets, their plan called for him to approach Falkenberg as a spy, gain his confidence, and find out all he could. Little did they suspect that Sager . . . planned to exploit both parties for his own personal profit. Whether he was an experienced confidence man or a newcomer [p. 101] to the profession. Sager attempted to extort money from Falkenberg in return for secrets about Lea and the promise of favorable press coverage.
On the afternoon of April 6 a mysterious phone caller threatened Falkenberg with injury unless he paid the caller an undisclosed sum of money. The caller warned that he controlled the newspapers and could have them support or oppose Falkenberg in his controversy over the reform army. Falkenberg made an appointment to meet the extortionist alone at a public place, but the extortionist failed to keep the meeting when he saw that Falkenberg came accompanied by a friend. Later that day, Sager went to see Falkenberg at the Hotchkiss house and said he represented another man who could reveal a multitude of secrets about Lea and his army. He tried to blackmail Falkenberg for $5,000 by threatening to unleash a crusade that would drive him from the city if he did not pay. When Falkenberg responded he did not have that much money with him, Sager left, saying he needed to meet with his accomplice to arrange a meeting the next morning, but would telephone Falkenberg in a few minutes with details of the meeting. At this point, Falkenberg decided to try to lure the blackmailers into a trap. He telephoned the police and explained the situation, The police agreed to send an officer over right away. When Sager then telephoned Falkenberg, Falkenberg told him to come over with his accomplice to receive an immediate down payment of $800, Although Sager agreed to come with his accomplice, when they arrived at the house, the accomplice would not enter. Sager insisted that his accomplice, who did not wish to be seen, had instructed him to pick up the money.
In the meantime, the police officer had arrived and hidden in the doorway of the house waiting to catch the conspirators. When Sager repeated the proposition and demands for money, he was arrested and taken to the police station. There he confessed that his accomplice was none other than Captain O'Banion of Lea's army. At once officers were dispatched to find O'Banion; not long afterward, the police escorted him from the cadet armory in Chinatown to the police station and confronted him with Sager's story. O'Banion admitted that he was the man outside Falkenberg's house, but denied any complicity in Sager's blackmail attempt. He claimed that Lea had recruited Sager to meet with Falkenberg and discover his intentions regarding reform party affairs. When Lea was then called to the police station for questioning, he corroborated O'Banion's testimony and expressed amaze- [p. 102] ment at Sager's attempt to blackmail Falkenberg. Arriving at the truth of the situation was getting so difficult that the chief of police interviewed in the investigation to sort it out. In the end, however, the police could not establish anything conclusive against either Sager or O'Banion. Since no money had changed hands, the police decided to release both men . . .
[p. 103]
Notes: Chapter 5 The Imperial Reform Army
pp. 239 [pp. 80-83]
26. To Open up a Chinese School in the Windy City," La Crosse Tribune, Dec, 2, 1904, 7. On Wan Chew, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese language Chicago World . . . claimed to be an organizer of the Chicago cadet community and told a journalist that the company was part of an army expected to number five thousand that could eventually see service in China. He also explained that one of the Chicago company's goals was to provide athletic exercise to the merchants of our race . . .
pp. 240 [pp. 83-88]
35. "Flags and Flowers, Throngs and Glory." The Los Angeles Herald described the cadets' participation as the "crowning feature of the parade" but mistakenly identifies them as Japanese. See "Rose Festival Draws Thousands," Los Angeles Herald, January 3, 1905.
Notes: Chapter 6. The Falkenberg Comedy
4. For references to ranks and positions of Falkenberg, Parmentier, and English. Fernand Parmentier, Loved Soldier Slain by Turk, Los Angeles Times, January 25, 1916. English, a real estate dealer, also was commander of the local Grand Army of the Republic Civil War veteran's organization and a brigadier general in the state's Union Veteran's Union. For English's prior affiliation with Falkenberg, see R.A. Falkenberg to President McKinley, April 24, 1899.
7. . . . "Chinese Imperial Reform Army a Myth," San Francisco Chronicle, April 11, 1904, 3.
16. Publicity surrounding Falkenberg's CIRA spread throughout 1905 among members of the U.S. Army, state national guards and other American military organizations, whose members wrote U.S. counsuls in China seeking to join a soon-to-be-formed CIRA. The State Department advised the applicants to have nothing to do with "any such scheme."
28. . . . In 1905 Lea was traveling with K'ang Yu-wei . . . staunch Pao Huang Hui supporters and they reach Los Angeles round the middle of March. Among Lea's guests were, March 16, Judge Waldo M. York, Colonel C.M. Moses, Colonel W.J. Fife, Harrison Gray Otis, newsmen Jack London, Harry Carr and Charles Van Loan, and Chamber of Commerce repesentatives John Alton, G.G. Johnson, Archibald C. Wray, and Newman Essick.
29. . . . See also "Col. Hotchkiss Dead," Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1905, 1:6.
34. The dinner was held Monday evening, March 27, and included Mr. and Mrs. Hotchkiss, K'ang Yu-Wei, Chou Kuo-hsien, General and Mrs. Falkenberg, Lieutenant General Parmentier, and Miss Daisy Daugherty (Mrs. Falkenberg's niece), among other ladies. See "Distinguished Guests Dined," Los Angeles Times, March 29, 1905, 2:10 and Grace Grundy, "Social Diary and Gossip," Los Angeles Herald, March 28, 1905, 6.
. . .
46. "Kong Cables to Find Out," Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1905, 1:7 reported that Falkenberg made Hotchkiss a brigadier general in his army, and on March 30, Hotchkiss "had been taken to his bed sick, as a result of the unkind aspirations cast upon his triumphant banquet to the rampant leader of his army." See also, Col. Hotchkiss Dead,"; "Pioneer Lawyer Called by Death," Los Angeles Herald, April 2, 1905, 2:9 General Falkenberg was among the pallbearers at the Hotchkiss funeral; see "Notables Bear Remains of Hotchkiss to Grave," Los Angeles Examiner, April 6, 1905, 3; "Excellency" Shakes Dust," Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1905, 2:12.
Chapter 7. Resourceful Schemer [p. 244 pp. 98-106]
Chapter 8. The Quill and the Sword [p. 252, 130-131]
4. After Sun Yat-Sen consolidated and reorganized his party into the Tung Meng Hui in the summer of 1905, his organization seriously began to challenge K'and Yu-wei and the reformers. The growing momentum of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary party and the serious financial reverses suffered by the Reformers' Commercial Corporation ultimately signalled the decline and eventual eclipse of the Pao Huyang Hui . . .
7. . . . In early January 1915 O'Banion was tried and convicted of smuggling Chinese and sentenced to eighteen months in the federal prison at McNeil's Island, California.
10. See Homer Lea, preface to The Valor of Ignorance. Lea states he completed the partial draft subsequent to the signing of the Portsmouth Treaty (September 1905).