Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-08-09
Witness the Grandsst Funeral
cortsgs Of the Age.
Aliks tns Loss of a Great and Noble
Soul.
s,,e,al b tas S,,uaay Rsgis!.r.


Exw YoRk, August S.-The funeral IS
.ser. The day is done. The last sad rites
tsye been performed over hero's remains
AID lonely tomb overlooking from its high
tonirsute the historic Hudson to the west
spd a growing city to the east, tells the last
ME Of Nations mourning and q Nation 5
asad.
Never within the history Of New York
Las such procession taken place within its
tuits-never have the crowds been so rep
resentstive Of the Nation as to-day. 1t was
not New York procession that filed ma
iesticalIy past and under the emblens OF
mourning to-day, marching to slow music
d mournful dirges, keeping time to the soF-
rouful throbs Of a Nations snguish-torn
heart, but a National prOce sion, gath
cred together as one people to follow
to its last resting place the body ofits dead
hero the las, remnant OF the man they
loved to honor in life as General and Presi-
dent. and who in death commanded their
highest respect ard heartfelt love, as man
Of broad views OF generous motives, and
Kindly feelings.
The body had lain in stat in the yesGbule
of the CITY Hall, amid trsppings Of deepest
BLACK, from Wednesday night until Satur-
day morning, and was viewed by thousands
upou thousands Of people, who reverently
fled in and ont, taking last, lingering
f. look at the caskst, with hushed voices aud
abated breath. - -. @as.s -
Chief of Police Murray at o'clock his
morning, was in command of men aud af
fairs at the City Hall. At that hour the iron
gates were abou. 10 be closed when he o.
served that there were 500 or 1000 people
vet waiting az The foot of the steps and
across (.ss PIAZZA Let them come in, com
maEded the Superintendent to the officers
who at command mad shut oil the people.
And then iclloE5d ten minutes Of the most
exIeditiC hus'liDg oChumans that has pSO
badly been known since the emancipation
procis matiou. Toe material was composed
almost entirely Of men and lusty policemen
supple m, uted their sdmonitions Of hIste
with xc' ediagly effective persuasion OF q
muscular character.
Men and boys were shot through the
City Hall with such celebrity as will remind
the occasion 20 them doubly memorable.
The last person bad at last crossed the we'll
worn threshold and the iron gates chained
shut. The public had taken its leave of the
dead General. Officer Of the Seventh Regi-
meut were on dury and the usual detail
Of Grant post was present ss immediate
body guard, while the Loyal Legion was
represented by one Of its members who
stood at the head OF the cssket One of
the Wheeler Post. Of Saratoga, which first
mounted a guard detail about tlhe mountain
cottage. the day of General Grants death,
was alao present. The last OF the memor-
ial public hs buified away through the
black Or corridors and out OF the
building Ahour was l:l~ m. None
but the Aee, and guards ald all night re-
porsers were present when the undertaken
took charge Of the remains.
"Any here who TOW desire to view the re.
mains win step forward a. once, said the
undertaken. His voice re-schoed through
the dark still corridors
All present passed b7 TIE Ca.kat aud the
ANlUE AN--N1AE u GAH WI lA4 tA4CQs
UUdertaker Merritt yGe0 brushed the glass
plates above the oody aud dreS from their
places the two his which cover the cssket.
The four screws in each we're turned down
anG the face OF The dead had oeen
Closed For Ever Prom View,
unless there should in tie future come from
the family a request to remove the lids
Then ihe deal vas leil in care Of the guards
Hho stood erect and silently within the
closed iron gates aud beneath the black
drspery. The night wore on and the gray
of daylight was creeping up the east. The
still air o. the tomb-hks corridors became
heavy with the p rfuue Of withering flow.
ers near the dead. A huge piece, The
Gates Jar, had q place az the head of the
casksl and the we. smell Of the lilies was
borne down 70 those who stood and watched.
Great hersesho=s OF red and yellow rose5uds
addsd their fragrance, and and q cross and
crown from Mayor F. c. Latrobe of B4lr-
n ore, sent ont Its quota to the heavy per
tune that settled on the sepalchral air. But
iere wss one tribute that bore no fragrance
except as will come tenderly to the
family OF the dead. 1t bore
no perfume save that which lives in its
memories. This token was plain wreath |
of flowers, pinned together with stems of |
oak leaves and formed in the shape Of let |
ter sc. The leaves grew on the oaks in /
the forests Of Mount MeGregor. aud autter-
ed in the mountain breezss while General I
Grant was dying, and on the afternoon of
Thursday, the day he died, little Julia, his
granddaughter, and little Josie, DR.. Doug
ASS child, had gathered the oak leaves IN
he mountain roads. Then, as the children
pratflsd, they knitted with innocent fingers
and lcyip2 hearts the wreath Of oak leaves
hat to-day is the only tribute that touches
DO Generals caskgt. The little ouss their
Iaering finished, had taken il 70 Col Grant !