Evening star., 1934-09-29
GEN. HARR|ES DIES;
|HEADEDD.C. GUARD
War Commander of Brest
Was III Three Weeks
Funeral Monday.

| Sanitarium on the Rockville Pike.
where he had been i'll with pneumonia
about three weeks.
Gen. Harries, who was the first
American officer to enter Berlin after
the armiStice, came here from Fort
Benning, Ga, about a month ago with
his wife to visit Gen. Perry L. Miles.
He contracted cold shortly after his
arrival and it developed into pneu-
monia.
Funeral services will be held Mon
day at pm. at the Fort Myer Chapel.
Burial will be in Arlington National
Cemetery.
The life story of Gen. Harries COM
! bines all those colorful and heroic
elements which entered so largely
into the careers of the self-made
| Americans of a generation ago.
Became Dominant Figure.
Emigrant, pioneer, frontiersman,
soldier. printer. newspaper reporter
from these beginnings he became
dominant figure in the military and
business life of his country.
Washington remembers him not
alone as an exceptionally able busi-
ness and military executive, but also
as one of the most ingenious and en-
| terprising reporters who ever served
| the local press.
He was born in Haverfordwest.
South Wales, September ls, 1860, son
of John and Sarah Davies Harries.
He obtained his early schooling at the
Haverfordwest grammar school, but
while he still was boy his parents
emigrated to the United States. He
accompanied them and was plunged
at once out Of the quiet of the British
countryside into the American frontier
in its widest days in the decade after
the Civil War. The family went West.
The boy grew up familiar with Indian
battles. with the lonely military posts,
with the covered wagon trails, cow
boys, trappers and bandits.
/ Happy With Military Men.
From these days grew his love for
soldering. To the end of his life Gen.
Harries never was quite happy except
in the company of military men, pref
erably men familiar with the frontier
wars.
|
a deputy sheriff, it is recorded, and had
his own two-gun experiences with the
bad men of the old border.
During this stage of his career he
served for q time with the Texas
Rangers. He afterward turned to jour-
nalism. He crossed the Canadian bor-
der and established a newspaper at
Winnipeg.
His father, an Indian agent, made
frequent trips to Washington. The
young editor came here to visit him
and while in the National Capital
learned that his plant in Winnipeg had
been destroyed by fire He did not re-
turn, but secured a position as reporter
on the old National Republican in
Washington. A short time later he be-
came a member of the staff of The
Evening Star.
Among his exploits as a reporter
was to get himself locked up as q
vagrant in the District work house
and then write a colorful account of
conditions there. BY q peculiar COIN
cidence. another reporter for The
Star performed the same exploit a
few years ago and, without knowing
anything about the previous attempt,
used the same fictitious name.
Covered Sioux Campaign.
He was sent by The Star as a
special correspondent to cover the
Wounded Knee campaign against the
Sioux and on his return from this
assignment became an editorial writer
He was associate editor of The Star
when he resigned in 1895 to become
president of the Metropolitan Street
Railway Co. This company then
owned the F street and Ninth street
lines now operated by the Capital
Transit Co. The organization was
in rough waters. 1t had just ex-
perienced a disastrous strike. Its
service was bitterly criticized. Public
relations were far from friendly.
The directors looked around for a
man who could get them out of
this trouble by bringing about har-
mony both with labor and with the
public. Harries threw himself into the
work with his characteristic energy
and diplomacy and made an excellent
job of it.
He left that position in 1896, when
the rough waters had calmed down,
and became associated with the WASH
ington Board of Trade as secretary
He afterward served as president. But
with the formation of the w. r. & E.
system in 1900 he became vice presi-
dent and continued in that Office until
September 80, 1911.
Joined Byllesby Co.
He then became vice president Of
H. M Byllesby g. Co. of Chicago firm
OF municipal engineers. then with large
holdings in more than 100 American
cities and towns. In this capacity
Harries went from city to city as head
of various public utilities which needed
heroic methods to resuscitate them.
He was president in turn of the Louis
vile Gas e. Electric Co, of the Arkan-
sas Valley (Colo) Railway, Light &
Power Co, the Fargo & Morrhead
Railway Co., Nebraska Power Co. and
Gas & Electric Co. of Council Bluffs,
Iowa. He served as vice president Of
a number of other concerns.
AS a reporter for The Star Harries
naturally gravitated toward the old
hunger for sOldiery. He made them
his own assignment and spent much
of his spare time in the drill halls.
His first commission was as first lieu-
tenant and inspector of rifle practice
under Gen. Ordway, who had Or
ganized the D. c. Militia. He rose to
majority and inspector general
Some of the rifle teams he organized
we're the wonder of the Nation in
their day and the D. c. Militia was
looked upon as the last word in
craftsmanship.
Succeeded Gen. Ordway.
Gen. Ordway died In 1897, with the
Spanish War just around the corner.
Harries succeeded him. In 1898,