Biography

Harris Merton Lyon was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

 in 1882. He attended the University of Missouri

University of Missouri

The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

 while working at a restaurant and laundrette. By the early 1900s, he moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to work as a journalist and as a short story writer. His stories were published in Broadway Magazine, edited by Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...

, and later in McClure's

McClure's

McClure's or McClure's Magazine was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with creating muckraking journalism. Ida Tarbell's series in 1902 exposing the monopoly abuses of John D...

, Collier's, The Smart Set

The Smart Set

The Smart Set was a literary magazine founded in America in March 1900 by Colonel William d'Alton Mann.-History:Mann had previously published Town Topics, a gossip rag which he used for political and social gain among New York City's infamous elite known as "The Four Hundred." With The Smart Set,...

, and The Illustrated Sunday Magazine. In 1908, he published his first collection of short stories, Sardonics, followed by Graphics in 1913. The same year, he moved into a farm in Colebrook, Connecticut

Colebrook, Connecticut

Colebrook is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,471 at the 2000 census. Colebrook was named after Colebrooke, in the English county of Devon.-Geography:...

 and started writing a series of anonymous letter for Reedy's Mirror

Reedy's Mirror

Reedy's Mirror was a literary journal in St. Louis, Missouri in the fin de siècle era. It billed itself "The Mid-West Weekly".-Overview:The journal first appeared on February, 25 1891 under the title of the Sunday Mirror, published by The Sunday Mirror Company in St. Louis. On February 28, 1895,...

. He died of Bright's disease

Bright's disease

Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....

 three years later.

Theodore Dreiser wrote a portrait based on Harris Merton Lyon in Twelve Men. Dreiser nicknamed him 'Maupassant, Jr'.