Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 202, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1920 — THOUSANDS OF FANS PAY FINAL TRIBUTE [ARTICLE]

THOUSANDS OF FANS PAY FINAL TRIBUTE

Cleveland, 0., Aug. 20.—Funeral services for Raymand Chapman, star player of the Cleveland American league club and idol of fans, were held this morning. While the bell of St. John’s Roman Catholic cathedral, where the services were held, was tolling, thousands of persons stood with bare heads as the body of Chapman was carried to the altar and the last rites of the church said. It was the largest funeral in Cleveland in years, and not since the visit here of Cardinal Merceier, hero of Belgium, has such a mass of people attempted to enter the cathedral. Long before the services started thousands of persons congregated in the vicinity of the the church. Mounted policeman and patrolmen strove almost in vain to keep streets open! to traffic. The service, a salemn requiem high mass started at 10:15. The Rev. Father S. Nash was the celebrant, and the sermon was delivered by the Rev. Dr. William A. Schullen, chancellor of the diocese, who paid Chapman an eloquent tribute. Chapman’s widow, a bride of ten months, leaning on the arm of her father, entered the church immediately after the casket, which was borne by Chapman’s closest friends on the team and in Cleveland. The ball player’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Chapman; his brother Roy, and sister Margaret followed. B. B. Johnson, president of the American league, and James C. Dunn, president of the Cleveland team, were among the first to reach the church. Members of the Cleveland team arrived from New York this morning, but Manager Tris Speaker and Outfielder Jack Graney collapsed and could not attend the services. Speaker had a high fever and did not go east to play Boston. All classes and walks of life were represented in the crowded church. Bankers and brokers rubbed elbows with laborers anw news boys. Every foot of space in the churrh was occupied.. Mayor Fitzgerald was absent from the city, but Law Director Woods, acting mayor and several members of the mayor’s cabinet attended the services.