The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-12
GEN. BARRY, 57, WAS
 ONCE A BOwERY BOY.


 Fifty-seven years ago a boy was born to David and Margaret Barry, In their home in New York's poverty stricken least side" He was named Thomas Henry, but name was about all his parents could afford to give him, and at an early age he was con fronted with the necessity of making living. Before him were the grtmy allurements of the Bowery, then at the height of it's dubious glory, and the possibility of becoming a gang leader, bearing proudly some such fe rocious title as "Gyp the Blood.'' That career did not appeal to the barefoot Bowery lad. and he won the con tempt of his fellows by engaging in honest toll by day and attending school at night. If he had followed the line of least resistance. Tommy Barry might now be known by a num- Der at Sing Sing. As matters stand, he is Major General in the United States Army. and has recenly been made commander of the Eastern Di- vision, the most important of Uncle Sam's military posts, succeeding the late Gen. Frederick D. Grant
 After graduating from a nigh4 school, Tommy Barry attended the College Of the City of New York It was while a student at that institu- ton that Opportunity knocked at the door of the ambitious youngster, and found him waiting with a club The opportunity was a West Point cadet ship. offered in competition by Robert D. Roosevelt, an uncle of Theodore Tommy was not what one might call a brilliant youth. Rather he was a plodder. but he plodded so well that he
 
 became an officer in the United States army.
 For d quarter of a=eentury the name of Barry has been synonymous in the United States army with bulldog per sistency- Let Barry do it,'' has been the cry whenever a difficult job was to be tackled When Geronimo and his Apaches were ravaging the South west. perpetrating nameless outrages on all the hapless palefaces that came within their clutches, Barry was in the middle of the ructiors. Latter he helped to teach the es1' warlike Sioux" their proper place in the white mans scheme of things. When Lamont was Secretary of War in C1eveland's cabi- net, he found army affairs in a tam gle, and naturally sent for Barry to straighten out the kinks and clean out the department.
 When affairs in the Philippines be- came critical, there was a job for Bar ry; when the Boxers uprose in China, Barry was dispatched at once to the scene of the trouble; when Russia and Japan decided to settle their differ ences by war, Barry was detailed to watch the operations in Manchuria So it was when Cuba needed paci- hcating and reconstructing that Barry was sent to Havana. On April l. 19O9 his services were no longer needed as commander Of the army of Cuban paciflcation, and soon after he was appointed superintendent of the West Point Military Academy. At that time there was some doubt as to whether officers cadets should run the mil itary school, but Barry soon taught them who's who and what's what. The gentle practice of hazing was abolish ed and other reforms instituted
 Last month Maj.-Gen. Barry became commander of the Department of the East, with headquarters at Governors Island, New York In that capacity De becomes the man of the hour in Uncle Sam's army. Gen. Barry has llwAys been a stickler for strict dis eipline and efficiency, with the result | that he is not the most popular man wearing a uniform. But he stands l for square deal and commands the admiration and respect of the majority l of the officers and men under him.