Complete Life of William McKinley and Story of His Assassination: An Authentic and Official Memorial Edition, Containing Every Incident in the Career of the Immortal Statesman, Soldier, Orator and PatriotEverett, Marshall
History
Complete Life of William McKinley and Story of His Assassination: An Authentic and Official Memorial Edition, Containing Every Incident in the Career of the Immortal Statesman, Soldier, Orator and Patriot
The carriages carrying President Roosevelt and the Cabinet members
rolled up and were discharged. Then the hearse came, and four sergeants
of the United States army and four quartermasters from the naval
detachment lifted the casket on their shoulders and bore it within,
while the band played “Nearer, My God, to Thee.”
Directly above the spot where the coffin was to lie there was a dome of
black bunting, within which hung straight down above the coffin four
American flags, forming with their lower edges a cross which pointed to
the four points of the compass.
President Roosevelt and the Cabinet ranged themselves about the spot
where the body was to rest. Mr. Roosevelt stood at the foot of the
coffin on its right hand, with Secretary Root opposite and facing him.
On President Roosevelt’s left were Attorney-General Knox, Secretary Long
and Secretary Wilson. On Mr. Root’s right hand were Postmaster-General
Smith, Secretary Hitchcock and Mr. Cortelyou, the President’s private
secretary.
The casket’s upper half was open. The lower half was draped in a flag
upon which were masses of red and white roses. The body of the President
lay on its back and was clad in a black frock coat, with the left hand
resting across the breast. One glance at the face, startlingly changed
from its appearance in life, told the story of the suffering which had
been endured before death came.
Not a word was said. As soon as the coffin had been arranged, President
Roosevelt and Mr. Root, followed by the other secretaries, led the way
past the coffin on either side, each glancing for a moment at the dead
face. They then passed quickly out of the western entrance. Behind them
came Senator Hanna, Senator Fairbanks and about one hundred more men and
women who had been waiting in the city hall or who had accompanied the
body from the Milburn residence.
President Roosevelt and those who immediately followed him had passed
out of the building at eighteen minutes after one o’clock, and there was
a slight delay while the guard was posted. At the head of the coffin
stood Sergeant Galway of the Seventy-fourth Infantry Regiment of the
regular army. Chief Master at Arms Luze of the Indiana stood facing him
at the foot with his drawn cutlass at his shoulder. On the south, facing
the coffin, stood Sergeant Gunther of the Fourteenth Regiment, and
Coburn, a sailor from the Indiana, stood facing him on the north.
The lines approached the eastern entrance from Eagle street on the north
and Church street on the south. They were formed by the police, two
abreast, and approached the hall in a wide sweeping curve of humanity,
which was drawn in constantly at the entrance of the building where the
currents joined. Between files of police the stream from the north
passed by on the north side of the coffin, while the southern stream
flowed by on the south. Both passed quickly out at the western entrance
and down the steps, dispersing in various directions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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