Homer Lea: American Soldier of Fortune

By Lawrence M. Kaplan

“The unlikely story of Lea’s attempts to train a cadre of soldiers in American Chinatowns who would return to their homeland to make it a modern world power.” —Pacific Historical Review

As a five-feet-three-inch hunchback who weighed about 100 pounds, Homer Lea (1876–1912), was an unlikely candidate for life on the battlefield, yet he became a world-renowned military hero. Homer Lea: American Soldier of Fortune paints a revealing portrait of a diminutive yet determined man who never earned his valor on the field of battle, but left an indelible mark on his times.

Lawrence M. Kaplan draws from extensive research to illuminate the life of a “man of mystery,” while also yielding a clearer understanding of the early twentieth-century Chinese underground reform and revolutionary movements. Lea’s career began in the inner circles of a powerful Chinese movement in San Francisco that led him to a generalship during the Boxer Rebellion. Fixated with commanding his own Chinese army, Lea’s inflated aspirations were almost always dashed by reality. Although he never achieved the leadership role for which he strived, he became a trusted advisor to revolutionary leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen during the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Manchu Dynasty.

As an author, Lea garnered fame for two books on geopolitics: The Valor of Ignorance, which examined weaknesses in the American defenses and included dire warnings of an impending Japanese-American war, and The Day of the Saxon, which predicted the decline of the British Empire. More than a character study, this biography provides insight into the establishment and execution of underground reform and revolutionary movements within US immigrant communities and in southern China, as well as early twentieth-century geopolitical thought.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9780813140018

Book preview

American Warriors

Throughout the nation's history, numerous men and women of all ranks and branches of the United States military have served their country with honor and distinction. During times of war and peace, there are individuals whose exemplary achievements embody the highest standards of the U.S. armed forces. The aim of the American Warriors series is to examine the unique historical contributions of these individuals, whose legacies serve as enduring examples for soldiers and citizens alike. The series will promote a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the U.S. armed forces.

Series editor: Roger Cirillo

An AUSA Book

HOMER LEA

American Soldier of Fortune

LAWRENCE M. KAPLAN

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY

Copyright © 2010 by The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,

serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.

All rights reserved.

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky

663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008

www.kentuckypress.com

Page iii: Lieutenant General Homer Lea, circa 1905 (Bookman, April 1908, 130); map, pp. vi–vii: Eastern Asia, 1911 (William Patten and J. E. Homans, The New Encyclopedic Atlas and Gazetteer of the World [New York: P. F. Collier and Son, 1911], 69).

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kaplan, Lawrence M. (Lawrence Martin), 1954–

Homer Lea : American soldier of fortune / Lawrence M. Kaplan.

p. cm.—(American warriors)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8131-2616-6 (hardcover: acid-free paper)

1. Lea, Homer, 1876–1912. 2. Soldiers of fortune—United States—Biography. 3. United States—Foreign relations—China. 4. China—Foreign relations—United States. 5. Sun, Yat-sen, 1866–1925. 6. China—History—1861–1912. 7. China—History—Revolution, 1911–1912. 8. Diplomats—United States—Biography. 9. Generals—China—Biography. 10. Authors, American—20th century—Biography. I. Title.

E748.L39K37 2010

951'.035092—dc22

[B]                                                              2010023314

This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Member of the Association of

American University Presses

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Charismatic Dreamer

2. In the Dragon's Lair

3. A Don Quixote in China

4. General without an Army

5. The Imperial Reform Army

6. The Falkenberg Comedy

7. Resourceful Schemer

8. The Quill and the Sword

9. The Red Dragon Plan

10. Final Crusade

Conclusion:

The Man and the Myth

Appendixes

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Illustrations follow page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research for this work initially began in the 1980s and would not have been possible without the support of a number of individuals and institutions. First and foremost, I wish to thank Joshua B. Powers. He provided me with invaluable insights about Homer Lea and Lea's wife, his mother, when I began my research, and his family graciously allowed me continuing access to his personal papers after his death. Mr. and Mrs. James D. Lea shared with me correspondence between Ermal Lea and Tom Lea Jr. that filled important gaps in the chronology of Lea's life. Dr. Robert G. Wilson supplied me with perceptions and information about Emma Wilson Lea. Dr. Charles E. Pirtle, formerly of Georgetown University, whose expertise in geopolitics has driven his own Homer Lea research, was very helpful in sharing research material I had either missed or not considered. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude, especially for putting me in touch with Mr. Brian Kates and Mrs. LaVonne Perkins. Mr. Kates allowed me access to his father's (Charles O. Kates) personal papers, which are critical to any serious Lea biography, and Mrs. Perkins offered helpful insights on researching Lea family history in Colorado. Mrs. Mabelle M. Selland and her daughter Ms. Julie Selland aided my research on Homer Lea's connection with the Fresno reform Chinese movement. Mabelle Selland also introduced me to Ms. Jane Leung Larson, who furnished me with translated letters from her grandfather, Dr. Tom Leung, about Homer Lea's involvement with the Chinese reform movement.

I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to the following institutions for their research assistance: Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; California State Archives, Sacramento; Chicago History Museum,; Colorado Historical Society, Denver; Denver Public Library; Fresno City and County Historical Society; Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin; Historical Center for Southeast New Mexico, Roswell; HoltAtherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California; Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University, Stanford, California; Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California; Jackson County Historical Society, Independence, Missouri; Kansas State University Library, Manhattan, Kansas; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; National Army Museum, London; Nevada State Library and Archives, Carson City; Occidental College, Los Angeles; Pentagon Library, Washington, D.C.; Public Record Office, Kew Richmond Surrey, United Kingdom; Riverside Cemetery, Denver; Stanford University Registrar, Stanford University, Stanford, California; and University of Iowa, University Libraries, Iowa City.

I could not have completed my research without the assistance of a number of able research assistants. I wish to thank Ms. Polly Armstrong, Special Collections, Stanford University; Mr. Noah Belikoff, independent researcher (Bancroft Library); Ms. Brooke Black, library assistant, Huntington Library; Mr. Ronald M. Bulatoff, archival specialist, Hoover Institution Archives; Ms. Nana Diederichs, Special Collections, University of Iowa Library; Mr. Christopher G. Driggs, archivist, Nevada State Library and Archives; Mr. Elvis E. Fleming, archivist, Historical Center for Southeast New Mexico; Ms. Pam Gorelow, associate production manager, Stanford Magazine; Mr. David Kessler, Bancroft Library; Ms. Margaret Kimball, Stanford Registrar Office; Ms. Linda Maguire, Pentagon Library; Mr. John Mills, Pentagon Library; Ms. Maria Ortiz, Fresno City and County Historical Society; Ms. Jean Paule, archivist, Occidental College; and Mr. Michael Wurtz, archivist, Holt-Atherton Special Collections. I also wish to thank my California cousin, Mrs. Pamela Sonnenblick, and her husband, Mr. Robert Sonnenblick, for copying newspaper microfilm articles from the Los Angeles Public Library and tracking down Ansel O'Banion's grave site; and my friends Mr. Brad Wartell and Ms. Christiane Wartell, the former for obtaining material from the Thomas Calloway Lea Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, and the latter for her research assistance at the Bancroft Library and the New York Public Library.

INTRODUCTION

Homer Lea's career was stranger than many stories found in romantic fiction. Lea, a five-foot, three-inch hunchback who suffered from debilitating health, overcame his afflictions in pursuing dreams and ambitions such as few achieve. He is best remembered as a somewhat mysterious adventurer, author, and geopolitical strategist who challenged conventional wisdom and confronted significant odds to create for himself a role in world politics. He began his adventures in 1900, after dropping out of Stanford University and going to China during the Boxer Rebellion, and ultimately became the trusted personal military advisor to Chinese revolutionary leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen during the 1911 Chinese republican revolution. In the interim he became a celebrated author and internationally recognized geopolitical strategist. In 1912, poised on the brink of fulfilling a Napoleonic destiny in China, his health gave out. He died later that year, shortly before his thirty-sixth birthday, but the actions of his short life left a profound imprint on the history of his era.

Lea became involved in Chinese affairs while attending Stanford University from 1897 to 1899. In San Francisco he joined a secret Chinese movement, the Pao Huang Hui (Protect the Emperor Society), which had been organized by K'ang Yu-wei, formerly a close advisor to Emperor Kwang-hsu. K'ang Yu-wei was behind the emperor's initiation of a series of liberal reforms in the late 1890s that led to a palace coup d'état by the conservative regent, Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi. She imprisoned the emperor and put a price on K'ang Yu-wei's head. K'ang Yu-wei then established the Pao Huang Hui to restore the emperor to power. Lea recognized a great opportunity for adventure with the Chinese and promoted himself among the reformers as a military expert, claiming to be a relative, which he was not, of the famous Confederate general Robert E. Lee. He dropped out of Stanford and in the summer of 1900 went to China, where he received a lieutenant general's commission in the nascent Pao Huang Hui army. His role entailed training Pao Huang Hui soldiers in Kwangtung and Kwangsi provinces just as China became embroiled in the Boxer Rebellion, although he himself took no part in the fighting. Ultimately, the Pao Huang Hui's military plans to restore the emperor to power failed, but Lea, a valued member of the movement, returned to the United States to continue his work to further Pao Huang Hui goals.

In 1904 Lea masterminded a plan to covertly train a cadre of Chinese soldiers in America. Under his guidance the Pao Huang Hui established a network of military schools, as a cover, in more than twenty cities nationwide. The intent was to have these soldiers return to China, infiltrate the imperial Chinese army, and then take part in a coordinated coup d'état to restore Emperor Kwang-hsu to his throne. Lea hired former U.S. Army soldiers as instructors and commissioned them in the Pao Huang Hui's army. He outfitted his soldiers in altered U.S. Army uniforms, simply replacing the national eagle on the buttons and cap with the imperial Chinese dragon. For himself, he wore an American lieutenant general's uniform, with the altered insignia, along with a modified U.S. Army officer's sword with a dragon handle. His covert training operation nearly collapsed in 1905 when the U.S. Secret Service and several states investigated it for possible violations of neutrality laws. He also fended off the ambitions of another American with ties to the Pao Huang Hui, an opportunist named Richard A. Falkenberg who sought to install himself as the head of the Chinese cadets. Lea's affiliation with the Pao Huang Hui ended by 1908, the year Emperor Kwang-hsu and the dowager empress died (within two days of each other); when they died, so did his commitment to bolstering up the Manchu dynasty.

Lea's next involvement in Chinese affairs brought him into contact with Dr. Sun Yat-sen, whose revolutionary movement was dedicated to the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. In 1910 Dr. Yung Wing, an eminent Chinese scholar and friend of Lea, arranged for Lea to join forces with Sun Yat-sen, who was in the United States on a fund-raising trip. Sun Yat-sen made Lea his military advisor and promised him an important military position in the Chinese army if his revolutionary movement succeeded. In addition to giving Sun Yatsen military advice, Lea offered to contact some influential businessmen who might be induced to provide needed financial backing to the revolutionary cause. Lea then helped organize a small covert group of Americans and Chinese, known as the Red Dragon conspiracy, for this purpose. The incentive for the businessmen was great. Sun Yatsen promised them virtual carte blanche in China's financial affairs if his revolution succeeded in toppling the Manchus. The Red Dragon conspirators believed they could raise enough money for a revolutionary movement that could succeed if it did not act hastily—Sun Yatsen had a succession of failed revolutionary uprisings behind him. As events unfolded, however, Sun Yat-sen's followers did act hastily. The Red Dragon conspirators dropped out of Sun Yat-sen's plans after an attempted revolutionary uprising, launched by Sun Yat-sen's followers, failed in March 1911.

Despite the financial setback, Lea remained a loyal and valued advisor to Sun Yat-sen. He became instrumental to Sun Yat-sen's success in October 1911. At that time Lea was honeymooning with his new wife, his former secretary, Ethel Powers, in Germany, where he was also being treated for his failing health. He received word from Sun Yat-sen, who was on a fund-raising trip in Colorado, that a new revolutionary attempt had finally succeeded. The days of the Manchu dynasty were numbered. Sun Yat-sen, however, did not travel immediately to China; instead, he cabled Lea for help. He hoped Lea could use his important contacts in Washington and London to try to arrange Western financial backing for a new Chinese republican government. He then met Lea in London, where they both tried to obtain British financial backing. When their efforts to secure such backing failed in Washington, London, and finally in Paris, Sun Yat-sen and the Leas sailed to China. The Western powers believed that General Yuan Shihk'ai, the leader of the imperial forces, would ultimately resolve China's problems: they had no faith in Sun Yat-sen.

Lea was nonetheless optimistic about his prospects for playing a key role in Chinese affairs as he sailed to China. He informed journalists at one of the ship's stops that he expected to be the chief of staff of the new Chinese republican army. He had already purchased several custom-made military uniforms in London. Furthermore, U.S. State Department representatives covering the progress of the trip reported that Sun Yat-sen, who was slated to become the first president of the new Chinese republic, did not make a move without first consulting Lea.

After Lea arrived in China in December 1911, his immediate expectations began to wane. Sun Yat-sen was elected president but resigned in favor of Yuan Shih-k'ai, in the hopes of unifying the new republic and avoiding a bloody civil war. Although Lea remained a close advisor to Sun Yat-sen, he was an unwelcome outsider in the eyes of other republican revolutionary leaders. They knew very little about him and had no place for him in their plans. Lea's failing health then brought an abrupt end to his involvement in Chinese affairs. In February 1912 he contracted influenza and complications resulted. He went into a weeklong coma from which he awoke blind and partially paralyzed. His doctors advised prolonged rest if he were to recover. He returned to California in his wife's care with hopes of someday rejoining Sun Yat-sen. He never recovered, however. He died in November 1912. His funeral was private and his remains were cremated.

Although Lea's will stipulated that he be buried in China, Ethel Lea felt she could not afford the trip and kept his ashes until her death in 1934, after which she also was cremated. Her son, Joshua B. Powers, finally fulfilled Lea's last wishes in 1969, when the Leas' ashes were received by President Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China and temporarily interred in a cemetery near Taipei. The interment was marked by a well-attended formal ceremony to honor General Homer Lea, American military advisor to Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Chiang Kai-shek envisioned that when the two Chinas were reunited, the Leas' ashes would be transferred to Nanking and interred next to Dr. Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum.

In his rise to prominence, Lea became an internationally known author and authority on military strategy. He first tried his hand as a novelist with The Vermilion Pencil: A Romance of China (1908), which received mixed reviews and has largely been forgotten. He then turned his talents to nonfiction. His second book, The Valor of Ignorance (1909), examined American defense and in part prophesied a war between America and Japan. It created a minor sensation at home and abroad and instantly elevated his reputation as a credible expert on defense issues and military strategy. Two retired U.S. Army generals, one a former army chief of staff, wrote glowing introductions to the book, which also contained a striking frontispiece photograph of Lea in his lieutenant general's uniform. The unsuspecting reader could easily have assumed Lea was a respected military officer. The book contained maps of a hypothetical Japanese invasion of the Philippines and was recommended reading for many American military officers, particularly those who served in the Philippines over the next generation. His final book, The Day of the Saxon (1912), examined British imperial defense and predicted the breakup of the British Empire. It, too, was controversial and received most of its critical attention in Europe.

In The Valor of Ignorance and The Day of the Saxon, Lea viewed American and British struggles for global competition and survival as the Anglo-Saxon aspect of a larger social Darwinist contest—the survival of the fittest—between the races. In the impending clash of races he believed was inevitable, his goal was to promote Anglo-Saxon interests. His affiliation with China figured prominently in his world-view. He ultimately sought to forge an alliance between the Anglo-Saxons and the Chinese in an effort to counterbalance other regional and global competitors.

Lea's writings on geopolitics and military strategy and his political predictions represent his most enduring legacy. After his death, his writings and predictions about the threat of Japanese imperialism and expansionism in Asia and the Pacific Ocean region helped shape the perceptions of many American civilian and military leaders concerned with national security challenges emanating from the Far East. For example, Japan's aggressive policies that led to the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo in the 1930s occurred along the lines he predicted. Furthermore, his predictions of an inevitable clash between Japan and the United States appeared vindicated by Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition there was a startling similarity between his hypothetical picture of a Japanese invasion of the Philippines and the actual events. Although Lea had not been the only writer to warn of a war between Japan and the United States, his predictions came closer to actual events than any of the others and soon established his reputation as an overlooked military genius and prophet.

To date, much of what has been known about Lea has been a mix of fact and fiction. For example, journalist Clare Boothe's lengthy introduction to the 1942 edition of The Valor of Ignorance highlighted the book's influence on General Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. military commander in the Philippines, and his staff, and helped elevate Lea to the status of military genius and prophet. Boothe's introduction, however, also unwittingly helped to foster and perpetuate the aura of mystery and myth surrounding Lea. Not unlike medieval monks who copied books verbatim, including their mistakes, Boothe drew on numerous accounts, some accurate and many not, from writers and acquaintances of Lea without discriminating between myth and reality. Boothe made the same mistake as many before her and many after her. The problem began during Lea's lifetime, when he was widely known as an international man of mystery, in part due to many exaggerated published accounts, rumors, and speculations about his exploits. He did little to set the record straight because the accounts helped advance his career without drawing undue attention to his illegal and covert activities. Furthermore, his papers were intentionally destroyed after his death to protect his former associates from possible legal prosecution. Separating the fact from the fiction of Lea's life became possible in the late 1960s, after the personal papers of Lea's associates surfaced and were made available to researchers. The evolution of the Internet in the 1990s provided access to additional resources previously unavailable through conventional research, and these have been invaluable in better piecing together Lea's career.

CHAPTER 1

CHARISMATIC DREAMER

An obstacle became a challenge, and I never knew him to feel defeated.

—Ermal Lea

Homer Lea learned early in life that he faced obstacles, challenges, and an uncertain future. Afflicted with a physically deformed body and an incurable medical disorder, he grew up in a world that normally would have destined him to the mundane existence of an invalid. His physical infirmities were compensated for, however, by a bright, clever mind and a steadfast determination. Knowing that he could find no happiness in submitting to fate, he took unusual risks and became committed to transcending the constraints of his body and his health.

Homer Lea's grandfather, Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea, possessed an adventurous spirit that he wielded in pursuit of accomplishment, attributes that molded his family's values. A Tennessee native born in 1807, he became a businessman, physician, and slave owner who embraced the challenges of settling the American frontier. In 1837 he helped establish the town of Cleveland in Bradley County, Tennessee, serving as one of its first appointed commissioners as well as one if its first merchants. Ten years later his ambitions led him to earn a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Searching for new opportunities, he and his family moved to Jackson County, Missouri, in 1849. There he practiced medicine, farmed, and ran the local post office. He and his wife, Lucinda, had nine children: four daughters, Elvira, Carrie, Mary, and Annie; and five sons, Thomas, Joseph, Frank, Alfred, and John. When Lucinda died in 1857, he subsequently met Fanny M. Clark, a music teacher from Ohio, whom he married in 1859. They, in turn, had a son, Watson. Dr. Lea became a prominent landowner, with a farm encompassing about one thousand acres, and also expanded his business interests to the Colorado Territory after the 1859 Colorado gold rush. In 1860 he ventured into mining and established a sawmill in Boulder, in the vicinity of the area's first major gold discovery. By 1861 he was a leading member of the Jackson County community and his family happily reaped the fruits of prosperity offered by settling the frontier.¹

But the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 had tragic consequences for the Leas. When sectional tensions and violence along the Kansas-Missouri border threatened to engulf them, Dr. Lea sent several family members away to safety in December 1861. His wife, pregnant with Watson, went to stay with relatives in Ohio and his daughters and youngest son went to stay with relatives in Tennessee. Of the eldest sons, Thomas, Joseph, and Frank worked various jobs in Colorado, including lumbering, manning freight wagons, and prospecting. In August 1862, Dr. Lea sent his remaining son, seventeen-year-old Alfred, to Colorado to join his brothers in prospecting. The following month Dr. Lea met an untimely and senseless death, most likely at the hands of troopers from Colonel William R. Penick's Fifth Missouri state militia who were on the hunt for Confederate guerillas in the area. No doubt aware of Dr. Lea's southern sympathies, they took him from his home, which they burned down, and shot him to death in cold blood. James A. Shaw, a local resident, later noted there was no known cause for the murder, as the doctor was highly respected by all and was a non-combatant, taking no part in the war.²

Alfred Erskine Lea, like his father, possessed a drive and ambition to seek opportunities. After his father's death, Alfred remained in Colorado while his older brothers joined the Confederate army. From 1862 to 1870, Alfred learned assaying and surveying and became a successful gold miner at the town of Black Hawk. During that period he also served briefly in the 1864 Colorado militia campaign against the Indians. He became active in politics and in 1869 won election to the lower house of the territorial legislature, where he achieved a certain notoriety for introducing the first and only bill to extend voting rights to women. (It failed.) His progressive political stance may have been influenced partly by his close ties to Colorado's territorial governor, Edward M. McCook, who championed the cause of women's suffrage. Alfred's political ties likely helped advance his prospects. In 1870 he, McCook, and J. U. Marlow, a Denver hotel proprietor, became partners in a mining venture in Boulder County after a significant silver discovery was made there. Meanwhile, Alfred remained active in the community. After winning election in 1871 as the county clerk and recorder of Boulder County, he moved to the city of Boulder, won reelection in 1873, and in the early 1880s served as the treasurer of Boulder County. He earned a comfortable living in the abstract, real estate, and brokerage business, helping to establish several towns in the process. For example, in 1884 he became involved in a venture that established the town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The following year he helped his brother Joseph establish the town of Roswell, New Mexico, by surveying and drawing the first plat of the Roswell town site.³

Alfred began a family in Boulder. On December 13, 1871, he married Hersa Coberly Soule of Denver, the widow of a Colorado cavalry officer. Their marriage endured early hardships when their first two children, Ivan and Mary, died in infancy. Homer, their third child, was born on November 17, 1876. He derived his name from Alfred's love of Greek mythology, particularly the Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey. Their family came to include two daughters, Ermal and Hersa. Then tragedy struck on May 16, 1879, about five months after Hersa's birth, when the elder Hersa, in her mid-thirties, unexpectedly died. In poor health for several years, she succumbed to malignant erysipelas while caring for her ailing mother in Denver. Alfred, who had left ten days earlier on a surveying trip to the headwaters of the Gunnison River, did not receive word of his wife's death for some time. After returning to Boulder in June 1879, he decided to divide his family for the time being. He kept Homer and Ermal with him, with the help of a housekeeper and a young Indian servant called Pete who had been brought to Denver by Hersa's first husband after being orphaned in the 1864 Sand Creek Indian massacre, and he sent the infant Hersa to live with her maternal grandmother in Denver.⁴

Unfortunately, other ominous changes were in store for the Lea family, as Homer's health began to decline. The first signs showed at about age four, when he began developing a hunchback. No one in the family knew for sure what caused the affliction. Some family members came to believe that Pete, who nursed Homer, caused his injury. According to Homer's cousin Tom Lea:

One day when Homer was less than a year old, Indian Pete dropped him; he landed on his spine. It shook the baby considerably and hurt him, but there were no apparent serious consequences of this fall, and the family forgot about it. A few years went by and…when Homer was about four…he started to complain of a pain in his back.

The little boy was beginning to suffer the consequences of his fall from the hands of Indian Pete. A hunchback began to manifest itself. The family realized that their son was to be a cripple.⁵

Marco R. Newmark, one of Homer's closest friends in later life, explained: The family was never sure of the cause of the deformity, but thought it was probably due to a fall from a swing in babyhood and also that a fall from the hands of a cousin in infancy might have had something to do with it. They were not sure, however, because in neither case had any sign of the development of a deformity appeared at the time.⁶

Homer, unable to participate in some sports and games with other children, occupied himself by reading and playing with toy soldiers as he grew up. Ermal recalled their father coming home at night and finding Homer in the library either reading or putting his tin men through all kinds of maneuvers.⁷ He was an exceptionally bright child, and as early as the age of four, was reading adventure books such as Robinson Crusoe without any help. As he got older, his favorite books included adventure novels about medieval knights and science fiction adventures such as Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. These books fired his imagination. When playing with his sisters and other children, he often pretended to be a medieval ruler or military commander. He particularly enjoyed taking charge and giving orders. Eleanor Ella Lea, a first cousin, recalled: Homer was always the King…and we were his ladies and gentlemen in waiting, or vassals, as his fancy dictated. He would sit on his throne ordering us about. No one ever doubted or disputed his authority.⁸ On other occasions, such as celebrating the Fourth of July, he and his sisters would build mud forts armed with firecracker cannons and hold mock battles, which he invariably won.⁹

Beyond a love of reading and imagining himself a great military leader, Homer developed a special affinity for animals. When the family's pet dog died, he arranged an elaborate military funeral. Wearing a Napoleonic-style tricorner paper hat and carrying a wooden sword hanging from a rope around his waist, he headed a funeral procession composed of his sisters and neighborhood children. They marched behind the dog's burial box to the grave site and buried it to the tune of the funeral march played on a tin horn. Our dog was buried with all the pomp and glory which Homer's vivid imagination could portray, recalled Ermal.¹⁰ On another occasion, he and Ermal were visiting their maternal grandmother, who had moved to San Jose, California, where he developed a strong attachment to a rooster. Ermal explained: "One summer he had a pet rooster—and at night when it came time for the chicken to go to sleep he would hunt everywhere for brother—and when he found him would go to sleep on his shoulder. The cook killed him by mistake and when Homer realized it was his pet rooster he left the table and cried."¹¹

Little is known of Homer's schooling. His early education consisted of home tutoring and periodically attending public schools. He may have attended the Arapahoe School, a public grammar school in Denver. There is evidence he attended the Boulder Central School in 1886 and 1887. Several class photos from Boulder reveal he was considerably smaller in stature than his classmates.¹²

During this period Alfred consulted specialists all over the country to find a cure for Homer's affliction, but to no avail. Finally, Alfred learned that the National Surgical Institute, an institution for the permanently incapacitated in Indianapolis, Indiana, might be able to help. Homer, at about age twelve, went there, remaining for several years. The treatment did not cure his deformity, but did improve his stature while his height increased three or four inches. He stopped growing about this time at a height of about five foot, three inches, weighing about one hundred pounds.¹³

While Homer was away, Alfred rekindled relations with Emma Wilson, an old friend he had known growing up in Missouri. She was a strong-willed, dedicated teacher, whose experience included working with special students at the Deaf Mute Institute in Danville, Kentucky. They were married on July 16, 1890, leading to new hopes for the Lea family.¹⁴ Emma was willing to care for Homer, who returned home from the National Surgical Institute. Alfred had relocated his family to Denver during this period and there the nurturing environment of family life provided Homer with a new means for development. Emma worked closely with Homer, helping to prepare him for entrance into a public high school. Alfred and Emma still hoped he could grow up like other boys his age.¹⁵

In September 1892, after months of preparation at home, Homer began his freshman year at East Denver High School. He was often shy, frustrated, and disgruntled in public school. He found it difficult to be accepted and lead a normal teenage life among his contemporaries. Having a deformity and being two years older than many of his classmates did not easily endear him to them. They ridiculed him and called him little scrunch-neck.¹⁶ Without enough friends or attentive teachers to help him adjust, he became reclusive. His unhappiness became evident to students and faculty alike. One of those faculty members recalled: He always seemed to keep rather to himself instead of associating much with the other students, and was rather quiet, and serious, sometimes seeming almost inclined to melancholy. I thought that was probably due to his being a hunchback, and unable to enter into any of the activities of other boys in sports, etc.¹⁷

Emma helped Homer regain his self-confidence and overcome his isolation. She made a bargain to buy him the best gold watch in Denver if he agreed to follow her advice for thirty days. Initially he refused to go along with any plans she had that would cause him to face further public ridicule, but she persisted. She finally looked him in the eye and said: Are you crippled in your mind? Which is the most important, mind or body? Never refer to yourself again, as a cripple.¹⁸ Her counsel worked. It proved to be a significant turning point in his life.

Although Homer's physical affliction limited his ability to take part in many school sports and activities, he found other outlets to occupy his leisure. If something interested him, he would pursue it vigorously, but if a topic held no special interest he tended to ignore it. In addition to reading relentlessly, he loved the outdoors and became an avid hunter and fisherman.¹⁹ In school, Homer often fixed his attentions on avoiding study, with an occasional burst of interest in one particular subject or another. Typically, Emma recalled, he would simply disregard his homework and say to her: No use me fooling around a couple of hours with this problem. You can do it in a minute. Here.²⁰

Homer's first year at Denver High School was also his last. It is unknown why, but Alfred and Emma decided to send him to San Jose, California, to stay with his maternal grandmother. This decision seemed to offer the best opportunity of finding both a school and an environment better suited to his needs. In the fall of 1893, he enrolled for his sophomore high school year in the college preparatory academy of the University of the Pacific, a small Methodist-Episcopal college in San Jose. During his year there he showed academic improvement and a new enthusiasm.²¹

This encouraging news came at time when Alfred's health was giving him trouble. He decided to retire from business and resettle his family in Los Angeles, where he could live comfortably with income from his mining and real estate investments. In the summer of 1894, he moved his family into a nine-room house he had built at 918 South Bonnie Brae Street, near the pleasant surroundings of Westlake Park. Homer rejoined his family in the new home after completing his sophomore high school year.²²

Homer entered Los Angeles High School for his junior year in the fall of 1894. He became an active student, both in and out of school, and made a concerted effort to take part in school activities. He made new friends, with several of whom he remained close for the rest of his life. One of the most significant of his extracurricular activities was his prominent role in the local chapter of the Lyceum League of America, a national debating society. He excelled in this arena and established a lasting reputation as a skillful, convincing orator and leader.²³ He also seemed to develop an uncanny personal magnetism and charisma that drew others to him. Marco Newmark explained: Because of his deformity, he was naturally a conspicuous figure in the school, but otherwise it was not generally thought that there was anything outstanding about him. However, at an election of the Lyceum, the school's debating club, one of its members who did sense that he possessed unusual ability nominated him for one of the offices. He declined, but in so masterful and compelling a manner that he immediately became a leader in school activities.²⁴

Homer made up for his physical shortcomings in the Lyceum League and became one of the school's most active students. He sharpened his oratorical skills and broadened his horizons. He developed