The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-06-17
A RUGGED OLD BELLMAN.
For Twenty-Foor Years He Has
Tolled the Funeral Boil.
An Odd Character Who Is We'll Known
to the Citizcns of tho Empire City
md SurroundinGs-A blizzard
"Reminiscences

No figure is more familiar to the
undcrtallcrs of New York, Brooklyn,
Jersey City and the towns for miles
around than the short, stout form of
Patrick Latfay, whose duty it is to toll
the bell rs funeral professions arc en-
tering Greenwood cemetery. For near
~ n quarter of Il century Patrick has
performed this mournful task, and q
more faithful bcllman never tolled Il
bell, whether it be in the tower of
cemetery archwaY or in modest
church or stately cathedral In TWEEN
ty-four years he has missed but u few
days from his post of duty, and then
only because of sickness or death in his
own family.
a New York Sun reporter found the
rugged bcllman on a recent afternoon
on duty under the archcd gateway. 1t
was cold and clustering, and Patrick's
sturdy frame was warmly bundled up.
The reporter had hardly made known
his crrand when Patrick eepicd
funeral procession about to enter the
Fifth avenue gateway. A few strides
brought him to the tower. He gave tho
rope a pull and the bronze bell an
nounccd the arrival of another funeral
train. Then he opened a little door and
pressed lever, thus setting in motion
some machinery which would keep the
bell tolling while the hcarsc and car
riagcs were winding up the sno,v-cov-
cred slope leading to the archway.
This machinery is automatic and will
yum until the bell has tollcd eight times.
This done, the bcllman waited tho
.,.,1, . -,
nc had done thousands of times before.
lie had waited the passage OF modest
PROFESSIONS, where there were but one
or two or three carriages besides the
lcarsc, and lie had waited the arrival
of almost endless cortegcs of seventy or
eighty carriages. People of every age
and condition have in his day been car
ricd to their last resting place from the
humblcSt children to men OF wealth.
distinction and national fame. lie has
tollcd the bell announcing the arrival
of such distinguished dead as S. S. Cox,
James Gordon Bennett, Maj.-Gcn. Hal
lccl1, Gen. Thomas G. Dallin and Gordon
w. Burnham.
When 4 funeral procession reaches
the entrance it is the bcllman's duty to
announce at the Office the name of the
undertaken having it in charge. lie
rarely has 70 stop to inquire, for no
knows nearly every undertaken in New
York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, IIoboken,
and also many on Staten Island and many
of the towns on Long Island. 1t is only
when procession comes from some dis
tancc that the bcllman cannot cnll the
undertaken by name.
When the procession yesterday had
come near enough SO that he could SEQ
the undertaken he strobe into the Office,
and, addressing one of the clerks at the
desk, said simply:
Henderson.
"William DAILY" was the reply.
That meant that William Daily was
the Gravc;liggcr who had charge Of Dig
ging the grave for the body that had
now arrived. The bellnan received the
announcement, strobe out of the Office
and then ran at Il kind OF wallowing
salt for a hundred yards and called out
Days name TO Foreman Timothy Kane
flick of the gravcdiggers kancflicls
spoke to DAILY, and soon he in company
with three other men armed with shov-
els was following in the wake of the
funeral procession, which was now
winding slowly along Landscape av-
cnuc.
From this time on the hell was tolling
most of the time for an hour. Process
sion after procession wound I'D the
snow-covcrcd slope until it seemed al
most as though they made an endless
cortcge. In each case the undertaker's
face was familiar to the bcllman, and
each time he went through the routine
of announcing his name and summon
ing the gravedigScr.
Patrick is as communicative as he
is faithful. There is not suggestion
of romance in his makeup. So long as
the funerals come and go according to
rule, and the bell tolls and the grave
diggcrs go about their duty, he is sat
iSfcd.
Il don't have much time except to at
tend to. the funerals" he said. Il sec
them come and go, and that is about
all know about them"
The only thing he seemed to reIncm-
Der that was at all out of the usual
routine was the blizzard THAT was
bad time. indeed" he said. 1T was the
only day know Of when there wasn't
no Hluch us ono luhcral come INTO inc
cemetery. The snow was SO deep that
they couldn't get here. The next day
one came in and the hearse got to the
tomb, but the carriages had to stop just
after they had got through the gate. l
remember that time that the snow was
two or three feet on the level and that
it was piled up in drifts here and there
ten or twelve feet high"
"And you were here through it ALP"
"Oh, yes; trust me to be here. But it