The Evening critic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1881-1885, 1881-09-23
EXTR
GONE FOREVER
From the Scenes Of his Great
est Triumphs.
With fearful Eye and
Sorrowing Heart,
Washington Witnesses the Depart
ure.
Respect to the Memory Of the
Dead
Shown by an Almost Countless Multitude.
A Remarkable Sirht.

A Remarkable Sight.
Years will elapse before Washington wit
N esscs such n sight rs we have had this af-
ternoon, and let all hope that 1t may never
again come from such melancholy cause
The act is over.
The curtain has fallen on the Washing
ton career Of James A. Garfield. The streets
which he had trodden in the carly days OF
the war, and the Avenue which had grown
by degrees into beauty and symmetry like
his own improving public charactcr), will
know him no more. r.......
But the scenes in which he was so promi-
nent an actor, and the particular spots that
have witnessed the triumphs and the
tragedies of his long career, will remain
and children who to-day formed fractions OF
the vast multitudes of mourncrs will re-
peat the story and describe the sad occasion
when we are dead and gone.
1t occurred to thousands who thronged
the Avenue to-day that Washington was
favored by circumstances in being the
theatre of great events. How many mil
lions of people from one end of the country
to the other have envied to-day the privi.
legged few in the United STATES who could
witness the funeral cortcgc of the nations
chief?
Not even ut the time Of the Inauguration
was there such an immense concourse of
people on tho Avenue. They seemed to
spring from the ground as If by magic, in
cited by motives of sympathy and respect.
Where they all came from was marvel
Even allowing for the troops that came
from the ncighboring cities on all the
morning trains, it was still hard to account
side streets and surgcd in solid phalanx
along the Avenue over the entire line OF
march.
The overflow spread through the grounds
of the Capitol, and at the eastern front,
whence the body was to be borne, nothing
could be seen but surging sea of upturncd
faces, anxiously awaiting the commence
ment and the close of the ceremonies. 1t is
useless to dwell ON any estimate of the num-
bers who witnessed the last scenes. Per-
haps it would be safe to say that over 200,-
600 men, women and children, representing
all classes and conditions, were gathered to.
gether on this momentous occasion.
As on Wednesday last, there was the same
silence and perfect order. Militamen and
regulars, with reversed arms, the army and
naval escort in full uniform, the sombrc
hearse and the long line of carriages. The
arrangement could not have been more per-
feet. The ceremonies concluded, the march
began down the historic hill, and all was
over. Funeral strains sad hearts, bcreaved
thousands. And, when all had passed, the
crowd surged homeward.
1t was indeed "the sad verify of death
swept by the rustling masquerade of life"
"a sentence which the dead statesman ad-
mired, little fancying he would ever point
moral. altl
1t is Friday, the day of superstition. 1t
was also Friday when the late President
was borne in triumph aloug the Avenue to
the sound of huzzas and notes of martial
music, to enter the Mansion which has been
to him and his so fruitful of disaster.
On both events the elements seemed to
grant their sympathy.
On the morning of the inaugural the sky
was heavy and murkcy; but when the
triumphal march up the Avenue began, the
sun came brilliantly out and the scene was
gorgeously in keeping with the day. This
Friday, which ended the sad scene, opened
brilliantly, and the sun went under cloud
when the march down the Avenue began.
But through the mists and the summer
shower, a rainbow spanned the eastern sky
Immediately over the dome. Did it mean
to tell the thousands below that out of the
mists of sorrow como the rays of "A national
hope?
Waiting Mt the Depot and I'm the
Streets.
Throughout the entire day the streets
were throngcd with people Pennsylvania
Avenue was a sea of faces and forms, and
about the Capitol human ocean surged in
almost limitless numbers.
Densely crowded trains from the East
West, North and South numbered into the
two depots with their living freight. The
of country wagons, with iaded horses and
crowded with occupants, logged into the
city from the adjacent counties of Maryland
and Virginia.
Long before the commencement even Of
the funeral obsequies, the Baltimore & Po
tomac depot began to be thronged with
people-men, women, aud children-and by
o'clock the jam was intense in thai
vicinity, all earnest, and bent upon wit
Messing the departure of
The Dear, Dead
President forever from the city that loved
him so well-that held him as one of III
own. Wagons carriages, vehicles Of al
descriptions, and thousands of people wit
found it futile TO remain about the Capito
congregated about the depot All classe
were represented, and all present altogethe
lost sight of everything else save the OK
pectation of the remains of the dead Prcsi
, dent. Women and girls climbed into thu
windows, men crowded and jostlet
toward the front, the roofs o
houses thereabout were thronged will