Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1893 — “DUST TO DUST.” [ARTICLE]

“DUST TO DUST.”

Hie Heio of Many Contests Rer-te With His Departed Kindred. Funeral of Ex-Precldent Haye* at Fremont, O.—Many Notable Men In Attendance -j-Clvle end Military Honcr. to the Deceased. — ——— Fremont, 0., was a city of mourning. Friday. Business was suspended while the populace gathered to pay the last tribute of loving respect to. their most honored. eminent atfd’bcst loved townsman. The morning dawned as bright asAbe unostentatons life of the dead. The oaks about the family Mansion at Spiegel grove shone in the sunshine, every twig, with its tracery of frost, looking like delicate wax. The frost from the broad veranda was picturesque and beautiful beyond description. It seemed as if even harsh winter had donned a charm - iug robe in honor of the noble man whose remains were in a few hours to be. born to the tomb. Carriages hurried here and there, the wheels croaking sharply on the frosty snow, bearing the hundreds of distinguished guests to houses of entertainment and later to the hushed mansion, whence the remains of tho nineteenth President of the United States were-borne to their last resting place besides those of his beloved wife in tho beautiful Oakwood . cemetery. Over public building, churches, stores and many private residences, the American flag, draped and bound with black, hung motionless in the frosty air and on every hand the sable emblems of mourning bespoke the deep regard and sorrow of the community. At 9 o’clock the school children of the city, followed by all the cme socicsties of Fremont, passed in impressive procession through the large dining room at Spiegel Grove, w here the remains lay in state. The plain cedar casket bore the simple inscription, “Rutherford B. Hayes, January 17,1893.” On his breast rested the decoration of the. Loyal Legion. The Loral Legion of the State of Massachusetts senta delegation of distinguished representatives, wild brought with them throe banners of the war. Great numbers of floral pieces were sent by friends, most of which, on account of the delay in trains, arrived too late. The Grand Army and civic, bodies also placed their tributes at the feet of the dead chief. A beautiful wreath of palms and hyacinths arrived at noon from Washington, the tribute of PresiHarrison, bearing his card. Avery large floral piece came from the D. K. E. Greek fraternity, of which the ex-Presi-dent and his sons were, members. The wide rooms of the mansion at Spiegel Grove, through which the January sunshine was streaming, were filled with a most distinguished company when the simple farewell services began at 2 o’clock in tiie south parlor. In the large chamber in the rear of it were Pressflent Cleveland, the members of President Harrison’s Cabinet, representatives of the United States Senate andijpusc, officers of the army and navy sent to represent their departments. Here, too, the family were seated. Across the wide hall, in the large north parlor and the library to tho rear of it, were Gov. McKinley and staff, the members of the Ohio General Assembly and other representative bodies, and friends. In the far north end of the room many were standing, the throng of distinguished men being too great to permit the seating of all. The Rev. .T, L. Albritton, of the M. E. church of Fremont, standing between tho doors of the parlors in the expansive hall, read tho Twenty-third Psalm, after a hymn, and was followed in prayer by President J. W. Bashford, D. D., who some fortv-fivo years ago, united in marriage Lucy Webb and Rurtberford Birchard Hayes, in Chillicotho, O. Another hymn, the Lord’s Prayer repeated impressively, and the simple, solemn services at the house were over. The bodybearers lifted the remains, bore them from the hushed mansion, amid sobs and falling tears, and the long, sad procession wound out through the native forest of Spiegel Grove, which the illustrious dead had nourished' with such loving care, down Birchard avenue and out Buckland to Oakwood cemetery, where, after the brief and simple ritual of the Grand Army of the Republic, all that was mortal of Rutherford B. Ilayes, nineteenth President of the United States, was committed to the tomb. The military escort, consisting of the Cleveland City Troop, the Sixteenth Ohio National Guards and Battery D. of Toledo, commanded by Col. H. S. Bunker, and members of the G. A. R. and Sons of Veterans not otherwise assigned, composed part of the. escort. Tho post of honor was held by the First Troop of Cava! y of Cleveland, of which Mr. Webb C. Hayes is a member. The body-bearers were eight veterans of Gen. Hayes’s old Twentythird Regiment.