The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-04-28
Laying Of the Corner Stone Of the
Mausoleum in Riverside
Park.
Forty Thousand People Were in
Attendance at the Impress
I've Ceremony.
President Harrison and Other oti'eials
Present-Addresses by Gen. Porter
and Mr.. Depsw.

la
last resting place of the soldier-patriot on
the bank of the Hudson. in Riverside park.
Federal and municipal buildings were dec
Grated and private houses bedecksd with
bunting. The day WAS observed as a half
holiday. Early in the day crowds set out
for Riverside park. A grand stand with n
seating capacity of 10000 people was built
around the foundations of the mausoleum.
on which there was a dals for the speakers
and distinguished guests. Below were
benches for grand army veterans to the
number of 1000. The monitor Miantono-
nah dropped anchor in the Hudson oppo-
site the tomb and a body of soldiers was
sent ashore and finished the decorations
around the mausoleurn. The president left
the Fifth avenue hotel at 12:45 and WAS ac-
companied by Troop A. cavalry, Capt. O..
A. Roe commanding. With the president
were Gen. Horace Porter and Lieut.. Par
ker. In other carriages were Vice-Presi-
dent Morton and F. D. Tappin, Secretary
Elkins and Gen. Butterf1eld, Postmaster
General Wanamaker and John II. Starin,
Secretary Noble and II. w. Cannon, Score
tary Rusk, Cornelius Bliss, Chaunoey NJ.
Depew and others.
The cavalry wheeled into column and
with four platoons preceding and three fol
lowing the chief executive and party took
up the march. The ceremonies in the park
we're announced to at two
o'clock. Long before that hour the big
grand stand and other seats were filled and
the sward was swarming with a crowd OF
spectators. The Loyal Legion and mem
bers Of the Grand Army of the Republic
we're first to arrive. By two O'Clock fully
10000 people were on the ground. The ar
rival OF the veteran Gen. Franz Sigel
was q signal for an outburst of cheering by
G. A. r. comrades. Among distinguished
pueets on the platform were Generals Soho.
field, Howard. Dodge and Slocum.
President Harrison and party arrived at
PIP, After "Hail to tho Chief" by the
band and an invocation by Rev. DIR. John
Hall, Gen. Horace Porter, president of the
Grant Monument Fund association, spoke,
saying: 1--WE gather here to lay the corner
stone of a temple of the dead: to celebrate
an event which will be forever memorable
in history, We meet to perform
a ceremony in the presence of people who
honored him, and brave men who followed
him to victory. Although the fund re-
OU1EeU AuE tu0 ECApAoulOA VI II 1uoAA-
mental tomb is large, is was decided to lay
the cornerstone to-day in the confident be-
lief that the patriotic work once begun will
never be allowed to stop till completed. /
have great satisfaction in announcing that
the total subscriptions up to last night
amounted to $2o2,so When the structure
shall have reached completion its dome will
point out the path of loyalty to unborn
children. Hallowed memories which clus-
ter around il will remind us of his heroic
aid to the republic. The bonding of chaste
lines and massive proportions will be typi-
cal Of the hero who sleeps beneath the
granite, and will recall the ohildlike sim
grandeur of his nature"
As Gen. Porter closed workmen manned
windlasses on either side of the immense
corner stone, and with uncovered heads the
crowd waited for the president to perform
the ceremony. He stepped from the plat
form to the southwest corner of the fOun-
dation. He spread the cement with a gold
trowel, and the stone was dropped in place.
He then ascended the base and spoke as
follows:
my assignment connected with these
ceremonies has to do with mechanics rather
than with oratory. The pleasing duty of
bringing to your memory those brilliant
public services, personal and manly virtues
which place the name of Ulysses $. Grant
SO high upon the scroll of fame, and settled
the love of the man 80 deeply in all patri-
otto hearts, devolvss upon another who
never fails to credit to himself or give pleas
ure to his favored hearers. No o ator,
however gifted, can ever praiae Gen. Grant.
[Cheers. The most impressive and cos thy
memorial architect can plan or wealth can
execute is justified when the name of Grant
is inscribed upon ii. [Cheers. 1 am glad
to see here what seems to me a double as
surance that the work SO nobly planned
will be speedily consummated. Your dis
tinguished citizen who assumed the burden
of conducting the great enterprise learned
of his beloved chief to exclude the word
failure from his vocabulary
Music followed and then the orator OF the
day. Hon. Chaunoey M. Depew. delivered
an eloquent Grafton, dwelling upon the
sterling qualities of the deceased general
and president.
In the address was the following striking
passage: 1.-THE phenomenon of our times,
and one of the chief dangers to law and
order, is the growth of the school of despair.
Concentrated contemplation of accumu-
lated wealth, and the hop,essness of acquir-
ing it, paralyZes industrial energies and
true ambitions and Giants seeds of social
ism and anarchy. Lincoln, from the pow
srty of HIS Kentucky cabin, and Grant
from the narrow confines of q log house in
an Ohio wilderness, became the central
figures and representative heroes of the
age. They are types of the glory OF Ameri-
can citizenship"
Mr.. Derew declared that the predominant
sentiments of Grant was family and home.
He would awe preferred being buried by
the eide of his father and mother, but ap-
preciating the claim of his countrymon be
chose New York as a final resting place.
New York, in accepting the bequest, as
sumed q sacred trust. LET the monumsnt
which will rise upon this corner stone be
worthy the magnitude of the metropolis
and the grandeur of it's subject. Gen.
Grant needs no stately shaft MOI massive
pile to pernetuate his memory. The re-
public ia his monument, and its history
during what must always be it's most critj.
cal period will be the history Of his deeds
Depew then sketched Grants career and
declared him the most self-saotifcine
friend and most generous foe.
Rev. DIR. Hall pronounced the bsnedic-
ton and the guns of the Miantonomal
fred the national salute. School bows t{
number of 1900 marched by the tomb aut
scattered flowers arund it. Mrs. Grant
with ono of her grandchildren, and a part,
of friends occupied tho position Of homo
on the grand stand. As soon az the cere
monies at the tomb were over the presiden
and party took carriages to Jersey CITY an,
lett for Washington at 600 p. M.