Omaha daily bee., 1899-08-12
FUNERAL OF TWO FIREMEN
Services Over the Remains of Lieu
tenant James Adams and
Charles Hopper.

The funerals of two of the firemen who
met death in the discharge of their duty
Wednesday were held Friday afternoon from
their homes. In each case the house was
inadequate to hold the large number of rel
atives. friends and sympathetic comrades
of the dead firemen and the services were
held partly In the yard about the house.
The singing was done out of doors and came
to the family and those about the casket
through the open windows. The fire and
police departments were we'll represented
at each funeral, and the presence of a large
number of city officials testified to the sense
of bereavement pervading all circles in
which the men were even slightly known.
The funeral of Lieutenant James Adams
was held at his home, S44 South Seven
tenth street. AS the rooms inside the
house could accommodate but a fraction Of
the throng which gathered, Rev. johnson
of st. Martins church, South Omaha, who
conducted the services, stood In the front
hallway, where his voice was audible both
within and without. He read two scrip
tural passages. The Brownell quartet
Messrs. c. o. BrownelI, ]. G. Carley, Ed
Hammond and E. G.. Roselle-sang the
Memorial for a Dead Comrade," after
which Rev. Johnson preached from the text.
BE of good courage. and play the man
for the people, This text, he said, con-
tanned a mention of the three character
istics Of those who followed the occupation
of him who was dead. 1t was not the pur-
pose of a funeral service to lift the veil
between human eyes and individual char
acter, which could only be entered into by
the individual himself and his Creator. But
there could be no doubt that Lieutenant
Adams had fulfilled the measure OF a sue
cessful fireman. First, he had been OF good
courage. Second, he had played the man.
He had exerted the full physical strength
which it takes to play the real man. Third.
he had played the man for the people.
Unselfshness, the doing of his daily work
for the sake of others. and not for his own
sake, was the third great attribute OF the
fireman.
Rev. Johnson said that while he could not
attempt to place the blame, yet there must
be blame for the sacrifice of those lives.
He deplored the commercial spirit which
denied the heroic spirit Of these firemen
what they needed for the protection of their
families when they offered up their lives for
the safety OF others. Soldiers were cared
for by the government in time OF misfor-
tune and their families provided for, but
so far the municipality had not been willing
to do for its own devoted servants what
the country did for the men who offered
their lives for 1t.
The Trocadero double quartet-composed
OF Messrs. Collins, Barbara, Coombs, Bacon,
Jackson, Wefel, Kennedy and Riopelle-ren-
dered a sacred selection and after a fervent
prayer for the comfort OF the stricken fam
lily by Rev. Johnson, the Brownell quartet
sang the funeral arrangement of 1.-TWO
Angels" Members OF the fire department
then formed an aisle from the door OF the
home to the hearse, down which the casket
was borne. The pallbearers were Messrs,
Holland, Markeson and McCune from the
South Omaha department, OF which the de-
ceased was formerly a member, aud Captain
Simpson, Lieutenant Sullivan and Ed Leeder
of the Omaha department. A platoon Of po-
lice marched at the head Of the cortege.
Interment was made at Laurel Hill ceme-
terry.