People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 November 1893 — LYING IN STATE. [ARTICLE]

LYING IN STATE.

Thousands of Chicagoans View the Remains of Their Dead Mayor. [tnprestivw Scenes at tjie House of Mourning and at the City Hall—The Floral Tributes Were Magnificent and Numerous. AT Hid BIER. Chicago. Nov. 2. Escorted ’by a platoon of police and a guard of honor composed of chosen members of the city council all that is mortal of the late Carter 11. Harrison, Chicago’s assassinated chief magistrate, were borne to the rotunda of the city hall, and placed on a catafalque, surrounded by innumerable floral tributes of striking and elegant design. At 8:30 o’clock the family, consisting of the two daughters, the two sons and Miss Howard, were left alone with the dead. At the door of the parlor Miss Howard seemed about to swoon away. She was supported by her maid, and in a moment the door closed on the mourners. They remained there twenty minutes. Pathetic indeed was the scene, as children and fiancee bade good-by in most tenderly spoken accents to him who had gone forever beyond earthly love and hearing. j At 9 o’clock the casket was borne to the hearse by eight stalwart members of the fire department, and the journey 'to the city hall, where the remains were to lie in state, was begun. The ! procession moved on Ashland avenue i to Jackson boulevard, then east to La ! Salle street and north to the city halt All along the route the curbstones were lined with a quiet, orderly, sorj rowing crowd, and around the La Salle I street entrance to the city hall a tre- ! mendous gathering of citizens had asI sembled. The entire square from Wash- ■ ington to Randolph street was packed with people. The aidermen and city officials who , had met in the city clerk’s office mached to La Salle street front and ; formed in two lines on the steps. Con- , dnetor H. H. Thiele waved his baton ( and the great band of 200 pieces sent , by the Chicago Musical union pealed j forth the solemn music of Chopin’s j funeral march. The hearse drove up : to the steps and every head was bared. The pall-bearers carried the casket ■ up the broad steps and laid it on the i catafalque. The officials marched in ! slow procession after them. The i triple quartette sung: “Lead, Kindly ! Light,” the band played Mendelssohn’s ; funeral march, the gates at the Clark street entrance of the county building were opened and the public admitted and the main ceremonies of the day were over. Painstaking estimates place the number of persons who passed the casket during the day and night at from 80,000 to 100,000. * Meantime wagons had backed up to the curb and men carried in the many huge floral pieces. The late mayor’s official desk, hidden under a curtain of white roses, was carried in and placed at the northwest corner of the catafalque, and by its side was a floral ' chair. The council’s tribute, a floral official ehair with the monogram I “C. II.” and a bowed eagle perched upon its back, was a notable piece. From the Illinois club, of which the deceased was a member, came the club’s eoat-of-arms in flowers a tepee with crape tied to the tent flap, the whole on a ground of green with floral bushes and stumps. Mark L. Crawford, warden of the house of correction, was represented by a huge floral crescent and star; the county officials sent a tall broken column in flowers, and from the Times staff came a large floral scroll. Other floral pieces were as ollows: Six-pointed star bearing the word “Police,” from the police department; pillow with the word ‘•Rest,’’ from the comptroller’s office; tall clock stopped at 8’27, the time of the mayor’s death, from the Chicago Greek association; broken column 6 feet tall, from the water department; floral lyre, from the city treasurer’s office; from the- street department a golden stairway, live feet tall, the steps of golden flowers leading up to “ the gates ajar” in white flowers, and from the building department an exact representation of the Harrison homestead on Ashland boulevard, constructed perfectly on a scale of ■ one inch to the foot. A floral cross, the monoi gram “H” in chrysanthemums, large wreaths | in profusiomand a number of other pieces were i displayed, the whole making one of the most t elaborate exhibitions of funeral tributes ever I seen in this city, and the air was heavy with , their fragrance. i The undertaker and his assistants rei moved the half-lid of the elegant cas- ' ket above the spotless glass through \ which was sdln the calm, placid feai tures of the dead. The members of the i late mayor’s cabinet then stepped for- ; ward to look for the last time upon i the face of their friend. Commis- ! sioner of Public Works Jones was deep- , ly affected and his eyes filled with ■ tears. The others were scarcely less | moved. Then the aidermen and other i officials, of the city, county and government marched slowly around the casket. The dead mayor wore a dress suit and his carefully trimmed hair and beard: were neatly brushed back. He looked as if asleep and the face was that of the Carter IL Harrison of old, though the dead lids hid the eagle eyes. The firm mouth was as full of decision as in life, the left hand was crossed upon the body. From above the electric lights shone softly through festoons of smilax and were reflected back from the heavy silver plate upon, the black casket, bearing the simplft inscription: “Carter H. Harrison. 18251893.”