American solider of fortune Cpt. Frederick Russell Burnham was left for dead by Boers when his horse was killed and fell on him while he was working to dynamite a bridge. He ultimately came to and pulled off the detonation the next day.
Burnham was an adventurer who had fought in American range wars before relocating to Africa, as it was not settled. He'd fought in various colonial wars for the British prior to the Boer War. He returned to the United States to participate in the Klondike Gold Rush and then attempted to join the U.S. Army for the Spanish American War, but it ended before he could pull that off. He was recruited by Theodore Roosevelt for his planned all volunteer unit for World War One, but of course that unit was not formed. He became involved in the oil industry in the 1920s, which resulted in him becoming well to do.
He was heavily involved in the Boy Scouts, through his friend Lord Baden Powell, and a hunter and conservationist. Surprisingly, given his lifestyle, he was married for the entire period of his adventures and took his wife and children along with him. Upon his first wife's death he remarried while in his 80s, at which time his second wife was in her 50s. He died in 1947 at age 86.
Now that's a strenuous life.
General Katsura Tarō became the new Prime Minister of Japan.
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