The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-05
DELAY INTERVIEW OF BANKHEAD ON
 ACCOUNT OF RAIN
Funeral Services Conducted In Church, But Deluge Makes Roads to Gene
 tery Impossible
ny HuGH W. RopEnrs

Jasper. March Special )-The 1 interment of Senator Bankhead was postponed from this ;af,ernoon until tomorrow because of q deluge of rain which made the road leading from the church to the cemetery practically un- serviceable.
 Funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Dr. J. T. Morris of Birming ham. The church chancel was trans formed into a garden of magnificent flowers, floral designs having come from all sections of the state. and from several states of the union. River i'm provement associations, good road sas- scciatiors, the House of Congress. and other organizations vied with each oth- CT, and with innumerable individuals in the gorgeous nature of their de- signs.
 Despite threatening weather eondi- tions. which prevented the attendance of thousands. and practically all who planned to reach Jasper by automobile. the little city was comfortably filled with visitors who loved the senator in life and desired to shed their tears at his funeral.
 The church was filled, all aisles and galleries being utilized by those unable to procure seats. A special and singu- larly effective musical programme was rendered by a choir chosen from the people of the city, who had grown up to revere the deceased as father. or as chieftain, Is revered.
 Following the remains into the church were the members of Congress, headed by Senator Underwood of Ala bama and Senator Nelson of Minnesota. who had been dispatched as commit tee of honor. In the center of the struc- ture these distinguished naen sat just to the rear of the rief-stricken family INTERVIEW TODAY And tomorrow all that was mortal of the late Senator w.io for so many years was the most conspicuous citizen of the state will be returned to the earth from which they sprang.
 The coming together of the people of Alabama in Jasper today was not un- like the confluence of pilgrims who had journeyed from distant parts to q sacred shrine. And as in pilgrim bands are prince and potentate mingled with priest and mendicant, in the grieving crowd today were those of the highest estate and those of the lowest. Here was a man Judged worthy of being President of the United States: here an humble negro with streanips eyes Hare was one lwilos renAesent5d ia his every movement the idea of this day and time: here one in dimmed graS uniform who had fought under the Stars and Bars of the confederacy.
 It was a. crowd animated not in any degree by curiosity. 1t was q crowd of those who were loved ones, who were friends, who were comrades in arms, who, were followers in many hard fought battles for the bettermeni of the state From every county they had come. They were senators and representatives in Congress; they were governors and former governors; they were officials of counties; they were of those who had labored in the de- velopment of the rivers of the state and the highways of the state They were his neighbors. They were of that innumerable host in Alabama which re- garded the dead s it's chief. as the head of the clan which had fought for so many years the good fight, and which, without it's leader, was tempo rarily dazed and lost in stupor.
 CONFEDERATE FLAG, TOO
 As indicating the connecting link between this and another period which the senator had served as a type there were suspended above the altar of the picturesque little church, three flags--the two to the right and left, the stars and stripes and between them, resplendent, the battle flag of the confederacy. It was mute but appealing expression of the fact that the senator who as boy had fought
 tContinued on Page TwoD