The Warwickshire Herald. — 1895-01-17 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

THE BURIAL.  The burial of the victims of the Hparkhill tragedy took place on Monday afternoon at the Yardley Cemetery. For the past few days the bodies have been in the carriage shed of the undertakers. Messm .1. Adams and Co, of Moseley Road. The girl's body, encased in its coffin, NUS taken there on Friday night, and the man's on. Saturday. We were astonished to hear that on Sunday the bodies were aubmitted to public exhibition. They were iii their coffins, and the coffin,. rested on a wooden platform. Th spectators tiled through, looking first at the body Or the girl and then at that of the man. Around the body of the girl much. maudlin sympathy was shown. The women wept and lamented, and expressed ind motion about her fate. When the man was reached they saw the blood from the neck coming through the shroud, and indeent and vengeful word's were hurled at him by the F petstater& It is but fair to give the undertaker's version of these unseemly occurrences. He says the bodies were exhibited with the sanction of Mrs. Birds, and that a collection was made on her behalf from the sightseers, which realised £l2 16s, Sid. This money, says Mr. Adams, will be handed in full to Mrs. Birsh. Also he has carried out the funeral at his own cost, and will hand to Mrs. Birch a reeeipted bill for the whole of the expeniws. The coffins were taken to the house in Ironer Highgate Street on Monday morning, and placed in the living room downstairs. Long before the time fixed for the ceremony a crowd hail collected in the street outside the house. At 9.30 the undertaker's arrived. There seemed to be a desire to make as much difference as possible between the bodies. The girl's coffin of polished elm, with brass furniture and engraved plate, was placed in a modem "Washington cue hearse, resplendent with brass: the man's coffin, winch was of plain elm, with dead black furniture, was placed in a black hearse, and HO flowers were upon it, while the surface of the girl's coffin was covered with wreaths. One came from her fellow-workers, another from the teacher and the pupils at the night school, and others from friends end relatives. Six young men of the neighbourhood, attired in black, with white ties and white gloves, bore the body of the girl. The body of the man was left to the scant courtesy of casual bearers, such as the gravediggers at the cemetery. The mother, with her five children. entered the first carriage, and other relatives and friends followed. No relative of .the munlerer. save hhi wife and children, was present. As the body of the man was placed in the black hearse, hooting, groaning, and ironical laughter rose from people in the crowd; and the hooting continued until the procession reached Moseley Road. Throughout the long drive to Yardley Cemetery, spectators with faces alive with curiosity, lined the roads. Through Camp Hill and Stratford Road to Small Heath Park they stood half a dozen in depth; and when at Hay Mills the horses were net at the trot, the more daring of the crowd ran along with them, through the fearful slush and snow, determined to see the exhibition through to the end Another crowd, pushing and excited, was gathered at the gates of the cemetery. They had waited for an hour or more. Their chief anxiety was to see what was done with the body of the. murderer, but this extreme satisfaction was denied them. The crowd was waved back, and there drove through the gates of the cemetery the one hearse containing the body of the man. The gates were•elosed, leaving the people outside. The hearse was driven at a smart pais to the chapel and the gravediggers took nut the coffin and walked rapidly to the appointed grave, at the extreme end of this cemetery, in unconsecrated ground. They shot the coffin down, shook it sharply to free the ropes, and forthwith began to shovel in the soil, with no word of sacred service, no mark of respect for the dead. They were stamping in the soil by the time the gates were opened, a quarter of a mile away. This final indignity to the dead might have been obviated could the family have secured a priest to read the service, but they made no attempt to do so. and were satisfied with the disgraceful interment provided in cases of. felo de Se. The grave does not belong to the family. and no other body will be buried there until there is another funeral of a self-murderer without religious service. Mrs. Birch was in a half-fainting eondition, and she was supported by a neighbour. She wept bitterly during the service, which was said by the Rev. Edgar Todd, Congregationalist minister. The six hearers carried the body of the girl to the grave amidst profound silent*. Hats were reverently raised as the body was lowered, and the final words of the service uttered by Mr. Todd. The bearers ltirmw on the coffin nosegays of lilies of the valley. which they had been wearing.