Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-20
Burge McFoU, AP Reporter
And Foreign c Correspondent

Burge McFall, an old timer at
newspaper reporting and . for
mer Associated Press foreign
correspondent. died in Mt. Alto
Hospital Friday night after q s.
month battle with cancer.
He was n and had lived his
newspaper life in the era Of
journalism, beginning at the turn
of this century. His later years
were full of good memories and
friendships. To his friends at
the National Press Club. "he was
gentleman Of the press"
Mr.. McFall was the star re-
porter on the English Language
Mexico City Herald in 1905 when
the Herald plant was seized and
wrecked by Emilliano Zapata,
Mexican revolutionary leader.
Reported Mexican Revolt.
With another young Herald
staffer, David Lawrence, now q
nationally syndicated columnist,
appearing in The Star, he re-
ported the fall Of Diaz and the
rise of Madero in Mexico for the
Associated Press. During the
series of revolutions in Mexico.
the only American Mr.. McFall
saw for months was an occa-
sional Morse telegraph operator
who cabled his stories to the
States.
In Mexico, Mr.. McFall also
met Paul Wooton, now Washing
ton correspondent Of the New
Orleans Times-Picayune.
There was never a better re-
porter" Mr.. Wooton recalled.
when ! founded a paper of my
own at Oaxaca later, I sent one
of the first editions to Burge. It
was full of typographical errors,
but he wrote an encouraging
note on the margin that I will
never forget"
Mr.. Wooton and other veteran
members of the Press Club re-
called this story about Mr.. Nc
Fall from among many now q
part Of newspaper legend. When
McFall went to Vera Cruz in 1912
to cover the landing of United
States Marines there, he hired
a small boat in Cuba to make
the crossing to Mexico. The boat
happened to land right on the
beach being stormed by the Ma
rineS. cit was a terrific story for
the APP" said Mr.. Wooton.
Later, in France during World
War I, Mr.. McFall and the APPS
Philip M. Powers captured" the
German stronghold at Stenay by
absent-mindedly walking into
town ahead of American troops.
They received the formal sur
render of the German garrison
and then sat down with the
PruSSian colonel and wrote their
story while they waited for the
soldiers to arrive. The story was
an APP exclusive.
For the Associated Press, Mr..
McFall went with the I'd Divi-
sion to Chateau hierry and Bel
leau Wood, where Marines
stopped a German drive in some
of the bloodiest fighting of the
war. The excitement helped to
blur some of the sorrow that
went with covering violence, Mr..
McFall used to say.
His first wife, Cora, who
shared the hardships of Mexico
with him, died of pneumonia in
the north Mexico mountains.
The train she was riding home
during her husbands Vera Cruz
excursion was halted by bandits.
She was made a prisoner and
suffered from long exposure. Mr..
McFall saw her on the train at
Mexico City and never saw her
again.
Visited Japan.
In Washington in 1919 as
State Department reporter for
the APP, Mr.. McFall married
again. His second wife, Agnes,
died here in 1912. He had no
children.
He left the APP in 1922 and
became a public relations con-
sultant to the Japanese Ambas-
sador here, making several trips
to Tokyo. BY 1881, japanese war
plans became apparent to Mr..
McFall with the invasion OF
China, and he quit the embassy
in protest, going from a life Of
unaccustomed ease into a de-
preston market for newspaper
men.
He worked for various indus
try committees, including the
Pan American Petroleum Trans
port and National Highway Users
Conferences, and then Joined the
government in 1885, serving with
u ~