The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1940-05-09
Webb Miller. Famed Reporter,
Loses Life in Train Mishap

which began with his assignment
10 the Mexican border In 1915 and
included practically every ma or
international conflict from then
until the present var. Miller also
was . top ranking news executive.
He was the general European man
sger Of United Press. with head
quarters here. bat was always pre-
pared TO lcssv his desk for q front
line assignment
Expected BREAK
IN recent months he had obtained
credentials to enter numerous Ea-
ropcan countries where the var
might spread. but had notified his
New York office that he would re-
main In London temporarily. on
the chance that the next hik story
OF the war might be in the British
Isles.
In his war kit were maps Of
front-iine positions which he had
kept since 1918. when he was on
the western front and which he
believed would be useful again
should he have TO return 10 France.
Webb Milier's 20 years of news
paper reporting carried him from :
Chicago police beat 10 the capitals
OF the world and to the front lines
of the wars. a career which rsrned
him a reputation a. the ace OF war
correspondents.
He saw History
His hy-line stood for accuracy
and brilliant reporting and many
Of the great news beats of our time
came from Milier's portable type
writer under date lines on the
Ethiopian frontier. in India. Nor
occo. the Soviet Union. Italy. Spain.
Germany. and the British Isles.
He saw kings and dictators rise
and fall: he saw the start and
finish of wars and revolutions: he
saw peace made and strapped. His
career was summarized In 1896 In
his book. II found No Peace" en-
autobiography regarded a. ore Of
the best of It's kind.
Covered Sim Felnn
In 1917. United Press sent him
to London. and It was there, dur
ing the hast World war years, that
he had his first taste Of reporting
from q city under the constant
threat Of air raids He went to
ireland often during the Sim
Feinn uprising and visited the
British front.
A year later he joined the Paris
bureau OF the United Press. and
was a war correspondent on TIE
American front during the battles
of the summer and fall OF 1918. He
was the only correspondent to WIT
ness the aftermath of the arms
tice from an airplane, which car.
ried him over the front lines as
the fighting ceased.
Met Mussolini
During the four years after 1921
he was manager of the Pari'
United Press bureau. At ths
Cannes conference In January
1922, he met a man who later wa,
to become a dictator = Benitc
Mussolini.
Mussolini and Miller were fellow
reporters covering the conference.
Ten years later Miller interviewed
Mussolini In the Palazzo Venezia
In Rome.
In 1925 Miller went TO Morocco
to cover the Riff revolution and
met another dictator, who became
his friend for life. The man was
Primo de Rivera
He Met Gandhi
In 1880 Miller made one OF the
longest airplane trips ever made
by a correspondent 10 cover a
story. II was a f2.000-mile trip
through Is countries TO India TO
cover the civil disobedience cam
paign and coincident bloody riot
ing for independence.
In India Miller met and talked
with another of the worlds great
leaders, the Mahatma NJ. X.
Gandhi. Gandhi inscribed his name
In Miller's eigsret case, on con-
dition the case would never again
be used for cigarets.
Miller scored one Of his greatest
journalistic feats at the start Of
Italy's invasion OF Ethiopia In 1888.
Goes To Russia
He straddled the sand-bagged
psrapet atop a mountain In North
ern Ethiopia the morning Of Oct.
3. 1885. and watched the Italian
advance into the country. He
then forged ahead with the Italian
forces, and was the first CORES
pondent of any nationality 10
reach Aduma, the Ethiopian holy
city" az II fell TO the invaders.
In 1887 Miller made an extended
visit TO Russia, and wrote a series
Of six uncensored dispatches on
the results Of the Soviet purges
Then came the Spanish civil
war. with Miller again on the
front covering the siege and re-
lief of the Alcazar.
Was At HelsiBki
After that came the series Of
Hateful conferences and events that
led up 10 the present war. Miller
covered the historic Munich con-
ference between Adolf Hitler. Mus
soiini, Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain Of Great Britain and
Cot Lawful