Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1905-11-01
LAST SAD RITES.
Former Congressman Jerry Simpson
Laid to Rest in Maple Grove Gene
terry, Wichita, Last Wednesday.

the funeral of ex-Congressman
Simpson at Scottish Rite Temple
in Wichita last Wednesday. The
ritual of the thirty second degree |
was used in full. At the grave the |
Blue Lodge of Wichita had charge |
of the services.
The funeral Grafton was deliver
by Congressman Victor Murdoch,
present Congressman of the district
Mr.. Simpson represented in con-
gress three terms. MIR. Murdoch
said:
''Here halt the quick and here
the dead progress. He has gone
out alone far in the deep darkness
where for each one of us a grave is
hidden Eye nor voice nor hand
may follow him. The black bar
rier is dropped between him and us,
the black barrier between the quick
and the dead. Facing the. iron
and cruel gate stand the quick,
some stark in fear, some benumbed
with grief, some wrapped in won
der, but all alike halted, arrested
inexorably. Before the mighty
mandate we pause and then in all
humility cry out as children of sor-
row, our little word of comfort to
his loved ones, our little word of
tribute to a friend. If we hope, re-
fuse us not the privilege, if we reach
out little in the dark, refuse us
not, if the stars and the wind and
the sunshine and the rose whisper
to us the evidence or infnity and
the promise of eternity, let the
material world forbid us not. For
standing out against the bald, black
wall this afternoon let us cry out
again, for our friend we cannot call,
our friend we can no longer see. let
US cry out this only challenge that
ever met the thrown glove of death,
the laundering answer of mighty
faith, The soul is immortal, for as
God, the giver, is infinite, so is the
spirit He gives eternal.
"When he was dying Horace
Greeley murmured, Fame is vapor,
popularity an accident, riches take
wings, those who bless today will
curse tomorrow. Only one thing
endures- character Jerry Simp-
son had character"
The speaker then described the
deceased as a good man, a man of
great physical and mental courage;
as a lover of humanity; and said
that he was favorite of the gods
in that he was possessed of an ex-
traordinarily quickness of mind.
His career was then taken up by
the speaker step by step, his life in
the north, on the lakes and in Kan.
sas.
The speaker continued: 81 ask
ed him once why he came to Kan
sas. What called him here. The
magic of a kernel, the witchcraft
in seed. The desire to put some
thing in the ground and see it grow
and reproduce its kind came to me
and | did not resist, he said,
That's why came to Kansas y
"Mischievous fate placed him in
the only agricultural section of the
world capable of spontaniety in
novel political action in Kansas.
And when the political storm
arose, there sprang full-armed to
lead it, the son of Canadian SHOWS,
the son of the 1ashing lake, the son
of Kansas prairie, Jerry Simpson.
"Do you remember him, his en-
trance to the stage, his attitude be-
fore an audience, that smile, that
charming, winning, and that warn
ing smile? Do you remember his
eyes, the eyes where lightning play
ed fast and incessant from a hot
heart and an electric mind? Do
you remember the whole attitude
that cried out to you come on and
beware. In that day men in Kan
sas carried him on their shoulders.
When success came, Washington
yielded its admiration, for in the
sally of debate there, no adversary
ever put him down and many went
down before him. 1t was great,
a picturesque career. He deserved
it all. He won it all and he won
it alone"
Mr.. Murdoch concluded with a
tribute to Mr.. Simpsons activities
as a citizen, with words of comfort
to his wife, and a story illustrative
of the lesson in his life.
| HIS LAST MOMENTS.
Jerry Simpson died as he had
llived-bravely and fearlessly.
Concerning his last moments the
Wichita Eagle quotes as follows:
'It has-been joke heretofore; |
am I'D against fhe real demon now