Lawrence M. Kaplan Homer Lea: American Soldier of Fortune. The University Press of Kentucky: Lexington, Kentucky, 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 Philippines 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 statues, 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], Chapter 6 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 prerogative. 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.
[It should be noted here that Albert and Mary Hotchkiss bought and moved into what had been known as the Rose Mansion on Old Bunker Hill in 1903.]
. . .
"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 [of Falkenberg.]
[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 reality, 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 had 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] meant 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 states' Union Veterans' 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. counsels 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 Leas'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 representatives 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.
7. Resourceful Schemer [p. 244 pp. 98-106]
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's Commercial Corporation ultimately signaled 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).
[p. 182]Chapter 10 Final Crusade
[p. 183] . . . In early February 1912, after the Manchus finally announced their intention to abdicate, Sun Yat-sen prepared to hand the reins of the new republic over to Yuan Shih-k'sh, as he had promised earlier. Sun Yat-sen would still hold a post in the republican government, but Lea would be removed from the limelight and center of power that he had waited so long to be near.
. . .
". . . [Lea] suddenly collapsed from a stroke on February 11 [1912], three days before Sun Yat-sen resigned from the presidency. . . . [p. 183]
Initially Lea was not expected to live. The physician called in to treat him, Dr. Urbanek, a neighbor, diagnosed the cause of the stroke as a blood clot on the brain. Lea's diabetic condition very likely contributed to the stroke. He remained in a deep coma for three days, and his condition worsened. Dr. Henri Fresson, a French physician and surgeon working in Shanghai, rushed to Nanking on a special train to help care for him. Lea eventually regained consciousness, but was left completely paralyzed on the left side of his body. His vision also was severely impaired. As he showed signs of improvement, Dr. Urbanek's prognosis turned optimistic, especially since Ethel's careful nursing appeared to help. Dr. Urbanek, aware of Lea's controversial reputation, observed, "There are no symptoms of any great defect in intellect, though the patient has many maniacal ideas, but all of them are to a person acquainted with the extremely imaginative mind of General Homer Lea, easily explainable."
Lea's doctors believed he would be better off returning to California for his recuperation. When he was well enough to begin the long journey back home, he and Ethel traveled to Shanghai, where on April 12 they departed for San Francisco on the Japanese ship Shinyo Maru. When the ship stopped at Japanese ports, delegations were on hand to greet and welcome Lea. Ethel, meanwhile, made arrangements to keep their impending arrival in San Francisco secret to avoid the unnecessary excitement of reporters and welcoming delegations. Lea was still in no condition to receive either. He was confined to a wheelchair, almost blind, and had no desire to explain his Chinese adventures to inquiring crowds. The ship arrived in San Francisco on May 6 with little fanfare.
Lea and Ethel took up residence at a small Santa Monica cottage overlooking the ocean, at 135 South Wadsworth Avenue, for his recuperation. At first he believed he was going to die and became especially concerned about Ethel's future. He contacted his old friend Marco Newmark for help. Newmark explained:
"A day or two after their arrival, Homer sent for me. I found him sitting in a wheelchair. He said to me, "I know, Marco, that I am going to die. I called you here for two reasons.
"Do you remember that time when you became engaged [p. 184] to be married. I told you you were a damn fool, that now you will have a family, that you will lead a monotonous life and be of no use to anybody? Well I wanted to say to you that I made a mistake.
"The second reason is that after I have gone I want you to keep in touch with Ethel and watch over her."
Ethel's devotion and support no doubt helped Lea alter his outlook on life and raise his spirits for recovery. He soon began looking forward to the day when he could smash his wheelchair and return to China. The atmosphere of China pervaded his cottage. It was furnished with Chinese decor and Lea entertained distinguished Chinese visitors along with his closest friends on a regular basis. His visitors also occasionally accompanied him along the waterfront in his wheelchair.
As he anxiously awaited the publication of The Day of the Saxon, he began dictating several literary projects to Ethel. His plans included writing a twelve-volume history of China, five books on governments of the world, and at least one romance novel. In one case, he began dictating a book on China, but later became dissatisfied with it and tore it up. He commented: "I can do better a little later, and I will soon commence on the twelve volumes of history.
In The Day of the Saxon, published in June, Lea broadened his vision of doom and announced his intention to complete a third volume for a trilogy, but offered no details about it. In The Day of the Saxon he expressed his belief that the entire Anglo-Saxon race faced a threat from German (Teuton) and Russian (Slav) expansionism. He believed that while Russia moved against India, the Germans, operating under the inspiration of Bismarck, would strike at England, the center of the British empire. He thought the Anglo-Saxons faced certain disaster from their military opponents. Only a rejuvenation of the race could save the English-speaking peoples in the coming racial war. If they failed to do this, then, according to Lea, theirs would be the "fate of nations as they have laid themselves down to sleep throughout the ages . . . in all their glory and hope and vanity, only to awake at a predetermined hour to find themselves upon a savage dawn, stripped and desolate."
Lea had hoped that The Day of the Saxon would be his crowning work to date, but it was not received as well as The Valor of Ignorance had been, It lacked the immediate relevance to awaken interest in [p. 185] the American public. There were no plans or maps foretelling a German invasion on the Atlantic coast to grab the attention of Americans. Moreover, many reviewers agreed that Lea had simply gone too far with his dogmatic and pessimistic appraisals. The Japanese remained interested in Lea's writings, and at least one of Japan's largest booksellers later placed orders with Harper and Brothers for copies of the book. Even though it eventually went into a German translation, its popularity in Germany was not comparable to that of The Valor of Ignorance in Japan. If anything, it only added to the antagonisms and tensions that were already growing between Anglo-American and German interests.
Lea's prognosis brightened considerably after three months of recuperation. He began planning his return to China when his physicians expressed confidence that he would fully recover. On July 27 he wrote Sun Yat-sen of his intentions:
"I will be able to return to China about the middle of September and will again devote myself to whatever tasks you have for me there. This has been a very severe sickness but I now feel almost quite recovered."
On August 3 Lea granted his first interview since returning from China to Willard Huntington Wright, literary editor of the Los Angeles Times. Wright greatly admired Lea and had recently written a flattering review of The Day of the Saxon. Now he called Lea, "the greatest military strategist in America . . . one of the greatest men in America and one of the most remarkable minds of this decade." He also contributed to the growing mythology surrounding Lea, characterizing him as a man of mystery and "dominating power" behind the scenes in China.
In the interview Lea elaborated on his plans for a third volume to complete a trilogy with The Valor of Ignorance and The Day of the Saxon. In the new book he wanted to advance his social Darwinist beliefs by discussing the spread of democracy among nations. He explained: "The principle of democracy is the principle of weakness, of the disintegration of power; that is why the Saxon race is daily evolving into a race of weakness . . . My next book, the third of the trilogy will deal with this phase of government as it pertains to the interrelation of world powers."
[p. 186] Lea's plans to return to China coincided with a visit in mid-August from General Lan Tien Wei, one of the Chinese republican revolution's most distinguished commanders. General Lan Tien Wei had worked with Lea in China, and in the course of visiting Los Angeles called on him to pay his respects and thank him for his work on behalf of the revolution. They no doubt discussed Chinese affairs and Lea's intended return as Sun Yat-sen's advisor.
During Lea's recuperation, Ethel's son, Albert H. Powers, often wheeled Lea along the boardwalk at Santa Monica Beach, where they enjoyed fishing from the pier. Occasionally the inquisitive onlookers stopped to talk. but Lea had little patience with their questions. Albert recalled:
"Every day that I wheeled the general down the beach in Santa Monica, one or two people stopped us to ask various foolish questions of his experiences in China. Most of these questions were about the manner in which he became paralyzed. As these questions annoyed him his answers were short and they generally put an end to the conversation."
One day a well-dressed man, about 25 years old asked, "How did you get hurt, General?'
The reply was, "Well it was this way. I was standing on a street corner, one day and a lady ran into me with a baby buggy and knocked me down. The shock paralyzed me in my left side."
The silence was oppressive for a few seconds and then the man walked away.
Another answer was, "A black cat jumped on me one day and scratched me on the face. Since then, I haven't been able to use my left arm or leg."
In October Lea appeared to have won his fight for survival. He was finally strong enough to walk and thought about working with Sun Yat-sen and returning to China. Although still in pain, he would not let that stand in his way. He confided to Van Loan: "Physical pain-that is a mere trifle when you are used to it. I cannot remember that I have ever passed a day in my life which was free from pain." He was guardedly optimistic about his health and wrote Belford: "This is now the tenth month of convalescence and for the first time heave [the word definite is crossed out] hopes of complete recovery although it may take some time yet." When Marshall Stimson dropped by for a visit on October 27 he found that "partly blind, and in a wheelchair, Lea still had something of his old fire. He . . . denounced commercialism and political corruption of the United States, the lack of wisdom in her leaders in failing to prepare for the great wars that Lea said were coming on and expressed his contempt for the softened, luxury and vice, of American living."
In the year since the revolution began Lea's reputation may have improved in China. The republican government reportedly accorded him a distinct honor by prominently displaying his picture at the inauguration of a hall of fame in Peking, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the October Revolution. Furthermore Sun Yat-sen wrote in mid-October that he hoped to meet Lea in Paris in about two months.
Unfortunately, Lea and Sun Yat-sen would never meet again. On October 27, after spending an evening entertaining some friends, Lea unexpectedly suffered another stroke, from which he did not recover. Ironically, during the evening entertainment he remarked to Ethel he was confident about soon returning to China. The Los Angeles Tribune reported on Lea's sudden decline: "Entertaining a party of writers and other friends . . . General Lea was unusually brilliant and seemed to enjoy the occasion thoroughly. He retired in good spirits but was stricken that night and could not rally."
Lea died at his cottage on November 1, 1912, shortly before 2:00 in the afternoon. Ethel, his sister Hersa, and Robert Belford were at his side. It was eleven days before hsi thirty-sixth birthday. When news of his death reached Chinatown in Los Angeles, the Chinese community immediately acknowledged its great loss. According to the Los Angeles Examiner:
"Within an hour after the news of General Lea's death had been received in Chinatown yesterday, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chinese-American League of Justice and Chinese Protective Association, three of the largest Chinese organizations in the United States, called a special meeting and adopted resolutions of regret, extending to General Lea's widow the condolences of the three societies. The resolutions, as translated, stated that General Lea had "devoted considerable of his life and energy to the cause of freeing China from the Manchu yoke, and that his death was a blow that would be deeply felt by the Chinese people throughout the world."
[p. 188] Lea's funeral, held on the afternoon of November 2, was private and quiet. He had expressed wishes that he be dressed in his general's uniform and that there be no ceremony of any kind. In the morning, his body, dressed in his uniform, lay in state at his cottage while friends called to pay their respects. Only his immediate family and more intimate friends attended the funeral. Ethel, Hersa, O'Banion, Newmark, Van Loan, Belford, and Isaac O. Levy, a high school friend, gathered at his cottage to bid him a final farewell. Newmark described the scene:
"He lay on a bed, clad, in the uniform of a lieutenant general of the Chinese army, his cherished swagger stick beside him.
"There was no service. Two men came in with a casket, placed in it the wasted little body that had been the home of so mighty a spirit and conveyed it to a crematory."
In the afternoon a hearse from the Breese Brothers funeral home, escorted by the funeral party, slowly drove Lea's body to the Rosedale Cemetery crematory in Los Angeles. The funeral party arrived at the crematory about 4:00 and attendants placed Lea's plain black casket, adorned with several simple wreaths, in the chapel. After the funeral party took seats in the chapel there was a moment of silence, some whispered consultation, and then the mourners left to return to Santa Monica. A Los Angeles Times reporter covering the event observed it was "impressive in the extreme from its absolute simplicity in the absence of any services or last rites."
. . .
[p. 209] . . . Filmmakers first became interested in Lea and his writings in the early 1920s. In 1922 Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa, a leading Hollywood film star and movie producer, adapted the Vermillion Pencil to the screen. The film, among several with Asian themes Hayakawa both starred in and produced in the 1920s received mixed reviews.
[p. 195] Charles Boothe-1908 Red Dragon co-conspirator
[p. 194] Harry Carr--LA Times Reporter; Homer Lea LA High School Friend
[p. 199] Mg Poon Chew-Jordan ally, pro-missionary, Chinese reformer, Manchu sympathizer
[p. 193] Edwin Janss-Land Developer; Homer Lea Los Angeles High School Friend,
[p. 195] Ermal Lea-Homer Lea's sister
p. 196, 199] Ethel Power Lea-Homer Lea's amanuensis, secretary and wife
[p. 194, 195] Homer Lea
[p. 196] Dr. Jordan, Stanford pacifist president, attacked Lea's militarism
[p. 195] Will Irwin-1901 San Francisco meeting with Home Lea,
[p. 196] J.P. Morgan-collector of Ming crackle ware
[p. 195] Marco Newmark-Homer Lea LA High School friend.
[p. 195] O'Banion-Homer Lea drill sergeant
[p. 195] Pao Wong Wei society-Supporting group of the legitimate Emperor
[p. 195] Albert Powers-Lea step-son,
[p. 195] Sun Yat-sen-
[p. 196] Marshall Stinson, Lea friend
[p. 196] Van Loan, perpetuated Home Lea myth, 1913
[p. 197] World Peace Foundation, Jordan's organization
[p. 197] Robert Young, editor, Japan Chronicle, Kobe, 1912, Lea critic, The Impudence of Charlatanism.