Evening star., 1923-08-07
Thousands Stay Up AH Night
To See Funeral Train Pass

of Warren q. Harding passed scarcely
faster than man might walk
! Fifteen miles from the railroad
/ terminals the bareheaded throngS
grew dense as the funeral Cortege
drew near the largest city through
which il will pass.
Slowly the black -draped engine
/ moved through the great throngs. at
/ times dense that they were
crowded upon the tracks in front of
the funeral rortege even as they
/ tried to make a path for the train Of
mourning.
Traffic Halted for Blocks.
As the train reached the railroad
I yards where it transferred from the
! Chicago and Northwestern road to
/ the Baltimore and Ohio to continue
| its long journey from the Golden Gate
; to the capital traffic was halted for
| blocks at every street intersection,
! and the people were massed So dense
| ~ along the right of way that the
| train could only creep and at times
/ stopped altogether. 1t probably was
the greatest demonstration for pub
| lie figure the city has ever witnessed
! and can compare only with the re-
! ception accorded the body of the only
/ other Chief Executive of the nation
! ever brought here-Abraham Lincoln
! in 1865
! Not only did people gather in the
. hot. dusty railroad yards and stand
! for hours wedGed so tightly together
! that they could scarcely breathe. but
| windows and from the house tops.
! Every point Of vantage had its COM
/ plement of mourners.
Train Four Hours Late.
! Due to the crowds that thronged
about the funeral train as it reached
! the more densely populated sections
! of Iowa and Illinois, the rOrtege en-
hnfnr. ~
! over two and one-half hours behind
| schedule. 1t Departed at 7:10 O'Clock,
! nearly four hours behind the estimat-
! ed running time
| The formal demonstration of the
! city's sorrow was made through an
| aldermanic committee which took
! aboard the train at the KedZie avenue
stop huge wreath Of lilies and roses
bearing the inscription ''Chicago's
! sympathy" The wreath was present
| ed to Secretary of Commerce Hoover
by Acting Mayor Martin j. O'Brien.
! The train paused in Its transconti-
mental flight only long enough for the
change of engines and the necessary
/ operating delays. Due to the crowds,
/ however, it was here more than an
| hour. moving along at a snairs pace
| much of the time. Besides the city's
floral offering, many other floral
| pieces were put aboard the train here.
| AS the train bearing the Presidents
body moved along those watching
| from the train saw the sorrowful
| faces of the thousands. with all ewes
tdirected toward the last coach, where
lay the body Of the nations chief and
where rode his widow. Tears trickled
down the checks of men and women
, as the funeral cortege passed. Little
| children followed the train as it
moved down the tracks, some of them
| sobbing.
! Despite the crowds-and it was es-
timated that those who saw the flu
neral cortege here numbered from
| 100000 to 350,000 persCns-there was
| scarcely sound the train rolled
by. People stood with heads uncov-
| cred and almost breathleSs as they
| witnessed the spectacle for which
some of them had stood along the
dusty. hot and uncomfortable right
of way for more than four hours
Planes Drop Flowers.
| Airplanes dropping flowers circled
overhead as the train entered the city
| Vending it's way through the rail-
! road yards. the funeral cortege might
well be said to have passed through
a cross section of America.
| Through the great steel and indus
trial section, the packing plants and
the lumber yards the nations burden
of sorrow was carried, and the ma
! chinery along the way was stilled as
the workers stood bare headed out
side the factories.
Then on into the wholesale and
business sections crept the funeral
special, and again the places of busi-
ness were silent and the hum Of com
merce was Stilled.
AS the train crawled onward
through the silent mass of humanity
it entered the residential section, and
here again 1t was met in silence
while from windows flags dropped
and from porches crepe eddied, all
eloquent of a citys grief.
Foreigners Pay Tribute.
In making the trip through Chicago
the train passed through the sections
commonly designated by the nation
alities inhabiting them. and it was a
significant fact that through these
quarters of the city. so often termed
foreign" the train was met by the
greeted it elsewhere. Italians, Poles,
lGreeks, Jews, Germans, negroes,
Slavs-they all were Americans
mourning the passing of Warren G.
Harding as the funeral cortege swept
iby.
Mrs. Harding, at a window near
the casket of her husband. for a part
of the time watched the sympathetic
sorrowing faces of the crowds, the
tear-stained cheeks of men, women
and little children. She must have
felt that no living President in the
tcountry's history ever drew his coun-
jtrymen to his side as did Warren
G. Harding in death.
Two Pullman coaches laden with
floral offerings to a point which made
passage through them impossible
gave mute testimony of the outpour-
ing of love which has been Amer
ica's response to the death of it's
Header, all the way from the Golden
tGate to the city on the shores of Lake
Michigan.