The age-herald., 1901-09-02
TRIBUTE PAID
 ID SOLDIER DEAD Volunteers Observe 'iPhiII Fine"
 Memorial Day GRAFTON OF GEN. BRANDON Graves Bedecked With Beautiful Flowers and the Farewell sa- Iute of Three VoiIeys Fired
 Over sodded sepuIchres.
GRAFTON OF GEN, BRANDON

Memorial services were conducted at Oak Hill cemetery yesterday afternoon over the graves of the departed members of the Jefferson volunteers An eloquent tribute was paid the dead by Adjutant- General W. ". Brandon, flowers were strewn on the graves and the regulation salute of three volleys fired over each. The names of the dead are:
 SERGEANT PHILLIP NELLY FINCH
 PRIVATE WALKER ADAMS.
 PRIVATE FRANK EVANS.
 PRIVATE NORTON WHITLEY
 The name of Dr. Will Luckey. sur was also mentioned by General Brandon in his address.
 The Battallan in Line.
 The soldiers gathered at the armory in First avenue and the march to the cem- etery was begun at o'clock Four com panies were represented, the Jefferson Volunteers, Birmingham Rifles, Bessemer Rifles and Troop D, cavalry. Members of the Bessemer company marched with the Birmingham soldiery making three com panies under command of acting Major Ledbetter. The parade was lead by Me molfs Band, followed by a carriage oc- cupied by General Brandon. Col E. L. Higdon and Chaplain Murray
 Captain Kennedy and Lieutenants Brown and Spatzen were in command of the different companies
 At the cemetery the battalion formed around the grave of Sergeant Finch. touching invocation was offered by Chap lain Murray, who afterwards introduced General Brandon Chaplain Murray stated the object of the exercises, saying that when Captain Kennedy took his company out at the. beginning o, the Spanish-American war he told them that the date of the death of the first of their number should be observed annually as memorial day. No better selection of an orator for the oc- casion, he said, could have been made than General Brandon.
 As Brave as the Bravest.
 General Brandon began his oratlon as follows:
 Captain Kennedy. members of the Jef- ferson Volunteers, Fellow Soldiers. Ladies and Gentlemen: It was with a mingling of pleasure, pride and embarrassment that I consented to address you. Pride be- cause I felt honored; pleasure because 1t is indeed a pleasure when life is gone from those we love to tell those who did not know them of their virtues"
 He felt embarrassed because he could not do them justice. It had always been a custom among men to remember the dead, to finger on their virtues. This sen, timent is confined to no one class. It is common to humanity everywhere. It is done over the unobstrusive sepulchre of the peasant and attended by pomp at tho resting place of the King This sentiment has brought us here today 10 offer our tribute to the men who wore the uni- form of an Alabama guardsman. That Is a proud distinction. Great men have died and great pomp attended their funerals, but when have you had so many men from all parts of Alabama gathered in this cemetery to do honor to the dead. We are proud of our country, proud of our SLdLe d0u pTOuu Ol Out SOiuiCIS. IlC then painted pretty picture of the mus tering of the troops a little more than three years ago. of how the soldiers left here on a bright Sunday morning in springtime. Some of the men, he said. who followed Higdon, are no more.
 But the boys" he continued, "who went from Alabama and breathed out their lives on the sun-kissed land of sun ny Florida were as brave as the men who followed Wheeler up San Juan hill We come here today to pay tribute to Phillip Nicely Finch. I have 1t from the lips of his colonel that not truer or more loyal sol dier was in the ranks. I know of my own personal knowledge that when a delicate duty was to be performed Finch was called and given the commission. He was true to himself. his company. his organi- zation and his state. If his spirit could look over the battlements of heaven and see his comrades in arms pathered here today his heart would indeed swell with pride"
 He then paid a tribute to Dr. Will Luckey and Captain George F. Hart, who are buried at Oak Hill. General Brandon concluded with a beautiful flight of elo- quence. eulogizing the citizen soldiery They sing the praises of Wheeler and Dewey, but the men who went to Florida along with Higdon and Kennedy suffered just as much.
 Beautiful flowers were then strewn on the graves and the farewell salute fired. Italian Warships Going to Dunklrk.
 Paris September 1.-The Eclair says 1t