New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-13
DICK DAVIS DIES
WHILE AT PHONE;
WIFE FINDS BODY
Heart Disease Ends Career
of Adventures on the
Worlds Battlefelds.
NOTED WRITER
WAS ALMOST 81
"Soldiers CT Fortune, Gale
CHER" and Captain Macklin'
Among His Famous Tales.

Among His Famous Tales.
Richard Harding Davis is dead Like
the men he loved to write about. he
died with his boots on. And like them
be died in action. Tie dropped 10 the
floor of bis home. Cross Roads Farm,
in Tho Westchcstcr Hills. near Mount
Kisco. on Tuesday night. while tele-
phor.nr q telegram OF corgratulation
70 Mayor Mitchell for the latter's atti-
fudc I'm the case Of james Maurer. &C
oused Of insulting the United states
flag
For the last two weeks Mr.. Davis had
not been well. lie was under the care
az DR. Charles +. Chapman, OF Mount
Kisco and Dr. FcllOwes Davis. or New
YORK The cause Of his illness was at
frst thought TO be ptomaine POISONING
and for a few days he kept TO his bed.
He felt we'll enough on Tuesday 10 pc
up all day, and talked enthuslastlcaiiy
OF "a series Of articles on prepared
ness" on which be was working.
Found Dead at Phone'
Inst before 10 o'clock he went to the
.elenhone 70 send the message to Mayor
Mitchell Mrs Davis, who az BESSIE
afcCov was a Broadway musical com
30 favorite. paid no attention 10 ms
absence until midnight thinking ne
,,as reading in the library, ana was
nreDarinp 10 retire. when she caleu u
him from the second floor OF the mouse
lie did not respond. and she %ent
downstairs Lying beside the teiSphtong5
she found her husband aeao. ne Iau
dropped as he finished giving nus mes
sage. ..,-,orod
sror Nount Kisco, and arrived soon
,ftor o'clock. lie pronounced MI
Davis's death due TO angina pectoris'
tbo disease which at first had been mis-
taken for ptomaine. ,.L
and his wife. were also called at tnelt
home i'm Hoboken and motored all hlgh1
70 reach Cross Roads Farm.
All dav yesterday a stream OF teie-
ram Of coincidence pour,d into the
Davis house from all parts CT the Gown
inv one Of the first 20 arrive came
from Theodore Roosevelt. and many
prominent writer's were included IN the
s nrivate funeral service Will be held
g. Cross Roads Farm this Afternoon
after which, in compliance with M
Davis's wish. his body VIII he cremate9'
Later the ashes will be taken TO fhiI-
adelphia. where they will be ourleo IN
he family plot. There will be no ser
vices Tor Mr.. Davis IN New 1orH, aS5
he had often expressed his clsapproVaI
o. large funerals.
Wife Stricken by Shock.
Mr. Davis's unexpected death came
rs y terrible shock 10 his VIE. 1es-
.ordav she was so III tha. she was
unable 70 leave her room. Remember
ing her husbands love Of flowers she
asked Mrs. Northrup, q friend VINO II
s,aving with her, 20 pick the nrst
rrocus Of the year-"the one under me
big tree near the pOnd'-and to put ~
IN The room where the authors BODY
iios Her little fifteen months old
daughter, Hope. who atfecuonateIy
called her father "Dicky.' too young
Ia realize her loss, played merrily all
dav long in her nursery. She alone
I'm the great. silent house could smile.
Fverv one AZ the Davis farm and IN
Mount Kisco is stunned 5v M Davls's
death Ills servants and those who
came in intimate touch with him speak
with sorrow of the man whose big
lcart was always open 20 them all. ms
sistcr-in-law turned sadly from a pnO-
'oqrsph OF .hc author taken with era
hsne-White Just before fight in an
aeroplanc. 81 can't bear % look at ms
victories" she said. ale was so Bug
and strong and so much IN love with
life. l. has all come so unexpectedly
lie Loved All Phases If Life.
Mr. Davis did love life, IS few men
have loved II. lie loved the life Of the
city: ne loved his life as war CORE
ypordcnt. risking innumcrahlc dangers
M the front; but nc Lowell most OF all
the outdoor life among the resttul hilis
where he had built his retreat. Here
most Of his writing for TIE last twelve
wears had been done; here he found re
Taxation in superIntcnci1G ms 800
acres. a large share of them Wild land
and here, too, he found happiness IN
rlaying with his little daughter. IN
his chosen spot death came 10 him
swiftly. Just six days before his nifty
second birthday.
Beside his wife and little daughter
Mr.. Davis is survived by a brother
Charles Belmont Davis, Of Hoboken,
lives IN London. England. lie was the
son Of /. Clark Davis, a. one time a
prominent newspaper man ln Ph!la-
tclphia. and % Rcbccca Harding Davis,
Who cortri butcd 90 magazines up 20
the time Of hcr death, a. Cross Roads
Farm. in 1910 Mr. Davis received his
education at tho Episcopal Academy in
Philadelphia. and Lchigh University
where be- was a member r the class
o. 'sG. but did not graduate. In 1898
IN married Miss Cecil Clark. daughter
of J. ". Clark, a wealthy Chicagoan
They we're divorced in 1912 and soon
sfterward the author married Miss
Bessie Mccoy. the dancer, VINO achieved
fame a. the "Yama Yama Girl' in THE
Three Twins"
Picturesque Literary Figure.
with the death Of Mr. Davis, the
literary wo-id loses one OF It's most
r.cturcequc figures and one n ITS
greatest creators 81 romantic fiction.
Since tho days of his newspaper
apprclficcfi when Ne -Iddculy
found himself famous through tho pub
LEGATION 100 "Scrihncr's Magazine Of
"Ga.icghcr.' hc bad produced some
thirty boofs ~ short stories. novels,
war correspondence and travel In
spite o. his inccssant toi bis life was
a. romantic and a. wandering ar one
% his own Irresistible soldiers ~ for
tune. and even ia his appearance his
tall erect frame seemed 20 be modelled
On Gibson's immaculate and square
jawed illustration Of bis adycntur-
Gus heroes.
His trying experience In Belgium
on TIE outbreak 81 the great var and
The hardship that be- endured later
3d. tho Lcyant, with the Anglo French