A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 January 1928, Page 2

A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE

HUNDRED YEARS OF AGE. 1 NEW YORK, December 14. In an American poorhouse sits a soldier of fortune, now minus his fortune, who can authentically lay claim to the following experiences:—He saw the Charge of the Light Brigade; was nursed by Florence Nightingale; was present at the Indian Mutiny; was a gun-runner for Garibaldi; he pulled Empress Carlotta out of a ditch; and prepared the Gettysburg plans; and was a general under Li Hung Chang. Captain Roland Walpole, member of the British family of that name, is now 100 years old. He sits- a little apart from the other inmates. He wears a rakish Tam o’ shanter and on his breast are medals with bars that bear historic names: —Crimea, Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, Sebastopol, Lucknow, Delhi, Pekin, Egypt. He was sent back from the East on sick leave, but joined up under Garibaldi as a volunteer. Then he went to China and was a general under Li Hung Chang. The American military observer in the Crimea, General McLelland, wrote to Captain Walpole that there was a war in the United States and that the Union Army needed technical officers. Captain Walpole packed his grips and became a cavalry officer under Custer. He went 20 miles within the Confederate lines to prepare the topographical maps oirwhich the battle of Gettysburg was based. The old warrior is hale and hearty as he tops the century.