River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-07-21
BY IAE SAD WAVES

The whitechapel Club, of Chicago, Obs-
dent to the Request of Morris A. Col
Inns. Who Killed Himself, Erects a Pyre
Upon the Shores Of Lake Michigan. and
at Dead of Night Incinerates His Re-
mains-A Weird Scene.
CHICAGO, July 1s.-Mirrored in
The waters on the south shore
of Lake Michigan at the base of
great ridge of glistening white sand
that marks the limit of the ebb and
dow Of the tide there was lighted Sat
urday night funeral pyre and all that
was mortal of Morris Allen Collins,
president of the Dallas TEX, Suicide
club, was, by his own written request,
reduced to ashes. The Whitechapel
club, of this city, had charge of the
strange ceremony.
The torch was applied TO the mighty
pile of pitch-soaked wood at 1880
o'clock. During the five hours the body
burned impressive ceremonies were en-
acted about the blazing pile, weird
music and recitations, inter-
spersed with addresses replete
with personal "reminiscences and
spoken by friends of the
dead man. filed time with deep inter
est and added to the strangeness of the
scene. When at last the consuming
flames had done well their work the
ashes of the man who in life
had found stony pathways and
briar-strewn Fairgrounds were
gathered together with reverential
care and placed in an urn on which
loving hands had traced in many hues
pictures symbolic of the princi-
Piles which had once animated the life
of him who was no more.
Not since the day nearly seventy
years ago, when Byron and Trelawny
stood in the glare of blazing driftwood
that cremated the remains of their
friend, the poet Shelley, has a stranger
funeral ceremony marked the flying
time. Never in the history of illinois
have the events of Saturday night had
their precedent
Morris A. Collins blew out his brains
with revolver in a lodging house at
457 West Madison street, July s. He
left note willing his brain to DIR. H..
n. Meyer, and asking of the White
chapel club that it burn his body over a
funeral pyre. Honore Joseph Jaxon.
the Indian half-breed who was Louis
Rlefs secretary during the half-breed
revolt in Canada, attended to the ar
engagements for carrying out this latter
request. DIR. Meyer was absent from the
,ity, and the post-mortem was not held
The Whitechapel club had been en-
gagged in preparing TO carry out Col
Inns wishes, made in writing. Eminent
legal counsel had been taken to dis
cover if any objection could be found
in the statutes to the fulfillment of the
wishes of the dead man. That
the morbidly curious might not disturb
the solemn rites the utmost secrecy
was maintained.
The place finally selected was in that
dreary waste of sand and bog in Indi-
ana at the end of the lake. There was
secret trip from the great city to the
Baltimore e. Ohio train, hurried
run to Miller's, a small junction
village so miles southeast of Chi
cago, dismal funeral march
through the uninhabited region
that separates the hamlet and the lake
shore, and then while the northern sky
was pulsating and trembling in the
strange tints of the aurora borealis the
monk-robed chaplain babe the dead
farewell and Mr.. Jaxon touched the
torch to the huge pile.
When the dreary spot had been
reached the body of Collins was re-
moved from the casket. About the
form was draped Grecian robe of
finest linen and purest white. The
head remained uncovered. The corpse
plank of the funeral pile and then the
Whitechapelers lighted their torches.
Chaplain Thompson went TO the foot
Of the dark pyrc at 10 o'clock and re-
cited the Submission" A little band
Of villagers, huddled like sheep on the
slope above them, uncovered in the
cool night air. Other friends spoke
kindly of the dead. The last to- speak
was Jaxon. who stood upon the top of
the pyre until it had burst into flame.
Thfeetimes with lighted torches the
little band march round the pile. The
torches were applied to the tar and
pitch and inflammable wood. At 1880
o'clock the flames burst into mighty
glare, lighting mp the desolate shore
lines and the dark, wooded hills. As
it blazed, famed by southwest wind,
the club joined in weird dirge that
thrilled the little group of awed eoun-
trymen above them.
1t was 2:16 o'clock when the center of
the great pyre fell in and incarceration
was complete. Only mass of glowing
embers remained out of which, with
trowels, the ashes of the dead were
taken. At o'clock the club left the
place for the station, leaving Jaxon to
the ashes. These ashes will be sealed
by the club and entered in its cabinet.