Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-26
Stanley Walker Dead;
Editor in Fabulous Era

AAAEAOAS, lex, NOV. 20
ZAP. Stanley Walker, "a,
whose knack for chronicling a
fabulous era won him fame as
a New York editor, ended his
life with a shotgun yesterday,
two days before he was to un-
dergo surgery for throat can
Ger.
Mr.. Walker, a prolific author
and magazine writer, returned
in 1916 to the central Texas
ranch near LampaSas where he
was born.
It was on the front porch of
the old ranch house, where
most Of his writing in recent
years was done, that his wife
found the body about an hour
before noon. A .410-gauge shot
gun lay close by. Justice of the
Peace CASHIER Smell returned a
coroner's verdict of suicide.
While Mr.. Walkers health
had been poor for some time,
the man who became a legend
as city editor Of the New York
Herald Tribune refused only
Saturday night to confirm q re-
port he was seriously Ill. The
New York Daily News said an
operation for throat cancer
had been planned tomorrow in
Houston.
Somber Letters
Friends disclosed after his
death that Mr.. Walker had
written in somber vein the last
few days.
One letter to Will Fowler of
Los Angeles, son of the late
Gene Fowler "a close friend
with whom Mr.. Walker worked
on New York newspapers in the
1920S-said:
along about day after to-
morrow, down in Houston, in
one Of the worlds finest in
stitutions for such matters, I
let the boys with the short
Shivs work on me carcinoma
of the throat, a spot about the
size Of a half-dollaT. I sus-
pect the worst, but I may pull
out of it for a time. Don't bet,
except against me-"
In a letter to Associated Press
Newsman Ben Lame in st.
Louis, Mr.. Walker apologized
for not supplying more infor-
nation asked by Mr.. Laime for
a thesis. He added: "I'd an
swer in more detail Il I could,
but I'm in pretty bad shape
and Just on the verge of taking
off for Houston to have my
throat cut"
In another letter, to long
time newspaper friend Belle
RosenbauIn, associate book edi-
tor Of the New York Herald
Tribune, Mr.. Walker wrote last
Monday about his condition and
his planned trip to Houston
the next day. Don't worry"
he said, land there isn't any
thing to do that isn't already
being DONE"
"Get MY Obit Ready"
Mr.. Walker signed that let
ter, THE Sweet Singer Of
Hummingbird Mesa"
Miss Rosenbaum told Of talk
ing Saturday night to Mr..
Walkers wife. in Texas, when
Mr.. Walker took the phone
and, in a voice which was
strained and painful, said:
Get my obit ready for Mon
day."
Arrangements were made to
take the body to San Antonio
for cremation today. A NOR
tuary said Mr.. Walker had
asked that no funeral or me-
mortal service Nbe held. He re-
quested that his ashes be scat
tered over the ranch. i
A Texan who liked to wear
Western garb, Mr.. Walker at
tended the University Of Texas,
then started his newspaper
career as a reporter for the
Austin (Texas) American. He
was assistant city editor of the
Dallas News in 1873, before
going to New York.
He was a rewrite man, night
city editor and then city editor
in 1928-35 for the New York
Herald and Herald Tribune. In
the next four years, he was
managing editor of the New
York Mirror, news editor of
the old New York American
and worked for the New Yorker
magazine and the since-sus-
pended New York Woman and