The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1891-10-27
HE'S IN HIS GRAVE.
The Funeral of John w. Burress
Yesterday AfternOOn-ElO.
quent Sermon by the Rev.
j. 8. Myers.

One of the largest funerals in tn,
history of Sedalia was that of Johl
w. Burress. who was murdered b,
w. }. McCord, in this city, las
Thursday night. Not only the splen
did and spacious auditorium wal
crowded, but the lecture room wa.
also filled.
The funeral cortege arrived at the
church at two o'clock. The casket,
covered with flowers, preceded by
the minister and the father, mother
and widow of deceased, was borne
down the aisle by Messrs w. D.
Steele, Chas. Carroll, T. c. Holland.
G. E. McGhee, j. E. Mccormick and
Russell McRorey.
After beautiful singing. scripture
reading and prayer. the Rev. j. &.
Myers, pastor, delivered one of the
ablest and most eloquent funeral dis
courses ever heard in Sedalia.
His text was taken from the ninth
verse of the ninth chapter of Ezekiel
1.-THE land is full of blood and the
city is full of crime"
The text and the occasion furnished
ample opportunity for serious con-
sideration of the present state of the
country in regard to crime. Verify,
said the preacher, this land is full of
blood and the cities are full of
crime, Even the smaller towns
and remote places are not
exempt from the deluge of blood and
the sweep of iDiquity. When the
great daily papers, and even those of
less pretensions, are opened in the
morning or evening, the reader is
made to shudder at the record of
crime therein related from day to day.
Sedalia, sad to say: is laboring under
the curse of villainy and crime, and
there must be causes for it. What
are the causes?
First, remarked the minister, we |
may find a cause in certain class of
agnostic and atheistic teaching which |
was 30 prevalent ten years ago. This
teaching of the so-called |
scientists and philosophers sought
to inculcate the belief
that there is no God, no heaven
or no hell, and that man is nothing
more than a brute. 1t was the
same principle that prevailed in the
French Revolution, when it was writ.
ten in public places, There is no
God. What was sown ten years ago
is being reaped now.
The second cause of this fearful
deluge of crime arises from the vast
amount of vicious literature that is be-
ing spread broadcast among the young ID
people of this country. The vilest
papers and novels are being devoured
by the young who, before they reach
or womanhood, know more l.
of evil than of good. II
The third and principal Cause may {
be named in one word-the saloon.
Upon this point Mr.. Myers spoke
and eloquently, but, said be,
the saloon-keeper is not all to blame.
The man who pretends to be q good 4
citizen or Christian, helps in the deadly i
work when he signs saloon petitions q
and licenses. r
Mr.. Myers deprecated in strong '
and emphatic language the sickly r
'entimentallty displayed by women in q
these bloody criminals and in /
taking them flowers and giving other q
expression to a false sympathy. A :
woman had better be at home, at. il
lending to her household Q
luties than in lingering (
bout jails among this class of crimi- i,
,als while the widows and bereaved 8,
mes of the men they have murdered, lC
ire desolate and in distress. Lee
After the sermon, an opportunity il
vas offered the congregation to view A
he dead. Long lines of people fled v
y and looked teuderly upon the fes. n
ures of him who met 80 tragic and u
udden death. After this, the body, Ii
ollowed by friends and relatives, was Il
'orne to the city cemetery, where Of
! was laid to rest. IN