The sun., 1918-07-11
PUBLICHONORS
mitchell ASHE
LIESIN STATE
Many Thousands Visit City
Hall ROtunda, Where
Coffin Rests.
SOLDIERS GUARD BODY
Banks Of Flowers Rise Around
Catafalque--Host of
Tributes Paid.
SOLDIERS GUARD BODY

nc DELL III tEo CLOCK lower ol INC
City Hall sounded yesterday after
silence Of q year and a month.
In the late afternoon. precisely at 6
o'clock. It began to toll heavily. sorrow
fully. volcing the lamentation OF a city
with It's regular,repeated strokes.
Far below this bell tho body Of the
fine young man who was Mayor Of New
York from 1sl4 until 1913 was being
carried up tho steps Of the hall to lie
in state where the bodies Of Henry Clay.
OF Abraham Lincoln, of Ulysses s. Grant
and OF william J. Gnynor had received
Their due OF public respect.
Tho coffin, OF bronze. which was borne
upon tho sturdy shoulders OF American
trtantrymen, was caressed by the flag
for which this young man gave his life.
Step by stop tho young soldiers accom-
plished the Journey from funeral car to
the rotundA Of the hall. and ut every
step the great bell overhead spoke with
heavy resonance, while the msgnbefs OF
the government OF tho city. many men
Of note in the oity's affairs and thou
sands Of undisting,x.shed, though no less
mournfu,, men gaxed In silence. their
heads uncovered, and the noise Of
traffic all about the City Hall ceased to
nothing.
The OLD ana New bells.
The last time the bell of tho City
Hall rang out John Purroy Mitchell. with
his vibrant earnestness. was presiding
over the welfare Of the 100000. He
had Just said to Marshal Joffre and
Rene viviani words so gracefully and
insplringly conceived that they lost
nothing by comparison with the speech
of tho inimitable Choate. He was soon
10 welcome Arthur J. Balfour with equal
poise and inspiration. That was the
last the old bell knew Of Mitchell. Fire
ruined 1t and 1t went the way OF use
less. crippled things
The bell that tolled last evening as
his body came back to the City Han
was the new bell indeed, but 1t seemed
20 many who heard its slow and troubled
strokes that It expressed all OF the sor-
row and regret, even the reproach, that
the bell of the old days might have
found a tongue for.
Great men have died and have re-
ce.yed in the rotunda OF the City Hail
the need of mourning and respect which
was the due of their characters ana OF
their achievements. They carried the
body OF Clay there in 1852. Lincoln lay
among palms in 1865. Multitudcs bowed
over the coffin Of Grant in 1885, and
only Ave years ago, on September e.
1918. the body Of that sometimes iras-
cible, but always competent and enter
tanning genius. Gaynor, was honored by
100, 900 of his fellow citizens; but 1t Is
extremely doubtful II any OF these
historic ceremonies of public mourning
ever evoked a more sincere manifesta-
t!on OF sorrow than was displayed yes
terday when the coffin OF Major Mitchell
was laid on its catafalque between the
tall and steadily burning candles Depth
and sincerity marked this manifestation
above all else. And obviously and pal
psbly the thought revealed by so many
OF the faces inside the hall and out upon
the plaza was the pity OF the mans end
the futility of It,
Cessation of Activity.
The late Mayor came back to the City
Hall toward the close OF the days &C
tvities in downtown Manhattan, when
thousands were trooping toward the
Brooklyn Bridge, the subway and the
elevated; when motor cars and the
heavy truck traffic was roaring through
the streets. As II at a signal. as II a
gun had been fred or flag lowered, all
o. this activity ceased when the funeral
car was turned from Park Row into the
city Hall plaza. The stunning Of feet
died away. Street cars stopped Auto
ha IN
be. Hurrying men removed their hats
Women stood silently.
II required no observing eye to see
that throughout this crowd were men
and women we'll along in years and re-
lgiously inclined who were saying short
prayers. Lips moved. Eyes closed briefly
The sign OF the cross was struck by
swift hngers.> In all Of this there was q
Jhrase heard at random which caught
tae car: I'm glad voted for him"
These people, easily restrained by
lines of policemen, were waiting. very
many of them. for hours before the
funeral procession arrived from the
home OF Major Mitchel's mother. far
uptown at 447 west 1921 street. They
were massed in Park Row on the east
Broadway on the west. Mail street or
the south and even in Chap,bers street
on the north Perhaps 10000 gathered
in this restricted space.
\ Inside the hall the rotunda had beer
\ prepared for the reception of the body
- the palms and lick. the purple carpet
and purple hanginss. the tribute OF
flowers in symbolic designs, the tai
=