Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-09-28

SCENES AT CANTON.
TOMB DOORS CLOSE ON BODY
OF M'KiNLEY.
Last Solemn Rites Performed in the
Presence of Nations Chief Officers
Crowds Take Last View of Casket-
Widows Pitiful Sorrow.

"A 1feSluenC was. AnOtner IfeSlueuL
is. But the husband who has gone can
not be replaced. Guarded by soldier
sentinels and wrapped in the colors of
his country, the body of William Nc
Kinley rests in the receiving vault at
Westlawn cemetery, Canton. His last
journey is finished, save for the removal
to the Mckinley plot at some future
time, when his body shall be placed be-
side the mother and other dear ones who
passed out before him.
A mourning people raises its head from
the dust and goes forward encouraged
and guided by the life he lived. There
is one heart, though, that knows no sur
cease of sorrow. His widow is PROSTATE
The tributes Of city, State and nation,
the incense burned to his memory by the
millions who mourn. but accentuate her
plight. He was so much he was all hers
and he is gone. By broken health she
was denied the widows last and most
sacred privilege Of following her dear
one to the grave. In the little house,
| whittier many American people were
wont to throng, bearing garlands of adj
miration and confidence and heaping hon
ors upon him, she sits alone and fights
with her grief.
Mrs. Mckinley was too worn and weak
| to attend the funeral. But when the
| time came she summoned up all her
strength and, leaning on the arms of
| friends, passed down the stairway to the
| darkened room where the body of her
| husband lay. The guards withdrew and
| for a long time she was left there alone.
1t was her final farewell. When they
went in at last they found her kneeling,
with her face pressed against the coffin,
mute and fearless. Then they took her
away to her room.
i The guards again stepped to their
| places, and after 4 time men arrived to
! begin preparations for the removal of
| the body. The coffin, still wrapped in
| flags and burdened with many flowers,
was lifted up on the shoulders Of the pail
| bearers, and carried out into the sun
| light, in view of the crowd on the street.
It was as though spell had fallen upon
! them. There was death, in all its ma
| jesty. Under its influence the great
| throngs stood motionless and silent,
while the hearse drew slowly away, pre-
coded by a mounted escort and followed
| by marching soldiers and muftied drums.
The old gray church where the funeral
services were conducted was filed to its
uttermost Galleries, pews and seats
were crowded. Very slowly the people
| filed in and took their allotted places. The
interior was gloomed with somber hang
! ings. All the pillars, the chancel the
( doorways, the gallery ratings and the
ceiling were hung with shadowy festoons
| of black.
Statue-like soldiers stood at the head of
4l,o :olo Tn -, no oil n
great men of the government came and
took seats. They looked old and care
F! worn in the dim-colored light OF windows.
Tributes of Love ana Honor.
| The stricken President went to his
grave attended by all the tributes that
| love and ho9or could bestow. At Buff
falo and Washington, and through the
| hundreds of miles of mountains and val
| leys between, the people of his country
had been given their opportunity to par
| ticipate in his last march. The day in
| Canton was reserved for his family and
! friends. But it could not be so. The
people of the whole city and State, and of
! the nation, too, would not be den;ad.
No more impressive cortege ever escort
| ed king or emperor to the last home than
| the one which followed William McKin-
| ley's body to the tomb. No great his
| toric father of a people was ever sur
rounded by more evidences of devotion.
| The flag of his country was his pail. The
| nation was chief mourner. Men who
have won the highest prizes life can give
in its varied walks were glad to walk in
his funeral train. And with them walked
the men and women who toll for their
daily bread.
The new President was near the head
of the funeral line and with him the
! representatives of the highest depart
ments of the government. The army and
! navy, representing the nations strength,
walked beside his bier. Governors of a
dozen States took their places as citi
zens in the funeral parade. Ministers
of all denominations laid aside their
credal differences to sit beside the cata-
falque and unite in the last religious SER
vice.
From ocean to ocean came men and
women, bringing the choicest flowers of
luxury and the common ornaments of cot
tage gardens to decorate his long home.
From every corner of the State which
gave him to the nation thousands and
tens of thousands came from shop and
farm and factory to beg and pray and
even fight for a last look at his face, and
then to stand in patient silence while his
body was carried by them.
And all was in honor Of William Nc
Kinley, the man, without whose virtues
William Mckinley, the President, would
have been impossible And when the
last notes of the dead march died away,
and the curtain was drawn on the earth
~ career Of the stricken chief, the bugle
sang Lights out" good-by.
INNOVATION BY ODD FELLOWS.
Duplicate Copies of the Secret Work