The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-09-24
Train REACHES CAPITAL
Body of the President is Borne
to Washington.
HALF MILLION SEE THE COFFIN.

Manifestations of Grief Seen All Along
Route of the Funeral Train-Heads
ReverentIy Barred as 1t Passes-Mrs.
kinIey Is Bearing Up Well.
Washington, Sept. 17.-Through aliv-
Ing lane of bareheaded people stretch
ing from Buffalo up owe the Allie
ghenies down into the broad valley of
the Susquehanna and on to the mar
BILE city on the banks of the shining
J Potomac, the nations martyred presi-
dent yesterday made his last journey
to the seat Of the government over
which he presided for four and one
half years.
The whole country seemed to have
drained it's population along the sides
| of the track over which the funeral
train passed. The thin lines through
! the mountains and the sparse settled
! districts. thickened at the little ham,
lets, covered acres in towns, suddenly
| grown to the proportions of respect
able cities, and were %congested into
vast m%ultitudes in the larger cities.
! Work was suspended in field and mine
and city. The schools were dismissed
and everywhere appeared the trap
pings and tokens of woe. A million
flags at half-mast dotted the hillside
and valley and formed a thicket of
color over the cities. And from almost
every banner streamed a bit of crepe.
The stations were heavy with the
black symbols of mourning. At all
! the larger towns and cities after the
train got into Pennsylvania militia
men drawn up at present arms kept
back the enormous crowds. The ST.
lence with which the countless
throngs viewed the remains was op-
pressive and profound.
Through a Land of Mourning.
Only the rumbling of the trains
wheels, the sobs from men and wom-
en- with tear-staiaed faces and the
doleful tolling OF the church bells
broke on the ear. AT several places
the chimsE played Cardinal Newman's
grand hymn. Taken altogether, the
journey home was the most remark
able demonstration of universal per-
sonal sorrow since Lincoln was borne
to his grave. Everyone of those who
came to pay their last tribute to the
dead had an opportunity to catch a
glimpse of the f~lag-covered bier ele-
waited to view in the observation car.
There was no other bit of color to
catch the eye or this train of death.
The locomotive was shrouded in black.
The curtains of the car in which were
the lonely, stricken widow, the relatives
Of the president, cabinet and others
were drawn. The whole black train
was like a shattered house, save only
for that hindmost car, where the body
lay, guarded by a soldier of the army
and a sailor of the navy. Mrs. McKfn-
ley stood the trip bravely. In the
morning, soon after leaving Buffalo,
she pleaded so earnestly to be allowed
to go into the car where her dear n
lay that reluctant assent was given
and she spent half an hour beside the
coffin. All the way the train was pre-
coded about IS minutes by a pilot en-
CINE, sent ahead to test the bridges
and switches and prevent the POSSIBLE
ity of an accident to the precious bur-
den it carried. Not a wheel moved on
the Pennsylvania railroad system 80
minutes before the pilot engine was
due, or for the same length of time
after the train had passed. General
Superintendent j. B.. Hutchinson had
sent out explicit instructions covering
every detail. The order concluded:
every p%recaution must be taken
by all employees to make this move
absolutely certain"
General Boyd, assistant passenger
agent, had personal charge of the
train. The train left Buffalo at $3.50
a. m. and arrived at Washington at
1888 p. M. In IL hours it is estimated
over 10000 people saw the coffin
which held all that was mortal of
President Mckinley.
Body Taken to White House.
The remains of President Mckinley
now lie in the east room of the white
house, where for more than four years
he had made his home as the chief
magistrate of the great American re.
public. Upstairs his widow mourns
for her dead in the family apartments
that now bring back but the saddest
OF memories. 1t was with simple cere-
mony and a silence that fitted perfect.
ly the sadness of the occasion that the
body of the late president was borne
up Pennsylvania avenue to the white
house and laid upon the bier in the
~,oo%