The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-10-30
WHOLE NO. 1897.

HARTRANFT BURIED
The Gallant Soldiers Imposing
Funeral at Norristown.
EuIosy OF Chaplain Mcccok
90 more impressive military funeral
has taken place since they placed the he
70 Of Appomsttox in The tomb than that
Of Generel John F. Hartranft in Norris
town Monday. The Major General Of
the National Guard was buried with full
military honors, and the last scene was
like 50 many in his career--heroic- With
salvos Of artillery, volley after volley Of
mussetry and with the bells tolIing and
thousands of the bravest men inthe state
standing about as mourners, they laid his
body to its tranquil rest in Montgomery
Cemetery, which is in itseifa little Get
tys5urg, not only from its soldier graves,
but in its striking hiilocks and undula-
tions, many Of them marked with memo
rial monum ents.
VETERANS AND NATIONAL GCARD.
The funeral escort on the part of the
State National Guard, Of which he was
the commanding officer, was the regular
one for major general-a squadron Of
cavalry, battery Of artillery and regi-
ment Of infantry but this representation
had more than an ordinary interest and
significance, as every one ofthe organiza-
tions in line had been in touch with him
in some way, and some of them contain
ed men who had faced death with him
in wars stern alarms.
AMONG HIS SEIGHBoRs.
His native town looked like a city Of
the dead, with all its public buildings,
hundreds of private residences and even
the street ears and vehicles drapped in
mourning.
There we're probably five or six thous-
and men, mostly uniformed, in the pro-
cession that accompanied his body to It's
resting place in Montgomery Cemetery,
in sight Of the tomb of that other hero,
General Hancock. In ii were the pres
ent and three past Governors and hun
dreds Of the most distinguished men Of
the state.
TIE FAAILYs FAREWELL.
! In the full uniform of major general,
the body, looking wonderfully hfelike,
reposed during the morning in the house
where he died. Few intruded upon the
privacy of that leave-taking and last sad
ceremony in which the relatives of the
dead General, including his aged and
still well preserved mother, looked finally
Upon his face. The shutters were closed
and the subdued lights and the soft odor
of dying autumn roses in the multitude
of floral memorials were all in keeping
with the melancholy and impressive
scene as the blaek-robed figures, some Of
them needing support, passed before the
bier.
Mrs. Hartranft showed evidences Of
the trying ordeal, and the youngest
daughter. Miss Annie Hartranft, who
was very close to her father and his con-
slant companion at home, was much
prostrated, so much so that It was at one
time doubtful If she would be able to at
tend the funeral Miss Marian Hart
ranft, the eldest daughter, bore herself
like heroine, and has since her fathers
death attended to all the correspondents
and arrangements on the part of the fam
lily that were necessary for the funeral.
4 venerable looking gentleman who
stood among the mourners was Abram
Hartranft, an uncle of the dead General,
now over 20 years of age
The Episcopal burial service vas read
by the Rev. t. W. Davidson, of Phila-
delphia, and this was the only service
ceremony at the house. At its close,
with an appropriate military escort, the
body was removed from the house to the
catafalque in the Court House, where the
funeral Grafton took place.
THE GRAFTON.
Complete stiffness reigned in the great
crowded, black-draped apartment when
the Rev. Or. McCook, chaplain Of the
Second Regiment, entered and with
hands out-stsesched to where the body
of the dead General lay before him be-
gan the funeral Grafton:
The foremost hero of the Common
wealth sleeps in death before us. The
staff of office is dropped, the sword Of
power sheathed, the voice of command
hushed. Affection kindIes no kindly
warmth in that cold heart: friendship,
philanthropy, the love Of liberty stir no
generous action in that broal bosom the
cheeks flush no longer with the ardor Of
patriotism the FIRE of battles shall never
again fash from those closed eyes.
And yet, but yesterday he moved
among Us an embodiment of physical
beauty and manly yigor. Strange mys-
tery this-the transition from life to
death, from the sphere ofaetion in which
our years have been spent to a sphere Of
being untried, though not wholly un-
known
Thus if befalls that we are here today,
fellow-citizens, comrades, companions,
friends, kinsmen, 20 honor the memory
of the dead and eonsign his DO ly 10 the
tomb.
OF the military and civil career ofGen-
eral Hartranft, others more competent 10
such service have spoken in detail, or
win speak hereafter. To-day it is only
permitted US to catch feeting view of
his life and character.
THE DsEPs ARE Dcas.
His character was one which eomman-
ded universal respect and well nigh uni
versal affection. He was reticent - all
except his intimate friends, but to them
he uncovered his heart with the freedom
of a by. Men who did not know him
counted him cold and reserved. Reserv-
ed he certainly was, for he was man Of
immeasurable nodesty and shrank
within himself, not because he under
estimated others. but rather underesti-
mated himself He was a silent man,
but cold he was not The mountain i 81
lent as it lifts its majestic outlines, forest
crowned against the horizon. But the
mantle Of yerdure that waves above il