Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Moore, Harry P., Sr. March 4, 1965
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Robert Woolfitt http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008401 September 4, 2023, 4:34 pm

Virginian-Pilot  March 5, 1965
NORFOLK - Harry P. Moore, who got into the newspaper business as a newsboy 
crying “War!” after the sinking of the Maine, and who reported the first Wright 
brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, died Thursday at the age of 81.
Moore was admitted to De Paul Hospital after breaking his ankle Jan. 24 in a 
fall in his home at 2204 Pershing Ave. He suffered a series of heart attacks 
while in the hospital and died late Thursday afternoon.
A longtime waterfront reporter for The Virginian-Pilot, Moore had an intimate 
acquaintance with Coast Guardsmen, pilots and seafarers that led him to many a 
newsbreak.
He maintained contact with the newspaper and with his waterfront news sources 
until a few months before his death.
Moore used to recall to the hour his introduction to the newspaper business. It 
was at 4 a.m., Feb. 16, 1898, when he was 14.
Newsboys in the street crying the headlines at the sinking of the Maine in 
Havana harbor woke him. Moore decided to join them.
That morning Moore sold 165 copies of the Norfolk Virginian— and a newspaper 
career that was to span 58 years was launched.
While he was working his way up from newsboy to news reporter, Moore signed on 
as a correspondent for several metropolitan newspapers around the country, 
sending them mostly maritime news.
His first big break came on the Wright brothers flight in 1903. Moore got wind 
of the story in a way he never divulged. He offered it to several papers. Some 
turned it down as unbelievable nonsense. But The Virginian-Pilot carried it with 
an eight-column headline on Page 1.
In the course of his career, he covered most of the major maritime disasters 
along the Virginia and Carolina coast.
Typical of the way his wide range of friendships among maritime people paid off 
was his coverage of the sinking of the steamer Berkshire off the Virginia Capes 
early in the century.
The ship caught fire after leaving Norfolk for Boston. Wireless telegraphy was 
in its infancy, but the ship got a message to the Coast Guard.
Two cutters were sent to the rescue, one of them the Onondaga.
The steamer sank stern-first, but not before the Coast Guard had picked up her 
passengers.
The Onondaga’s skipper, a friend of Moore’s, radioed in a report that the ship 
had gone down but her passengers were safe, and asked that the information be 
passed to Moore.
The young reporter’s story was filed hours ahead of anyone else.
Moore carried a trademark with him as he went about his rounds as a maritime 
reporter—a bag of peanuts. Few encountered the veteran waterfront writer without 
having the peanut bag thrust in their direction.
“Have one,” Moore would say. A native of Norfolk, Moore was the son of Harry 
Patrick Moore, a naval engineer, and Mrs. Annie Fallon Moore. He was educated at 
St. Mary’s Academy and in private school.
He is survived by his wife, the former Alice Jacqueline McGuire; three sons, 
Harry Patrick Moore Jr. and Joseph H. Moore, of Norfolk and Robert T. Moore of 
Los Angeles; a daughter, Mrs. J. P. Harnley of Norfolk; a sister, Mrs. Annie 
Thomas of Palmira, N.J.; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
The body was taken to H. D. Oliver Funeral Apartments, where the Rosary will be 
recited tonight at 7:30.
A funeral service will be conducted Saturday at 10 a.m. in Christ the King 
Catholic Church. Burial will be in St. Mary’s Cemetery.




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