The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-31
Heauens Weep When Edmund Winston Pettus Is Committed
 to His Last Restin.! Place.

women and children rushed to the shell ter of the trees in which Live Oak Is so rich But soldiers being made of sterner stun stood still in their lines as the skies opened their batteries. The heaviest artillery of the clouds quickly gave way to the finer precipi- tation of a summer shower. And in turn these merged into white sheets of driving rain. blown hither and thith- CT by vicious gusts.
 An umbrella was but slight protec- tion. A tree availed but little. The wind whipped and jerked the sheeted rain. here and there and everywhere.
 At the grave they were ready then for the brief service. but the violence of the wind and the cloud and the rain for the time held still the service. A tent had been erected near the grave to care for the wealth oi flowers that Ma tion and State had sent 10 the honor of Pettus. This was quickly thronged Frightened at this unusual experience of a rain storm endured in the open The carriages were crowded for what slight protection they offered, but thousands of men, women and children had no other defense against the rain than the gree- leaves of the trees in Live Oak Cemetery. Nor was there one who escaped his or her wetting from the rain that fell at the grave as Pettus was buried.
 Short but Fierce,
 The rain storm was as short as 1t was fierce. In a quarter of an hour 1t had ceased and the heavy drops were falling from the overladen branches of the trees that shade the dead of Live Oak. If 1t had come twenty minutes earlier or II it had come twenty min utes later there would have been no stop in the exercise and no drenching of the attendants
 But under leaden and weeping skies, in the fullness of summer, a fullness which the gloom of the July day but accentuated, the rites of the dead were read over the bier of Edmund w. Pet tus and all that was mortal of Ala bama's great son was lowered into the earth.
 The services were held at that pie turesque home where he has spent so many years of his life There were no church exercises. Less thar two months ago he sat on the front porch of that old-fashioned home and looked out in the yard where the sunlight sifted through the magnolias. It was a sad day for him. He had. returned only a few minutes before from the fresh made grave into which the body of his
 
 had been lowered.
 Wanted No Eulogies
 He was sitting among his friends and members of his family and he talked of death and the grave. He asked that when he came to die that no eulogies should be pronounced over his bier He asked that the simple ser vice of the Presbyterian church should be read over him in his own home and hot har chn ho rh, h,,r arx,l, and there should be no display. Such was he. always plain, strong and sim pie. Let there be no display over him, because in life he never courted and cared for display.
 It was as he wished. Rev. E.. G. Railley of Montgomery. led the ser vices. They were simple with the sim plicity that Edmund Winston Pettus loved. They were the burial services of the Presbyterian church. Upon the great life that the dead had lived there was but one allusion. It came in the eloquent prayer that the minister offered as he stood at the head of the casket. a prayer of ;hankfulness for the life of such a mana man whose life was so full of good deeds and so rich in accomplishment It was a pray CT of thankfulness that Christianity was equal to every emergency of life and to every grief that life might hold.
 Confederate Flag on Coffin.
 There was that across the casket which the dead would have wished to be there had he known. It was a Con- fejerate flag draped across the flower laden coffin-a battle flag. It was flag under which the troops of Ala bama had fought a flag in the follow ing of which men had died.
 Upon a fit place 1t lay the bier of Edmund Winston Pes;us. soldier of the Cenfederacy. swift in the charge and brave always on the field.
 But this State chose to honor him. even though it were not in his life to admire display The people of Alabama put him to rest with every honor, ev- cry consideration, which could be given to the truest and the greatest of her sons.
 Governor Braxton Bragg Conner was there He was there with the members of his staff. The United States Senate was represented by Senator Bankhead Of Alabama and McEnery of Louisiana. The vice president of the United States was touring the west when Sen ator Pettus fell with the stroke from which he died,. Vice President Fair banks was oysof reach of communica- tion. nor would he have been able to have reached Selma in time for the
 
 death of Senator Pettus.
 The time was short. too, to serve mo- tice of the death of their greatly be- loved colleague to other members of the Senate. There were few of his col leagues who could have reached Selma from Sunday until Tuesday morning.
 Alabama Congressmen There.
 The Alabama Congressman honored his memory in their attendance upon the funeral. From the Alabama dele gation there were at the funeral Con- gressman George w. Taylor, of the First District; A. A. Wiley, of the Second District; Congressman H. D.. Clayton of the Third District; Con- gressman William B. Craig of the Fourth District and Congressman Os car Underwood of the Ninth District. prominent figure was former Gov ernor Joseph F. Johnston, the sue cessor of Edmund W. Pettus in the United States Senate.
 Chief Justice John R. Tyson and many of the leading State and judicial officials were also present in the great gathering which paid the last tribute that was to be paid to Senator Pet tus.
 A rare honor to the memory of any Senator was paid in the attendance of the Legislature of Alabama For if is not often that a Senator dies when the Legislature is in session. Yet rarer still is the distinction of the pr.senr Legislature of Alabama. Its members have already elected three members of the United States Senate They will elect yet another Senator No Leeis- lature in all the history of Alabama has ever elected four United States