THE,'SUNDAY TIMES-UNION,. KJASON

DEATH TAKES AUTHOR


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NEW YORK, March 13.-Stephen Vincent Benet American poet
rtory writer died here today alter an illness of several days. He


tephen Vincent Benet, Poet-

And Writer, Dies in Manhattan
aNEW YORK, March 13,, )--Ste- and their three children, Stephani
hen Vincent Benet, 44, poet and Rachael and Thomas Carr Benet
ter, who Ulsed some 6-the fire lived in their house In Stonlngto
d brimstone of his short story, Conn., where James Whistler h
e Devil and Daniel Webster," lived as a boy.
n behalf of the war effort, died Here, In a tiny, bare, third-st
ay at his Manhattan home. room, his feet propped up o
He had bedn ill several days and other chair, Benet would
fered a heart attack last night.. long hand, on yellow copy
eral services will be held .Mon- on a board held In his lap.. .
.Y. '' Interviewed at Stonington .
Son,of an Army colonel, grand- Summer, Benet said, In his
on of a brigadier general for whom voice, peering through double
e was named, the writer was a lensed glasses, "I shall not write,
ember of a noted family which, long narrative poem about th"
in this generation, flowered Into war"
Sterature. Both he and his broth- Such poetry, he said that da
er, William Rose Beniet,- had won would come from men under 30. ..
Pulitzer prizes, for their poetry. "i haven't been in it," he said
Their sister, Miss Laura .Benet, is of the war. "I won't have had'
also known as a poet. the experience to write about it."
Benet's wife, the former Rose-
Carr, is also a writer. ST. AUGUSTINE, March 13, P)-
i"John Brown's .Body," a long, Stephen Vincent Benet, who died in
narrative poem for which he won New York today, was descended
the Pulitzer prize for poetry in from a Spanish family which settled
929, is one of his best known in this picturesque old city, and on
Sorks. several occasions he visited his num-
" Benet was working on another erous distant cousins here. .
ngene historical orkinem, "Wester He always expressed pleasure and
tar," when the war stated. He pride that his ancestors lived id St.
abandoned printed poet*o princ- Augustine.
ally to do radio scripts., pr They cme originally from Da-
able wrot e talonia. Spain, going from there to
notablee broadcasts he wrote n- the Island of Minorca. and thence
uded a series titled "Dear Adolf," to Florida. In his novel, "Spanish
Ot -Army," "A Time to Reap," Bayonet," Benet ided a background
resented last Thanksgiving; "They material the Minorcans who settled
Burned the Books," which has been in Florida.
repeated throughout the United On January 22, 1941. he was the
States; "A Tooth for Paul Re- guest of the St. Augustine Historical
vere," in which Raymond Massey Society and Institute of Science at
starred, and "A Child Is Born," a celebration in memory of his
presented last Christmas by Alfred grandfather. Brig. Gen. Stephen
Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. He was Vincent Benet.
working on ar Easter program. On that occasion he praised the
'. He wrote the prayer read by Pres- attitude of pride the city had In
dent Roosevelt at a United Nations its heritage, saying, "There is a
ay celebration at the White House sense of history here such as few.
ast Junk 14. American cities may know or boast."
When be started writing for radio, He expressed regret that the'
Benet w& already well established Spanish contribution to culture and
as a writer and poet' by virtue of civilization has not been written
s;-series aof published works that about "Is extensively as. has thd
an appearing when 'he was 17, English, and pointed out that this
d a freshman at Yale. Is a great new field for tihe novellptt
'In the Summers.,he an' htis wife, poet or historian. ,,. ,' .