Harry Lee Marriner was born at Louisville, Kentucky, in March 1872. After working at various jobs, he began writing a railway column for the Chicago Dispatch and later changed it to a column of human-interest sketches. He also wrote for the Chicago Record, the Louisville Evening Post, of which he was commercial and financial editor, and the Louisville Courier-Journal. In 1902 he moved to Texas as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, where he advanced to city editor and Sunday editor. In March 1904 he began publication of his daily weather column in verse on page one of the paper, one of the most popular features of the News. He published three books of humorous verse-Joyous Days (1910), Mirthful Knights (1911), and When You and I Were Kids (1911)-and became known as the "News Staff Poet." He died of tuberculosis at Kerrville on December 8, 1914, and was survived by his wife and two daughters.
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Dallas Morning News, December 9, 1914. H. V. Demark, "Marriner-Staff Poet," Texas Magazine, May 1912.
Categories:
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Journalism
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Newspapers
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Editors and Reporters
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Writers, Authors, Publications, and Literature
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Literature
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Humorists
Places:
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North Texas
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Dallas/Fort Worth Region
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Dallas
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Clinton P. Hartmann,
“Marriner, Harry Lee,”
Handbook of Texas Online,
accessed July 02, 2022,
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/marriner-harry-lee.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Original Publication Date:
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1952
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Most Recent Revision Date:
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May 11, 2021
This entry belongs to the following Handbook Special Projects:
