Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-04-19
AFTER THE MURDER.
The Funeral at the Old Home.


HaseItine to the home of his
parents, furnishes us the following
account Of the funeral:
The remains of Willis Haseltine
accompanied by its escort, were
taken from here Wednesday by
way of Portage to Brooklyn, a
small village sixteen miles south of
Madison, which place was reached
at IL o'clock Thursday There a
hearse was i'll readiness and friends
were waiting, who conducted the
party to the farm residence Of Mr.
Haseltine's parents, located two
and one-half miles west Of the
village. Everything here bears
the mark Of thrift. The old home
is a large farm, with good build
ings upon it. The house is a
large, substantial, we'll kept build
ing, too large and roomy for its
two lonely inmates who were now
SO suddenly called upon to drain
the very dregs of the most sorrow
full cup of human woe. The coffin
was placed in the parlor and the
lid removed, disclosing to the
distracted parents the married
countenance and form of an only
son, the pride of their aged hearts,
now cold and stiff in death. The
scene will never be forgotten.
Parental grief is always over
Whelming and hard to bear, but
the horrors of such a death as
this There was here no tender
death-bed scene,-no loving fare
we'll words for the memory to
cherish and treasure, but the form
motionless, the lips voiceless, the
eyes sightless. When first seen
by these frenzied parents, there
could be no response to the
supplicating entreaties even by
word or look. Difficult indeed, to
soothe the parents heart in such
an hour of anguish. The Father
walked up to the coffin and
weepingly, in broken tones told of
his sons career, his trials, his
fathers love for him, and finally,
seeming more calm and philosoph-
ical standing there, gazing at the
dead body of his boy, folded in the
mysterious sleep of death before
his life had scarcely reached its
noontime hour, he seemed to
realize that that which we call
death is after all, only the door to
another life; that the night and
sorrow here is dawn, is morning
and sunshine somewhere else, and
cheered by this star of hope the
father eXclaimed-"I believe he is
not dead,-something tells me his
spirit still lives. He lives some
where else, and | will be his father
there, as | have been here" An
aunt of the deceased, a noble type
of woman who supported the aged
parent, now said yes, he does live
and could he speak to you he
would say, Father be 6yu0e."
This was a fathers grief, but
Willis Haseltine had a mother,
and she was there, and who can
tell the grief of her who bore and
nurtured him; who Graded him to
sleep so oft when a child; who
prayed at his bedside in the
twilight, and who now broken
hearted and bowed down with the
most terrible of all, a mothers
grief, sobbed and moaned, and
called him willie" still? A more
heart rendering scene was never
witnessed. The maternal instinct
is holy, indeed! A mother is
mother still, and if God ever
counts their tears, surely hers
counted here.
There was still another near and
dear one, an only sister had been
summoned from her Iowa home to
gaze for the last time upon the
form of what was once to her the
dearest of brothers. She is a tall,
good looking woman, and a true
sisters heart throbbing within her
breast rendered her grief uncon-
trollable.
Arrangements being made for
the funeral to be held the succeed
ing day from the family residence,
the pall-bearers returned to
Brooklyn to spend the night, and
left this sorrow-Iaden family alone
with its dead. On the morrow,
relatives were present from
Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan,
and notwithstanding wet and
difficult roads to travel, large
throng Of friends early congregat-
ed to pay their last tribut. of
respect to the departed, and shed
tears of unfeinged sadness over
his untimely death.
The services were conducted by
F. W. Hall of Madison, a college
classmate of the deceased, who
now in kind and tender tones,
sought to alleviate this overwnelm-
ing grief thrust upon the many
relatives and friends, and coming