Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-06-22
CONGRESSMAN BLAND AT REST
Five Thousand Persons Follow the
Remains of the Statesman to
q Grave in the Ozarlxs.

Remains Oh tAG StAtGSAAaAA ~
Grave i'm the Ozarl<s.
Lebanon, Mo-. June 1s.-Aiter lying
in state for "a hours the body of Mr..
Bland was buried yesterday beside the
grave of his daughter, Margaret Hall
Bland, in the Catholic cemetery. The
funeral services were held in the opera
house, where the coffin was taken
Saturday afternoon.
Three Ministers ORciated.
Three ministers of the city conduct
ed the ceremony, which was in charge
of the Masonic lodge, of which order
Mr.. Bland was a member. Upon the
platform were Mr.. Bryan and three
former governors of this state-David
r. Francis, William j. Stone and
James McClurg, as well as Ii congress
men.
Mrs. Bland tainted at the Grave.
All the members of the Bland family
were present at the funeral services
and later accompanied the body to the
grave. Mrs. Bland, who was i'll before
her husbands return from Washing
ton and who forgot her own i'll health
is Frustrated. Her son, Theodore, and
Judge Bland, the congressman's
brother, supported her during the time
| Father Wood was speaking over the
grave yesterday afternoon. When the
last words had been spoken and the
coffin lowered into the grave, she was
! led from the cemetery. At the grave
she tainted, and it was necessary 10
lift her into the carriage.
Under IA Rugged Hickory.
| Mr.. Bland lies under hickory tree
as strong and rugged as he was him
| self. 1t was not until after seven
o'clock that the interment was made,
/ the funeral services having been long
shone from the pale sky as Father
| Wood spoke these last words:
| Father Woods Last Words.
"And when Gods children gather at
! His call, when the sun had sunk to
rest and the day has buttoned up his
| jacket with the stars, we will see this
man, LebaLon's greatest citizen, in the
| place God has made for him, for as the
! years roll down the avenue of time
! and ideals Strew the floor of memory's
sad chamber, he will not be forgotten,
and Richard Parks Bland, neither con-
gresham nor politician, but the man
| himself, will be placed with Washing
| ton and jefferson and Lincoln"
! ThrOnged to See the Dead Statesman.
| All the morning the opera house
was filed with a line of persons who
came to look upon the kind and father
| ~ face of Mr.. Bland. The great men
| of the state came, but their visit tvas
as much a matter of duty and respect
as of regard. The farmers from Mr..
| BANDS district, men who knew him
| only as their friend, rode miles
| through the mud and heavy roads to
see the congressman for the last time.
At the noon hour it was impossible
| to obtain admission to the opera house
| because of the crowd, and from that
| time until the funeral services were
over a crowd which could not be
| turned aside remained at the build
ing's door.
Thousands Followed the Hearse.
Five thousand persons, all but a few
hundred of whom were not able to get
into the opera house, followed the
hearse to the cemetery. In the fiji st
| two carriages were the Bland family
Mrs. Bland, Judge c. c. Bland and the
| congressman's children, Miss Frances,
Theodore, Ewing, George c., John
Vest and Virginia. Behind old ''Bot,"
| or ''Uncle Peter" as Mr.. Bland some
times called him, drawing the wagon
in which the congressman used to ride.
Tn this Cant Harris
| and Mrs. Farris, Senator Farris and his
wife, and Mr.. Bryan.
Mr.. Bryan Remained Secluded.
Upon reaching Lebanon yesterday
morning Mr.. Bryan went at once TO
Capt. Farris's home, and asked not to
be disturbed. He sat a silent spectator
while the funeral services were being
conducted, and afterward went to the
cemetery, where he stood beside the
grave while Father Wood told of Mr..
BANDS worth as a man. So soon as it
was over Mr.. Bryan walked back to
town, where he remained until he left
Lebanon, shortly before midnight.
Covered With wild Roses.
On Mr.. BANDS coffin were wild
roses. Early yesterday morning a man
from Iowa reached LeDdnOIl. he lOuIO
the stores closed in respect to the dead
congressman, and, hiring horse and
carriage, he drove into the country.
One mile out he met boy, whom he
invited to ride with him. The young
ster climbed into the carriage. The
pair went still further away, and final
ly came to a lot bordered by wild
roses. The boy jumped out and gath
cred his arms full.
An IOvyan's Tribute.
Then the Iowa man and the boy
came back toward town. At the inter-
section of the road which comes from
the Bland house they met party
which was seeking the boy. He was
George Vest Bland. The roses he had
gathered remained in the carriage, and
the Iowa man, realizing that the wild
rose was his states flower, took them
in his arms and carried them into the
opera house, where he let them fall
on and about the coffin. No one made
a remonstrance. It was a tribute Of
Missouri's sister state to her dead.
The Grave I'm the Oxarks.
Mr.. BANDS grave was prepared yes
terday morning. It is on a knoll,
which, miles away, is surrounded by
the deep, green hills of the Ozarks.
1t is cemeted to the top, and, after
~ "A n