Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-12-31
III. Col. Andrew WyIie IS Troop Transports
Believed Killed in Fall Due in U. 5. Today
of Bridge in Poland With Il, 500 els

1t. Col. Andrew Wylie, Marine
Corps, member of a family prom.
inent for generations in Washington
social circles, Is believed to have
been killed on the night Of Deem
Der 26 in a fall from a bridge near
Stettin, Poland, it was reported
today. Stettin, formerly part Of
Germany, was a link in the Berlin
defense system. Col. Wylie had been
naval attache in Warsaw since
October.
According to the Associated Press,
Col Wylie was motoring from
Gdynia to Warsaw when the acct
dent occurred. He was said by his
Polish chauffeur to have left the
car to investigate the condition OF
a bridge and to have fallen through
the structure into the river.
Body Not Found.
His body has not been found.
Search was abandoned Saturday.
A 49-year-old bachelor, Col. WyIie
is survived by two sisters and a
brother. His sister Katherine Is
the wife of the Rev. Frederick Law
renee, Cambridge, Mass; his sister
Margaret is the wife of the Rev.
Mr.. Strawbridge, residing in Eng
land. His brother, 1t. Craig Wylie,
U. s. N. r., is of Katonah, N. Y.
The widely travelled Col. Wylie
fiuol IL, NLya hi ot m of 1C0E Thnr,oc
circle, the home he inherited from
his mother, the late Mrs. Kath-
crime Wylie, leader in the Capitals
social life and in the Toc-H organ
ization. Mrs. Wylie died in 1912.
A graduate of St. Paurs School,
Concord, N. H., and Yale Univer-
sity, Col. Wylie's college career was
interrupted by the World War He
went overseas as second lieu
tenant with the 18th Field Artil-
lery, which backed up the Marines
at Belleau Wood, the Argonne For
est and st. Mihiel. Awarded the
Belgian Croix de Guerre, he was
one of the first Allied soldiers to
enter Brussels when it was evac-
uated by the Germans.
Made Visits to Russia.
Before returning to the United
States after the armistice he went
to Russia for the first of many
visits to that country which gained
him knowledge of the language.
He returned to Yale and graduated
after being mustered out of the
Army.
Then began a series of voyages
which earned him a reputation
among Washington friends as one
of this country's most indefatigable
rolling stones. He knew Europe and
Asia intimately and. in the early
l930s, visited Borneo, Sumatra and
Java with the Harvard Anthropolo-
gical Expedition. He also went big
game hunting in Indo- China.
1t was typical of him that he was
mysteriously present at the corona
ton of Henry Pu vi, Japanese
supported puppet emperor of Man
churia. He took color movies of the
event, which he showed privately to
friends.
Sought Foreign Duty.
Stationed in Washington during
World War II. after having been
commissioned in the Marine Corps
in January, 1912, Col. Wylie deluged
Maj. Gen. Thomas G. Holcomb, then
Marine Corps commandant, with
translations of letters received from
Russia. hoping to call Official atten-
ton to his knowledge Of the Ian
guage, which might obtain him a
foreign appointment
The strategy paid of last August
when he was assigned to Warsaw.
He did not leave this country, how
ever. until October.
Col. Wylie's grandfather, JUS
tice Wylie of the Supreme Court
of the District Of Columbia, had
been the only resident of Alexan-
dria, Va, to vote for Lincoln in
1860. He was known as one of the
few who retained a sense of pro-
portion in his attitude toward the
legal status of the accused accom-
plices of Lincolns assassin, John
Wilkes Booth.
Defense counsel in the military
trial of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt pre-
sented themselves late one night
outside the Thomas Circle house,
shouting and ringing the doorbell
until Justice Wylie, highly incensed
appeared at a window. He opened
the door, however, when he learned
their business, and after discussing
the case with them issued a writ
OF habeas corpus for Mrs. Surratt,
which If honored would have had
the effect Of removing her from
the jurisdiction of the Army and
bringing her before civil court.
The writ was set aside by exec
utive action of President johnson
and Mrs. Surratt subsequently was
executed.
Ts~~>-I>lN>x