St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-17

shell Oh spring was IN tne air. IL
lies at some distance from the
, travelled highway, and when band of men,
some of whom carried shovels and picks on
their shoulders. had gone away, there was
not sound to disturb the quiet place ex-
cept the hum Of insects that the warmth
brought out and the continued cries of some
bluejayS that flock to the trees i'm good num-
berS. The funeral of the victims was held
out of doors. for there was hardly a build
ing left that was large enough. No picture
could ever be drawn more gloomy. The
sun refused TO look upon the city and
GRAY VEIL OF CLOUDS
hung low above the ruins. No funeral bell
tolled. for there was no bell. No flag was
at half-mast, for their was neither flag nor
mast within the village. No eIRblems of
mourning were displayed, for there was no
places from which to display them. No
mourning chants were sung. for all the
sounds that any could utter were those of
quiet weeping. Hardly more than 200
were present, for the work of caring for
the living took precedence over any de-
sires that existed to do respect to the dead.
1t threatened rain a little before o'clock,
when the first of the cOffins was removed
from the dead house and placed in the Or
dinary wagon that served as a hearSe.
Fourteen of the dead were taken out one
by one and placed in all sorts of vehicles,
while the men and women who had been
about the relief rooms went over to where
the CHASTITY collection was being made. 1t
was sight that made many weep. The
pencil cannot paintit. About each wagon
gathered those who mourned for the one
that lay within the coffin.
THE COFFINs
were all plain and were of all lengths,
from the little box that contained the baby
boy of Mrs. Finck, who lay in the same
wagon, TO the full-sized one Of Mr.. Berends.
Each was covered with some rough cloth,
the best that could be had in the place.
Two ministers, the Rev. c. A. Cummings
aud the Rev. E. V. Campbell of ST. Cloud.
conducted the services. which were brief.
From the Episcopal book Mr.. Cummings
read the funeral service ip-Irtasured tones
and with uncovered heaa. No word of
song was heard, and Mr.. Campbell offered
short prayer, which was all. There was
little weeping. A few wOmen's sobs,
deep and despairing, a few walls from
children, and the sighs Of men were all that
broke upon the preachers words. Many
seemed dazed. and even the sad Office of
burial failed to arouse them from a sort of
since the disaster. Never was q sadder
sight than when the funeral procession
started for the cemetery. twas so hOmely
and simple i'm its appearance. Not sign
of the usual funeral procession except the
coffins and on the mourners' faces. Some of
THE MoURNERs RODE
in the same team as did their dead Peter
Finck had lost his wife and four children,
and in a single vehicle all were carried.
Ever since the bodies, bruised and battered,
were stretched in the morgue, Mr.. Finck
has been near his dead much of the time.
He is an oldiSh man, in moderate circum-
stances. He has beeu apparently stunned
by the blow. Not tear has mOistened his
eyes and his voice has not broken, but he
has spoken in a weary, quiet tone that indi-
Gates his suffering. When the collins con-
tanning his family had been placed in the
wagon yesterday. he seemed unable to be
parted from them, and he climbed into the
wagon and sat tor 4 time beside the coffin
that contained his wife. Nobody needed
him or thought strangely of the act. No
body spoke TO him and he spoke to no one,
but sat with his head buried i'm his hands,
alone and deSOlate. 1t seemed long road
from the spot near the dead-house to the
cemetery.
THE PROCESSION
started soon after the prayer was ended.
The road was down the main street past
the places where the homes of those who
We're being buried had been. A dozen
teams followed the wagons i'm which were
the collins. turning near where the brewery
had been and passing up the hill. The dis
tance was about a mile and half, and at
the slow gait taken nearly half an hour was
needed to reach the burying place. Eight
graves had been dug for the bodies of the
dead, who were the following:
Mrs. Mia Finck, Carl Z. Finck, John II.
Finck. OH LA Finck and August l.. Finck a
child of Mr.. Shallgrecn. Ernest Albright, s.
Sorenson, Henry Behrens, Amelia woeln
Antonia Woelm, A. W. Lake, Clara and Ella
Berg.
1t took but q short time to remove the
cOffins from 'the wagons and arrange them
to be lowered into their last resting place.
One wide grave secured the five bodies OF
the Finck family. the little three-years-old
child being placed next its mother, and
INTO ONE GRAVE
were lowered the two children of Mr. Her
man WOelin, AntOnia and Amelia, and the
two Berg sisters were placed side by side
in one, while for the rest were given sep
arate graves. Some of the rough-looking
men who leaned on their shOvels while the
bodies were being lowered brushed tears
from their eyes, and the mourners
wept, most of them. But it was
soon over and everybody went away
except the men who were to fill the graves
and smooth the mounds over them. They
did this in silence. and as the holes were
filed, simple piece Of pine board was
placed at the head of each. bearing i'm blue
chalk or pencil marks the names and ages
Of the ones who slept beneath. Not a
flower or wreath was laid upon the mounds,
and they were not covered with green sod.
There were simply eight commonly looking
mounds of brown dirt and the plain boards
in a grassy patch beneath the oak trees,
through which the blue jays fitted and
made their doleful calls, and nobody heard
them but their mates, who answered in the
same tones here and there throughout the
grove.