Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-08-13
CLOSED FOR AYE,
The Tomb Sealed and Military Guard
Left in Charge,

! Left in Charge.
NEW YORK, August "a thousand men
| and women fingered around the tomb at
| 6 80 O'Clock, when the young undertaken,
| stephen w. Merritt, unlocked and swung
| open the great iron and oaken doors to
| allow Patrick Creyan, OF Pittsburgh to seal
| the great solid steel outer case which in
| closed the coffin and it's cedar box. Seven
men from Troy descended into the tom b,
| and by the light of Pickering candles held
| aloft by boy drove fifty six bolts of
steel into the front wall of the steel case,
making it absolutely fright and water
proof Park policemen and citizens, who
! had got through the lines somehow, crept
| down toward the weirdly lighted tomb and
begged and tried to buy bits of coal from
the furnace at which the bolts were heated.
| pieces of burnt candle. rings of rubber from
| the bolts and even splinters of wood in
which the bolts were packed They wanted
| Some of the bolts were round to be imper-
feet and were drawn out of the steel case
! eagerly seized them as souvenirs The last
| bolt WAS driven at S:43 O'Clock and then the
| case was fastened down in place upon the
| packing of plumbago, inserted beneath 1t to
prevent possible damage to the marble slabs
| by reason of the great weight of the steel
| case. 1t turns the scale at 1850 pounds. The
| whole case was next painted with dark wa
| ter proof paint to- remove the work of two
vandals who had scratched their names on
the case while it was on exhibition. Last of
all young Mr. Merritt screwed upon the west
23d. 1881
The screws were driven with the ebon-
handled, silver plated screw driver with
which all the screws of the coffin have been
| fastened. It was made expressly for the
purpose and will be preserved as q memo
is a silver plate inscribed General Grant
dertaker Merritt locked the great doors with
a huge braZcn key and handed it over to
Police Captain Beattie. Then the police
formed 6nnhIa marched
in the faint starlight, leaving the tomb under
the guard of Captain Fessenden, with the
| locks that cluster just above the tomb
At midnight the desolate little knoll was
deserted by all save the soldier watchers.
The cross above the tomb stood out in gls-
tening outline against the sky. The echo
ing tramp of the sentinel sounded family on
the night air. and just under the bluffs over
looking the river the little guard of the Fifth
Artillery had gone to sleep under it's white
tents. The encampment has been chrfStened
Camp Grant, in memory of the dead General
Its members fought with him at Shiloh un-
der Captain, afterward General Terrill, The
camp will remain on guard for thirty days.
Chinese Ceremonies.
NEW YORK, August 9.-The obsequfes were
celebrated in Chinatown In a characteristic
manner. At early hour the imperial
standard was hung at half mast and a bulle-
tin was issued as foil ows: General Grant, a
| very great war General and head man of the
Americans is dead. He was q very good
body observe today, his funeral
day, quietly and pay proper respect
to his memory" The bulletin was read by
laundryman and grocer alike and its con-
tents made known to the community. stores
ness was done. In many of the club rooms
Grants portrait was hung In place of honor
on the wall and either white and violet
mourning emblems. black and white
prayer cards.put alongside or beneath.
At No Mott street, Wong All, a strict Bud
| dhist honOred the Generals memory In or
| thodox style In a corner OF his reception
| room a miniature graveyard a foot square
| was formed upon the floor by filling the
| space between the walls and two pieces OF
| timber with fine white sand three inches
deep. In the center was raised mound six
| the mound was placed porcelain bowl OF
| tea, and ut the head saucer OF roasted
| duck. In the four corners funeral JOSS SUCKS
were inserted in the sand. On the wall at
| the head of the toy cemetery was pasted
| long prayer written in blue black upon
| nited early in the morning and replaced as
] rapidly as they burned out. Wong All said :
The Joss stick Is for Chinese GOD and make
him see the tea and meat for the spirit OF the
| dead man SO that he will enter the next
| world happy" "
celestial attempted to honor the dead by
| ignting fireworks and pyrotechnics, the
same as would be done in China To the dis
appointment of the small boys in the neigh
borhood the youth was summarily sup
| pressed by his employers after he first pack
| had broken the silence of the street. But
| few Chinese used the mourning emblems of
| their American neighbors Lanterns or
prayers, with white or white and violet rib
bons. seemed favorites everywhere.