Lee Haney was born in Carroll County, Missouri, April
25, 1869, but spent his boyhood in Leavenworth County, Kansas, where
he attended the district schools. When eleven he ran away from
home and went to New York city. He sold papers for three years,
when he went with the Fifth Avenue Hotel as bell-boy, leaving three
years later as night clerk. He joined Sells Bros.' Circus, and
made the Australian tour with the company in 1885.
On his return
he went into the newspaper business at Cheyenne, Wyo., and after a
year or so there drifted to the Santa Fe machine shops at Argentine,
where he remained three years, leaving to become a foreman on the road
for a year. He then went to Topeka as day clerk in the
Chesterfield Hotel, owned by Allen Sells, and came to Kansas City as
night clerk at the Midland in 1892. He then toured a season with
the "Alabama" Company, playing a part, and returned to
Kansas City in 1898, going to work for the World as Kansas
City, Kas., editor. He went with the Journal in 1902, and
later in the year was made press agent of the Orpheum Theater, which
place he now holds.
He was married August 28, 1898, to Miss
Edith Davis, of Kingston, Mo, a lineal descendant of Jefferson
Davis. They have one child, Lee Haney Jr.
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