The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1908-04-11


Sarks was the largest and most i'm
pressiVe ever held%1n Charleston.
Charleston had never seen such a day
sadness: nor for such an occasion
such host of people within her
gates, The trains all day were bring
ing delegations from nearby towns
and from distant states. Kanawha
county had come, In earlier in the day
and Sunday had brought in hundreds
from every direction. All day Sun
day there was a stream OF stricken
hearts going tn and ont Of the
shrewsbury street home, where the
body lay beneath a drapery Of white
md flowers, three soldiers on guard.
There were more tears shed in Char
eston last Sunday and Monday than
have been shed in many years; chill
1ren and women and strong men
vept tears of bitter. grief. The chill
tren OF Charleston, whose parents
lad taught them t0 emulate one who
like them was to the manor born,
came in regiments to look for the
last time upon the face Of their low
ing friend. Many OF the little ones
wept as If their hearts would break.
They knew not why they wept, ex-
cept that their friend did not speak
to them. ,.'%SsF.
Body Lay in State.
Monday morning the body was TAX
en- to the First Baptist church, where
it lay in state until the hour Of the
funeral 1t was most appropriate
that the body should lie in state in
this church. For So years Mr.. Starks
was it's great pillar. being ordained
a deacon at the age: of Is years. He
practically saved the church more
than once, and was always it's lead
ing member. Long before 8 O'Clock
the streets in juxtaposition to the
church were filled with people;
punches here; lunches there; the
state house grounds were a gathering
point; the K. OF P. building was sur
rounded with Knights from every
where; Washington and Shrewsbury
streets We're, sometimes impossible,
men and women congregated now
passing to and fro then. =,
Thousands VfeSs the Body.
The Charleston BsAly Gazette de-
scribes the morning aSNallows:~
From 8 o'clock Yesterday morn
ing until 1 o'clecky yesterday after
noon the body lay in state at the
First Baptist church, on Washington
street. where it was Viewed by thou
sands Of people, both white and COL
ored Long before 2:3O, the time set
for the funeral seExiae, the church
was crowded to 6TacW6wirg.- Hun
dreds stood in the street in front of
the church and many others lined
the streets leading t9a the GENE tery,
waiting for the funeral procession to
pass" :si9t'1 -
Business Suspended.
The Charleston Daily Mail report
ed the funeral in these words:
Practically every state in the
United States is represented here to-
day in attendance at the funeral SER
vices Of Samuel w. Starks, the best
known colored man in the United
States, excepting Booker. T.. Washing
ton, who at the time o6Ihis death was
state librarian Of West Virginia, and
who had done more than any other
man to lnculcate thrift, energy and
industry in the colored race of his
state and country. -
hundreds of people who have lin
gered about the church and hall all
day long, have been unable to gain
admittance to the church during the
services. The funeral is probably
the largest ever held in the city of
Charleston, and the devotion and es-
TEEN Of the cOlored race for their
reader Is evidenced Throughout the
whole city. Business among the col
ored people is suspended entirely as
mark OF esteem to the Ieate leader
and hundreds of visitors are in at
tendance at the funeral from the
nearby towns"
At 2:30 o'clock the funeral exer-
clses begun. President J. McHenry
Jones, Ia the absence Of Pastor Bull
lock, presided. Seated in the pulpit
were the governor Of West Virginia,
the Kew. G. B. Howard, who deliv-
cred the funeral grafton, the Rev. J.
w. Waters, and the Rev. w. f..
walker. The church was packed be-
Eond It's capacity and those on the
inside represented only in a small
way the great, surging, weeping
'hrong on the outside. The chief
mourners at the bier were the Wild
dow. Mrs. Lillian Starks; the only
surviving sister, Mrs. Sa1lie Brooks,
ana her husband; Mr.. and Mrs. e. C.
berry; Mrs. Julia Jones, Mr.. and
Mrs. }. NJ. Lakewood, the dead su-
preme Chancellor's lifelong friends.
The Funeral Services.
In the chancel we're flowers piled
almost to the ceiling. The supreme
officers of the Knights of Pythias oc-
cupied seats Of honor near the re-
mains Of their chieftaiD. The choir
sang, Lead, Kindly Light" Mr..
Starks fayorite hymn, amid the
gloom and hush Of many men MOURN
ing for their leader The following