Dirty Dan's Final Resting Place

Dan was buried next to his wife Bertha Wasmer Harris, who died on November 20, 1888.

A small plaque honoring Dan Harris is located next to Bertha's  large tombstone.

Dan may not have rested undisturbed in his grave.   On October 17, 1890, less than two months after his death the Los Angeles Herald headlines read:

WILL BE DUG UP
The body of Daniel J. Harris to be Exhumed
A Rich Man Dies
A Prospect of a Lively Fight Over His Fortune

The article reported that Daniel J. Harris was worth $150,000 and died intestate.  Dan’s brother George W. Harris arrived from the East Coast and wanted an exhumation of the body to investigate the cause of death, as poisoning was suspected.   It is unknown if the exhumation was ever done.   In subsequent reporting of the trial, exhumation  is not mentioned again.

Los Angeles Herald

August 21,  1890

Died.   HARRIS.  In this city,
Monday August 18, 1890

Colonel Daniel J. Harris, a native of New York, age 56 years.

Funeral service, Rev. Dr. Crabbe officiating will be held in the undertaking parlors of Peck, Sharpe & Neitzke Co.,Thursday August 21, 1890 at 4 p.m.

Internment in Rosedale cemetery.
Friends are invited without further notice.

Leslie Evans playing the part of Daniel J. Harris at his gravesite.

FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT  Leslie Evans:

"I have a particular affection for Dirty Dan Harris, having played him in one of the annual West Adams History Tours at the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery.  In these events the actors learn what they can about the lives of their characters, are costumed for the period, and set up at the character’s gravestone to assume their parts.  For weeks I studied the history and maps of Bellingham Bay… about Harris’ extraordinary life; whaler Indian trader, smuggler….packer on the Cariboo Trail, and then hotel owner and founder of the town of Fairhaven.  A man of incredible physical strength and indifferent personal hygiene, who late in life married a much younger woman on who he doted who died young.  Briefly rich, Harris was ultimately poisoned by his wife’s Los Angeles doctor, which is how I came to be standing next to his grave channeling his unhappy spirit."

6/2/20