The Last Requiem

All Ohio Joined in Final Tribute to the Lamented Dead.
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A NATION SHARES THE GRIEF
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Canton a Mecca of Mourners Who Wept for the President Slain.
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TOMB RECEIVES ITS SACRED TRUST
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Weeping Widow’s Last Hours Beside
the Inanimate Form of the Departed
Husband—Flora’s Choicest Gems
Strewn Upon the Bier—Solemn
Pageant Marched from
City of the Living to
the Resting Place
of the Dead.

     Canton, O., Sept. 19.—The streets of Canton were filled early with waving plumes, prancing horses and densely packed bodies of moving men assembling for the procession which escorted the remains of the late president from the church to Westlawn cemetery in the afternoon. All night civic, military, fraternal, social and commercial organizations from the four quarters of the compass had been pouring in, and into the seething [?] of humanity already here the [?] morning trains deposited other thousands. So fast the trains arrived, that there appeared to be one continuous string of cars unloading their human freight through the stations into the congested streets beyond.
     The two sections of the train bearing members of the senate and house of representatives and other government officials from Washington arrived during the morning.
     Thirty special trains in addition to regular trains had arrived before noon. The biggest crowd in the history of Canton during the campaign of 1896, estimated at over 60,000, was far exceeded. The people overflowed the sidewalks and literally packed the streets from side to side. The greatest crush, of course, was in East Tuscarawas, the principal thoroughfare, and North Market street, on which are located the McKinley cottage and the Harter residence, at which President Roosevelt was stopping. The awe-stricken crowds upon their arrival moved as if by a common impulse toward the McKinley cottage, where the remains were lying.

Scenes at the Cottage.

     Military guards stationed at the four corners of the lawn, paced their beats, there was no other sign of life about the house of death. The window shades were down. A long border of black which had been put in place after the body was moved to the house Wednesday night fringed the roof of the porch from which President McKinley had spoken to delegations from every state in the union, and where he had met and talked with all the chieftains of his party. No badge of conventional mourning was on the door. Instead, there was a simple wreath of palms bisected in a beautiful band of wide, purple satin ribbon. Sorrowfully the throngs turned away, the people to take up their positions at the church, the representatives to seek their places in the imposing procession which was to follow the remains to the cemetery.
     The number of prominent public men in the city was augmented as every train arrived and the city numbered among its mourning guests those who are most prominent in every walk of public life. Among the arrivals were Speaker Henderson and a number of his colleagues of the house of representatives, including those who had served in the house with Mr. McKinley; Justice McKenna of the United States supreme court, who was a member of the ways and means committee when the McKinley bill was drawn; Sereno Payne, present chairman of the ways and means committee; the governors of several states, together with delegates representing states, cities, chambers of commerce and innumerable civic organizations.
     President Roosevelt spent a quiet morning at the Harter residence. He did not go out to the crowded street where thousands were gathered, hoping to catch a glimpse of his face, but took a walk in the spacious grounds of the residence. While at breakfast Judge Day joined him half an hour and later Secretaries Root and Hitchcock came in to see him. Many unofficial visitors left cards of respect, but the president saw very few people, preferring to remain in retirement. Among those who called were a half score of his old command of rough riders, several of them in their broad-brimmed sombreros. The president saw them only for a moment.

Mrs. McKinley’s Condition.

     Mrs. McKinley’s condition is exciting grave apprehension among those caring for her and it is feared that the dreaded collapse may come at any moment. Since she has returned to the old home, the full realization of the awful calamity has come upon her. Wednesday night after the body had been brought from the court house and deposited in the little front room formerly used as the president’s library, she pleaded to be allowed to enter the room and sit beside the casket. Consent was reluctantly granted and for half an hour the stricken widow sat in the dim light beside the flower-draped bier. Then she was led away to her room. Through the morning she wept piteously hour after hour. Owing to her condition she was able to take no part in any of the final ceremonies, neither at the church nor coming into the chamber of death when the body was borne away for the last time. From this time on she will be guarded with the most solicitous care and quiet, for it is only in this way that a collapse can be averted.
     The face of the dead president was seen for the last time when it lay in state Wednesday in the court house.
     At 1:20 p. m. the funeral procession started from the McKinley residence to the church, arriving there at 1:40. The body of the president was taken into the church at 1:45, and when all who were admitted were seated the services began.