Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-01-16
BUTLER LAID At REST
The Last Rites Over the Body
of the Dead General.
LOWELL CROWDED WITH VISITORS.

State officials, Distinguished Civilians,
Militia, Veterans, and Many Societies
Unite in Paying Respectable Body Lay
in State Yesterday and This Morning.
LOWELL, Mass, Jan. 16.-The final
services over the body of Gen. Benjamin
F. Butler are being held to-day, and the
event is the greatest one that this city has
ever witnessed. The militia, the visiting
dignitaries, Grand Army posts, and the
Lowell societies swell the funeral process
sion to enormous proportions.
Gov. Russell and his staff, Gov.
Smith of New Hampshire and staff, and
delegations from the Legislature and
Boston and Lawrence city governments
are present.
At Gen. Buffers late residence on Bel
videre Hill private funeral services were
held yesterday morning. Rev. DR.. A. St.
John Chambee of St. Anne's Episcopal
Church read the Office for the dead.
The body was in the drawing room.
President Harrison's wreath and wreaths
of ferns and lilies were laid upon the
coffin.
Among the people present there were
such leading men of this city as are close
friends of the family, and the General
kinsmen, Messrs. Plympton and Drink
water, Cadet Butler Ames of Westpoint,
Gen. Ames, Frank L. Washburn, o. D.
Barrett and others. There was no eulogy
and no address by the clergyman.
Comrades bore the body from the house
to II hearse drawn by four horses. A wild
wind was blowing from the river over the
hill. The veterans suffered, but not
man sought shelter. AS the body was
carried from the portals of the house the
drums of the band rumbled, the colors
were dipped, and the company saluted.
When the march to the hall was taken
up, arms were reversed, and the officers
fell to the rear of the detachment The
streets were crowded as the band sig
nailed by dirges tn e passage of the Gen
| erals body from the house to Huntington
hall, where tue body was to lie in state.
A great crowd was waiting to be ad-
| mitted to the hall. In the hall the cot
tin was placed in the middle of the floor.
From the ceiling to the floor a wall of
black extended. Grand Army men
guarded the casket.
On the coffin rested the sword and
| epaulettes that were worn from Lowell to
the Gulf and back again in the days when
the negro was made contraband of war
| by the brain that lay at rest under the
coffin lid,
Behind the catafalque rested bank of
| flowers that had come from President
| Harrison, from the convicts of the State
prison, and from all classes of people be-
| tween those extremes
President Harrison's wreath was placed
| on the coffin in Washington. Senators
| Dawes, Chandler, and Hale, Gov. Rus,
sell, Hon. Frederick Douglass, militia
| companies, societies, and friends in Low
ell, Boston, New York, Washington,
| Chicago, and other places sent pieces that
| took up one side of the hall.
| When the crowds were admitted to the
| hall, they almost carried the doors of
| their hinges They struggled up stairs
| and ran over the police, who tried to
restrain them. Shouts and cries awoke
| the echoes of the hall where the dead man
| lay.
| Huntington Hall, whenever Gen
| Butler appeared there in life, saw turbu-
| lent scenes, but those of yesterday sur
| passed anything ever seen before at the
| old nall. Down in the street thousands
| pressed forward when they saw the doors
| open. All the afternoon u steady stream
| of people poured in, but the crowds thai
| wanted to get in did not diminish.
The exit was on Shattuck street and g
stream of people poured through tina
| door No impression could be made il
| the mass that clamored for admission al
the other side of the hall.
Late in the afternoon the doors wert
closed and the officers had an hours rest
1t was designed to close the hall ut
o'clock until this morning, but at
J o'clock they were opened again. Thi
time the people were beaten into line
and more order was maintained up to Il
o'clock, when the final closing was made
Hundreds left the place without getting
in and many others who wanted to get
out of the jam, were forced to wait anC
be swept into the hall by the stream.
There was another clash this morning
as those who failed yeste rday tried agai II
The rush was almost as bad as that o
yester day.