The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-05-29
THE WHITE HOUSE
Only Two of Our Presidents Died
Within Its Walls.
FIVE DIED WHILE IN OFFICE

But Of These Lincoln, Garfield and Mo-
kinIey Met Their Tragic Ends Away
From Their Official Home-Thriee
Has Il Mourned a Dead Mistress.
Deaths in the White House have
really been comparatively rare events
In the history of the famous official res
tdence of the chief executive Of our ma
ton. when we consider the number Of
persons who have been housed within
its walls since the establishment OF
this government.
Five presidents Of the United States
died during their terms of Office. but
only two of them In the executive man.
sion.
The three martyred presidents breath
ed their last away from the official res
idence Of the president, Lincoln in
house In Washington near Ford's thea
ter, where he was assassinated; Gar
field at Elberon, a seaside resort in
J New Jersey, and Mckinley at Mr.. Mil
burns house In Buffalo.
The first president to die In the
White House was William Henry Har-
rison. He survived his Inauguration
only one month. His death occurred
on April 4, 1871, more than two score
years after the building was occupied
for the first time by John Adams.
Harrison had lacked but two years of
fulfilling the allotted span of man
when he went to Washington. Never
very robust In health, he had passed
through most exciting campaign and
made his journey to Washington at an
inclement season.
The day Of his Inauguration was cold
and gloomy, and he spoke in the open
air for an hour About the LIST of April
he caught chin from careless expo
sure, which his frame lacked vitality to
resist. 1t developed into pneumonia.
and he died four days later.
The funeral of the first person to
die in the White House was a most i'm
pressiye one. About his coffin, aside
from the members of his family, sat
the new president, John Tyler, former
President John Quincy Adams, mem
bers OF the cabinet, foreign ministers
with their respective suits, and con-
gressmen and their wives. Two of the
late presidents swords were placed
upon the pail, and at the foot, upon
the table, were the Bible and prayer
book of the deceased.
The pallbearers, who numbered twen-
ty-six, wore white scarfs and black
Grape. The funeral procession is said
to have extended more than two
miles and to have contained 10000 per-
sons The body was placed in mag
nificent funeral car drawn by eight
white horses, attended by grooms dress
ed in white. The car was covered en-
tirely with black velvet embroidered
with gold
The death of the second and last
president to die in the White House
occurred a little more than nine years
later, President Zachary Taylor. 1t
seems that even before he took the
oath of office Mrs. Taylor expressed
her intuitive belief that something sad
or something dreadful would overtake
him.
ET6SlueuL 1dylOT uhU Deeu 1uFILcu "
attend the laying Of the cornerstone
Of the Washington monument. 1t was
a hot July day, and upon returning
home he complained Of feeling very
Frustrated. He died on July 8, and
the family remained in the mansion
only until the funeral was over. In the
funeral procession the generals aged
war horse followed his owners body to
Its last resting place.
Three times has the White House
stood swathed in black while its mis-
tress lay dead within. First, when Mrs.
Tyler died; next. when Mrs. Benjamin
Harrison died, and later at the death
of President Wilson's wife. Mrs. Tyler
died in 1912, about a year after the
death of President Harrison, and hers
was, accordingly, the second death
within the White House Mrs. Harri-
son died on Oct. "a, 1891, her funeral
taking place In the White House on the
9th. Mrs. Wilson died Aug. 9, 1916
Philadelphia Press.