The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-09-20
LAST SAD RITES
Senators and Congressman, Judges,
Governors, Generals and Adj
miralS Gather at Grave.
BODY CONSIGNED TO VAULT
Where 1t Will Remain Guarded Day and NIGHT Bv
Soldiers Of the Nation Until Laid in
Last Resting Place.

Canton, Sept. 19.-VVith majestic
solemnity, surrounded by his country,
men and his t~ownspeople, in the pres.
ence OF the president of the United
States, the cabinet, justices Of the
United States supreme court, senators
and representatives in congress-, the
heads of the military and naval es-
adjustments, the governors of states
and a great c%oncourse of people who
had known and loved him, all that
was mortal of the third president to
fall by an assassin's bullet, was COM
mitted to the grave.
1t was a spectacle of mournful
grandeur.
Canton ceased to be a town and
swelled to the proportions of a great
city. From every city and hamlet in
Ohio, from the remote corners of he
south and from the east and west,
the human tide flowed into the town
until a hundred thousand people were
within it's gates, here to pay their
" A0St A1DulS " liz ld1lcu CLl61.
The final scenes at the First Meth
odist church where the service was
held and at the beautiful Westlawn
cemetery, where the body was con-
signed to a vault, were simple and i'm
pressive. The service at the church
consisted of a brief Grafton, prayers
by the ministers of three denomina-
tions and signing by a quartette. The
body was then taken to Westlawn
cemetery and placed in a receiving
vault, pending the time it shall be
placed beside the dead children who
were laid to rest years ago.
The funeral procession was very i'm
posing and included not only the rep
resentatives of the army and navy
OF the United States, but the entire
military strength of the state of Ohio
n hundreds of civic, fraternal and
other organizations. 1t was two miles
long.
One OF the most pathetic features
OF the day was the absence of Mrs.
Mckinley from the funeral service at
the church and cemetery when the
body of her husband was laid to rest.
Since the shock of the shooting, then
OF death and through the ordeal of
state ceremonies, she had borne IN
braVely. But there was a limit to
human endurance and when today
came it found her too weak to pass
through the trials of the final cere-
monies. Through the open door of her
room h heard the prayer of the min
lister as the body was borne out of
the house. After that DR.. Rixey re-
manned close by her side and although
the full force of the calamity had
come upon her it was believed by
those about her that there was a
providential mercy in her tears as
they gave some relief to the anguish
of the heart.
At Z O'Clock tonight President
Roosevelt and the members of the
cabinet started back to Washington
The scenes within the church when
the casket was carried in on the
braWny shoulders of the soldiers and
sailors was profoundly impressing. A
Dlack border 20 feet high, relieved at
intervals by narrow white bands fall
ing to the floor, swept completely
around the interior. Only the gilt
organ pipes, back of the pulpit, rose
above it. The vestibules on either
/ OF the chancel lodge into the
church were black tunnels, the stain
ed glass windows on either side were
framed in black and the balcony of the
Sunday school, to the rear, thrown
open into the church by large slid.
ing doors, was shrouded in the same
colors. Graceful black streamers fes-
TONED along the grained arch Of the
nave formed a black canopy above
the chancel. From this, directly
above the low flag covered catafalque
in which the casket was to rest, hung
q beautiful silk banner, it's blood-red
and snow-white folds tied midway
with a band of crepe. But it was
the floral display at the front of the
church which filled the whole edifice
with glory. The center of it all was
q great wreath of American beauties,
framing a black bordered portrait of
President Mckinley. From it, extend
ing outward and upward, was a per-
feet wealth Of gorgeous blossoms. The
effect was as if a great rushing wave
Of color had broken into flowers at
the foot of the bier. They extended
up eve to the organ pipes against