New-York tribune., 1920-02-12
Boy, z, Adrift
In Syria, Served
Under 5 Flags
Joe Haggar, Now IL, Finds
Way Back to U. S., Where
He Was Born and,Left to
Visit Grandfather Abroad
Kin Die From I'll IL n g e +
Youth Wanders From Hills
Near Beirut, Through
War, to Father, in Boston

Rotterdam, Boulognc and Plymouth,
laid alongside her pier in Hoboken
yesterday there was on board with a
number Of celebreties twelve-yea old
Joseph Hajjar, who returned from
Syria to his native land to live with
his father, Joseph Hajjar, merchant
at 27 Albany Street, Boston. He told
shocking story of how his mother,
two brothers and one sister had died
of starvation and his unnamed baby
sister had been strangled by his grand
father, who had also died.
Joe is sturdy youngstcr. He
speaks six languages and has roamed
around with several Of the armies of
Europe. Full of boyish life, with a
store of strange and wonderful cx-
perlences, he was immensely interested
in his arrival here. "I like America -
he said. 81 stood on the boat and
smelt it all the way up the bay"
Joseph Haljar senior, naturalized
citizen, sent his wife, three sons and a
daughter to Beirut, Syria, to see his
wife's father for vacation. They got
there in the summer Of 1914 and took
up their dwelling in the mountains
above Beirut, where the old grand
father had his home.
Family Has Little Food
After they had been in the mountain
cottage for six months Mrs Hajiar's
health failed. There was no food. She
died, leaving an unnamed baby A short
time after the older girl died.
Joe was alone with his two brothers
and six-months' old baby sister in the
care of his grandfather. Frequently
they did not eat. One night he heard
the baby crying in room and went to
see what was wrong. There he found
his sister lying dead on the bed
Then the two brothers died. The old
man weakened. Still there was no food.
The grandfather died, and Joe, not
much more than seven years old, was
alone in a starving country surrounded
by war. All he knew about himself was
that he was an American and that he
was born in Albany Street, Boston He
did not know his last name In his
wanderings people had called him many
names, and he called himself Joe
He left his dead in the mountains
of Beirut and attached himself to the
Syrian army. From there he went to
and followed the German army, then
the French. Finally he struck the
British army and was with them some
time, doing tricks for the soldiers and
amusing them.
He liked the "Tommies," as he calls
them. They were good to him and
taught him his philosophy of life:
Make people like you; that's the way
to get along"
There were other things for him to
do with these fighting men of many
Ia bo,, ;4l
great mustaches," he said, "died on
the road, but I carried my pack and
lived. And did I work." He showed
his little hands hardened with toll.
When the armistice was signed he
returned to Beirut and some one
picked him up and took him to the
United States.
Father Found by Chance
AT that time an American army of
ficer was in Beirut about to return to
his home in Boston. The consul asked
this officer to search Albany Street for
a Syrian merchant who had lost his
family. The officer did, and sure enough
there was merchant on Albany Street
who had sent his family six years ago
to Beirut and never had heard from
them He is we'll to do, and after get
ting III touch with the consul in Bel
rut, he sent $500 to pay for the boys
passage home
The consul was looking around for a
means Of getting Joe to this country
when Miss Catherine Sedgwick, Of
Lincoln, Neb., a Red Cross worker who
was returning to the United States, Of
fcred to take the boy under her charge.
She took him to Paris "He's won
derful," said Miss Sedgwick "He has
the mind of man of twenty-five He
speaks Syrian, Turkish, German,
French, Arabic and English"
So Joe came to the land of his birth
hobnobbing with Alfred Noyes, the
prncesses on the ship. He was fa-
vorite with every one. Gall want to
do" said Joe on the pier yesterday, "is
to pray hard to God go to school, and
be great man so | can be merchant
| think there is wonderful oppor-
tunity in Europe for merchants"
AS soon as Miss Sedgwick landed she
telephoned to Boston and arranged to
have Mr.. Hajjar meet his son. She was
going to put him on the afternoon train
for Boston. When Joe learned what she
had done he said she need not have
bothered, that after all his travelling
he guessed he could find his way to
Boston.
Another boy, Benjamin Goodman,
thirteen years old. came on the Nieuw
Amsterdam after making his way from
Radon, a little town near Warsaw,
Russia, across the Polish boundary
into Germany and thence to Holland,
where he got transportation to seek
his father, Joseph Goodman, of Balti-
more, Md. Goodman met the boat.
Alfred Noyes was on board with his
wife. He is going to Princeton Uni
versity to lecture on English literature.
This is the fifth year he has come to
Princeton. He said that the war had
decreased the amount of fiction in Eng
land, but that poetry had increased in
quantity and worth due to the many
soldiers who had written verse. He
spoke highly of Joyce Kilmer, and said
that it was shame that so capable
q poet had died.
Others on the passenger list were
the Prince and Princess Michael Ga
garine. The Prince is the new secre-
tary of the Russian Embassy to the
United States.
'-he Prince and Princess Casimir
Poniatowski were the other titled CON
tingent. The Princess was Miss Eliza
beth Sperry, of San Francisco. Judge
Edward Sanford, Circuit Judge, OF
Nashville, Tenn, was also among the
842 passengers.
Troops Remain in Lexington;
Slayer Is Removed in Night
LEXINGTON, KY, Feb. 11.SAl-
though William Lockett. convicted