The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-06-07
GOSSIP FROM GOTHAM.
PRESIDENT CLEvELAND's MAG.
NIFICENT RECEPTION.

NIFICENT RECEPTION.
Exporting the Dead. - Funny New |
York FuneraIs.-The PulIerin.-An
Entertaining Letter,
New YORK, June 4.-The good |
people of this town manage to get a
lot of fun out of funerals. didn't |
know it until last Sunday, when I |
went over to Brooklyn. New York |
is the only city in the world that bu-
ries all its dead in another city, and |
| Brooklyn is the sepulchre New York |
has chosen. The principal cemeteries
in Brooklyn are Greenwood, Calvary, |
| Cypress Hills, Evergreen and the |
| Lutheran, and 34th street ferry from
New York leads to most of them. 1t
would shock the sensibilitias of most |
people who are not New Workers to
see what / saw on my trip to and
across this ferry last Sunday. From
the east side, from the west side, from
the battery and from Harlem there
was a continuous stream of funeral
professions and all bound for the
34th street ferry house. On Sunday
afternoon when a funeral cortege
starts, say from Washington street ON
the west side, its pace is that respect
fully slow jog that people in other
cities are used to, but as soon as 9th
avenue is reached the pace changes.
The driver of the hearse will whistle
softly to the driver of the clergyman
and pail bearers just ahead, and then
nod to the driver of the first carriage
behind him. This driver passes the
nod back to the next driver, who pas
it back to the next, and so along the
line to the end of the procession. Then
the driver of the first vehicle gathers
up his reins and chirrups softly to his
nags, who start into kind of sedate
dog-trot, and the rest follow OH at
tte same pace. Perhaps when the
procession reached 23d street the
head diver sees another funeral pro-
cession coming across town, and know
ing thatsthe little boats of the ferry
will only hold one funeral and its
carriages at a time, the astute head
driver yanks just little on his reins
and says, "G-yup, thereW at the same
time giving signal to the driver fol
lowing him, and the procession in
creases its speed. ..and goes bowling up
the avenue in swinging trot- As
34th street is neared another funeral
is sighted, coming down from Harlem
and as it is Just possible that the
Washington-Street funeral may be
able to get into 34th street first and
thus save fifteen minutes wait for a
boat, the head driver snips his steeds
once or twice with the tip end of the
whip, and the swinging trot all along g
the line becomes 2:40 gait with one
or two horses breaking badly perhaps.
Whizz the downtown carriages rasp
their wheels against the curb as they
make the rapid turn into 34th street,
two carriage lengths ahead of the up
town funeral. Bnt a block ahead an
other procession is just about to turn
into the street from uptown. 1t won't
do to let this little "six-hack' funeral
get ahead of the big downtown
procession, and from 2:40 trot the
} horses. are whipped into run, and
) fairly tear along toward the ferry.
, The "six. hack" procession discovered
. the little game, however, and by the
, time the down town hearse has got to
the crossing the uptown funeral has
turned into the street. But the latter
/, hasn't got the headway on that the
} downtown funeral has, and by the
:, time the next corner is reached the
:, hearses are neck and neck and the
carriages struggling along at. divers
: distances apart. Hacks sway from
!, side to side, fat women are jolted into
thin mems laps, glass rattles, wheels
!. grind and CRATE on the horse-car
|. tracks and the coffin bounces out OF
, place in ithe hearse as an unusually
/ deep gutter is cleared. The windows
| on either side are filled with people
e who can enjoy an exciting race with
: out going to Monmouth Park, Sleeps
t head or Bay Gutenberg, and tie side
a walks are packed with interested spec
f tators who bet on their favorites witt
s the same gusto that the hackers O
9 "The Bard" and his compsers display
: on mile track. The mourners for
l. get their sorrow in their anxiety t.
: beat each others funeral, and fre
v auently they yell at the opposing pro
r cession, hurling wisberingly sarcastic
n taunts concerning the age of the op
le position horses, the geologic periot
e at which the other funerals hack
l. were dug out of the earth, and lik
J. observations calculated to "rattle'
: the other party's procession.
M You think I am telling you al
le Eli Perkins Mulhatton yarn perhaps
ID I'm not all the same.
as saw the the very occurrence
E. have endeavored to describe abov
1T last Sunday afternoon as I was walk
ing down 34th street toward the ferr
to and was told by some of the peopl
d who live along that thoroughfare tha
j.. the same thing happens at the sam
e time every Sunday.
L saw even more saw disput
ID at the ferry between two rival proce'
OF sions to decide which had the rigl
Sc to the next boat, a dispute in whic
lie not only the drivers, but the people |
IL the carriages took part, and in whic
y, blows would have been exchange
I'd bad not a couple of policemen inte
On tered and settled the matter by le
On ting the biggest funeral take the fir
boat.
Ie- On the Brooklyn side of the ferry
ed saw some half dozen funeral proce
al sions drawn up along the stree
tn awaiting the boats to return to n.
It was warm day, and the men in Il