New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-03
FLORAL ALREPROACH
ON BECKER COFFIN
BARRED AT GRAVE
Mourners Help Charge
Throngs at House
and Church.
HUNDREDS PAY MUTE
TRIBUTE TO WIDOW
Women in Rush Of Cemetery
Mob to Steal FloWers-Police-
men pallbearers.

/ Sacrificed for Politics" so one OF
/ the floral designs on Charles Becker's
/ coffin read But, even as the name
plate, Murdered by Governor Whit
man." could not remain on the coffin,
the floral design Sacrificed for Pol
/ itics" could not rest on the dead police
/ lieutenants grave. 1t was barred from
/ Woodlawn Cemetery, where the burial
+ took place yesterday.
The funeral was marked by scenes
/ Of disorder and noise. Crowds hurried
/ to the house and to the church, and
/ had to be called out in order to drive
/ the morbid and curious away. De-
tectives and patrolmen in plain clothes
! who attended the services had TO take
: their shields from their pockets and
pin them to their coat lapels and aid
in the work Of controlling the unrIly
I hordes Of sightseers.
/ As early as 9 o'clock in the morning
there were lines of people on each
side Of University Avenue adjacent to
the apartment house at 2291, where the
body lay. By 10 o'clock, when the
hearse drove up, there must have Been
| 5000 there. As the coffin was brought
from the house men and women-most-
/ ly women-surged about the vehicle
and rushed the police lines. Captain
Reith, Of the Highbridge station, had
to call for his reserves. Mounted men
/ charged the crowds and drove them
/ back to the sidewalks.
Crowds Tribute to Widow.
The crowd, however, paid tribute
to Mrs. Becker by parting to allow
her to walk to a carriage with her
brother, John Lynch. She rode IN the
second coach behind the hearse. The
first was filled with flowers. The de-
/ sign already spoken of was a big white
cross with the words Sacrificed for
Politics" spread full across the arms
of il. II had been sent by an anpny-
nous friend.
Another design, inscribed "To the
/ Martyr, with Sincere Sympathy" was
sent by DR.. Lipsit, the Becker family
physician; his fancee, Miss Slauser'
and Dr. Allesin, another friend
There were three other carriages car
/ rying Lieutenant John Becker and Miss
/ Susan Lynch, Mrs. Becker's sister;
George Lynch and Agnes Lynch, ex-
Police Captain Dennis Brennan, Alder
man Peter Schweickert and ex-ln-
/ spector Alex Williams.
As soon as the funeral procession
started for the Church of st. Nicholas
of Tolentine, at Fordham Road and
Andrews Avenue, swarms of people
iammed close 10 the hearse and car
riages and attempted to accompany
them all the way. BY the time the
church was reached the congestion
there was far worse than at the house
The police had to handle the crowds
smartly TO preserve order. There were
even small boys up in the trees.
Mounted men pushed back the
throngs while the coffin was taken into
the church. The pallbearers were Pa
/ trolman William Ferrick, who was
Becker's secretary in police work;
Lieutenant Patrick Shay, Captain John
Bourke. former Patrolman Joseph Shep-
ard, Lieutenant James Brady and Pa
trolman John O'Connor. All were in
plain clothes, and the crowd, who had
anticipated uniforms, thought for a
time the pallbearers were merely un-
dertaker's assistants.
In the street the thcong was about
as frivolous and irreverent as could
be imagined. Women yelled to each
other, Take of your hat so ! can see.
When a mounted mans horse intelli-
- ha
women shrieked and screamed. There
was so much turmoil that the service
J could hardly be heard even inside the
/ church.
Church Packed to Doors.
The church was packed to the doors.
/ The Rev. John Dermody chanted low
mass ir the absence OF the regular
/ priest, the Rev. Nicholas j. Murphy,
who is in Philadelphia. There was no
music. Mrs. Becker sat at the head
of the coffin, her eyes fixed fast upon
| it. She was dry-eyed, and looked as II
| she really did not comprehend what
was going on. After the mass, Father
| Dermody blessed the body and SAID
| the prayers for eternal rest.
As the hearse started into Woodlawn
/ Cemetery Superintendent +. K. Deering
stepped forward.
81 understand some of the floral en-
blems bear political remarks. NO
/ flowers can be admitted which violate
1 the rules of the cemetery" he SAID.
! Lynch argued for a minute or two, out
/ finally William Struwe. the undertaken
who bears a striking resemblance 70
/ Governor Whitman. removed the WORDS
/ "Sacrifced for Politics" from the white
cross. The procession advanced TO
Rorder Avenue, where an open grave
was ready for Becker's body beside ms
infant daughter, who was born and
died while ne was in the death house
at Sing Sing.
The widow stood with John Becker
John Lynch and his wife beneath