Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1886-08-19

Funeral Services of the Late 8.
j. Tilden.
Honors TO the Dead Statesman.


The funeral Of Mr.. Tilden from his man.
sion at Greystone, Saturday morning,
August z, was plain and simple, as the dead
statesman wished 1t should be. Yonkers
was in mourning garb. The shops were
closed and badges Of mourning hung on the
closed doors. The people of the village
were out early, vending their way to-
wards the mansion of their old friend,
where the last marks of respect were to be
paid to his greatness and his benevolence.
Morning trains brought numbers of dis
tinguished people to swell the crowds
which filed the grounds OF Greystone,
waited under the trees until the doors
should be thrown open to the public and
then filed respectfully into the chamber Of
death to look on the face soon to be shut
out from sight forever.
Within Mr.. Tilden's mansion all was
subdued quiet. The dead leader lay In his
coffin in the great drawing room, the wallis
windows and entrances of which were
draped in deep black. Heavy folds Of
Grape and cashmere hid every vestige of
color, and the blue-room OF Mr.. Tilden's
pride was, for time, a blue room no
more. Between two windows which look
out on the Hudson, where his yacht lay
tossed by the breakers, was the coffin. It
was a rich but plain casket of Spanish
cedar, covered with rich black silk plush,
and ornamented with oxidiZed silver
trimmings. A silver plate bore the in
scription in plain script, samuel j. Til
den.
Deep down in the tufted white satin lay
hAa Of Mr.
one side. The body was in full dress, a
high standing collar and white tie encircl-
ed the neck, and a fresh flower was in the
battonhole on the coat lapel. The face
was calm, more So indeed, than those who
had known Mr.. Tilden during his long
period of illness had seen the countenance
in years. There was no mark of suffering
on il, and il bore no trace of emaciation.
At $3.50 the ceremonies were to begin.
At that hour those who wished to take a
tary Manning. came first, leaning on
the arm of Mr.. John Bigelow. The
two gentlemen had been tried and
trusted friends Of the dead man, the one
his political Lieutenant the other the
scholarly companion OF his retirement and
President Cleveland and Secretary Endi-
colt. Daniel Lamont came next, and
after him solid column, the prominent
members of which were Charles A. Dana,
editor of the Sun, and Mr.. Tilden's life
long friend and political admirer, Samuel
j. Randall; Senator Evarts, Algernon s.
Sullivan, Smith NJ. Weed Gov. Hill, VIM.
ii. Barnum, Gen. Alex. Hamilton, and q
large numb,r of others of almost equal
prominence from all parts Of the east.
singing of a hymn, "Abide with ms" by
the choir of the Madison avenue Presby-
terrain church, which Mr.. Tilden attended
when in New York.
Rev. VIM. j. Tucker Of Andover, Mass,
a close friend of tho family, read the burial
service of the Presbyterian church, and
then delivered brief address. He spoke
of the desolation of death. 1t divides
friends from those who weep by gulf
which ordinary expression cannot cross.
In the case of Mr.. Tilden il had done even
more. 1t had ended the existence OF
great intellect, and of a mind so great that
few men of the age had equaled him, while
fewer still, IL any indeed, had excelled.
Wisdom, sagacity and honor were the
characteristics of Mr. Tilden. The rever-
end gentlemen briefly spoke OF the manner
in which Mr.. Tilden had exemplifed these
human projections, and the lessons to be
drawn from his life and deeds.
Two more hymns were rendered and
the services were at an end. The glass
cover of the inner coffin was put in place
servants of Mr.. Tilden, lifted their pre-
cious burden to the hearse, followed by the
honary pallbearers, Samuel j. Randall,
John Bigelow, Daniel Manning, Smith M.
Weed, Charles A. Dana, DR.. George L.
Miller, William Allen Butler, Daniel Ma
gone, j. b. Trevor, DIR. Charles L. Sim
mons and Aaron j. Vanderpoel. Out into
the rain which was falling heavily, the
cortege moved from the residence TO the
depot, where a special funeral train had
been prepared. A private car had been
arranged with a catafalque, end three
coaches were filled with the mourners
members of the family and public officials
The special train left Yonkers shortly
before noon. At every station a large
crowd was gathered, despite therain, with
uncovered heads and many emblems Of
mourning were exhibited. The train
reached New Lebanon at O'Clock and was
met at the depot by nearly the entire
population of the village. The remains
were conveyed to the little Congregation
al church opposite the old Tilden home
stead, where services were conducted by
Rev. MIR. Burrill, the pastor. These con-
cluded, an opportunity was given to the
public to view the face of the dead. Fully
5000 persons passed the coffin and gazed
at the dead statesman. The coffin was
then covered, placed in the hearse, and the
sad procession moved to the cemetery,
where, after prayer, the body was placed
in a vault.