The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1901-09-19
IN MEMORIAM.
0skaIoosa People Honor the De
parted President.

But one thought occupied the minds
Of the people Of Oskaloosa Sunday
and that thought was "Our dead
President His name was upon all
lips and all minds turned to the trag-
edy and the sad ending. 1t was
therefore fitting and proper that
these sentiments should find express
sion from the pulpit and at ell public
service and every gathering Of the
day. The morning services in all the
churches were well attended by at
tentiye congregations and fervent
prayers went up for the. departed
hero and statesman. The sermons,
In nearly every case, echoed the
prayers and voiced the sentiments OF
speaker and people alike. AT the
Episcopal church in the morning
there was large attendance and the
sermon by Rev. w. HI. Frost was
purely of memorial character, and
adapted to the occasion. Following
the sermon the congregation sang
the Miserere, and this was followed
by theomayers.
Grand Union Meeting,
A union service had been arranged
for the evening and in this every
church in the city joined. The city
fiocked to the place to pay this small
tribute to the dead man. The old
soldiers, the Woman's Relief Corps
and Company F, attended in body.
The ministers of the city were seated
on the pulpit platform and the body
OF the house was crowded to
the last available foot of space.
Chairs were placed in the aisles to
the extent allowable, then the people
sought and filed all available stand
ing room. Others crowded about the
doors in the effort to hear what was
to be said.
The usual opening service was par
ticipated in by the ministers of the
city. Thig was followed by two adj
dresses upon Mckinley, the first by
Rev. J. w. Somerville, the second by
Major John F. Lacey, congressman
from the Sixth district of Iowa, the
personal friend and associate of the
the dead president.
Rev. SomerVfIIe'm Address.
Rev. ]. w. Somerville spoke of the
President from the standpoint of q
minister of the gospel, and his re-
marks were beautiful eulogy on the
martyred President. He said in part:
Amid the reioicings of people
over the victories of peace, as well
as the recent victories of our armies
on land and on sea, our country is in
deep gloom and great sorrow. The
emblems of mourning seen on every
hand, are but slight tokens of our
great grief.
A great man in our Israel has fall
len-W William Mckinley is dead. Not
in the order or by the direction of
Divine Providence, but by the hand
of an anarchist-an assassin! For
the third time in the history of the
United States, we as people are
mourning for beloved leader and
President slain by an assassin.
What sight! A nation in tears,
and yet we do well TO mourn the loss
OF our late beloved President. His
death is a great national bereave-
ment. 1t is meet that we set up
monument of our warmest love to
his memory today, and that the
whole nation should bedew il with
tears
The cbarac terof President McKin-
ley fs a true occasion Tor weeping
over his death. In the irst gush of
sorrow that our heart feels for the
loss of any earthly friend, we are but
poorly prepared TO form any critical
estimate of his worth. Thus within
thirty-six hours of his death it is i'm
possible to do justice to one so good
and great, and it is with feeling of
intense ineficiency thae we even
attempt to dslineate the character OF
our late president
Making, however, every possible
allowance for the prevailing feelings
we all have for him on account of
his untimely death, he must be bit
ter partisan indeed who would not
concede to our late president very
rare CO mbination of both moral and
intellectual intelligence Called, in
the pro vince of God, 10 the chief
magistry of this nation at time
when there was universal financial
depression-whent the hum of indus
try was bushed-when business was
stagnant when there was an army
of unem ployed marching to Wash
ington demanding work or bread
when capital had hidden itself and
gold had disappeared-mills closed
and failures numerous. A time of
all kinds of financial vagaries, time
when Ii berty was being throttled in
the sister isle of Cuba. AMoses was
needed to lead us out in the land Of
prosperity and mutual confidence.
The politicians had their Moses, sew
eral states were pushing the claims
OF their favorite sons, but the people
with one accord turned to one man
the man tried, true and trusted-the
man from Ohio. The people spoke
in such terms that bosses heard, pol
iticians listened, and William McKin-