CHAPTER XIX

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MEMORIAL SERVICES OF LINCOLN, GARFIELD, GRANT AND McKINLEY

    Among the most significant and impressive public assemblies in the history of Montgomery County were those when the people gathered to do honor to the memory of their dead presidents—Lincoln, Garfield, Grant and McKinley. Political and religious creeds were for the moment thrown aside and all united in paying their last earthly tribute to their illustrious dead. These services are worthy of record to the end that it may never be forgotten that, whatever their differences, there has always existed a bond of union and affection between the people and their most exalted servants.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

    In the lists of patriots and statesmen who have rendered service to their country, Abraham Lincoln stands foremost. That simple, truthful, noble soul, faithful to the trust imposed upon him, stood firmly against the forces of dis-union and for the perpetuity of our free institution. "He wrestled ceaselessly through four black and dreadful purgatorial years wherein God was cleansing the sin of his people as by fire." Before the consummation so devoutly to be wished had been effected and the new birth of freedom announced, Abraham Lincoln was slain. At this date one can hardly realize the profound grief of the people, produced by the death of the president whom they had learned to love. His name was a household word. They had trod with him the way of darkness and danger, and had seen him maintain through it all a moderation of spirit that all the heat of party could not inflame nor all the

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jars and disturbance of his country shake out of place. Animosities were covered up and a divided people bowed in grief in the presence of an irreparable calamity.

    Mr. Lincoln's memorial service in Red Oak was held in a little one-story and one-room schoolhouse on Corning street. People came from the Valley of the Nodaway and from other remote parts of the county. It was an informal meeting, without program, a brief address being made by the writer. The quietness and solemnity of this occasion was like unto that of a funeral with the dead body of a dear friend near by. The people divided into little groups and conversed in low tones. To each one it was a personal loss as well as a public calamity. They had a clear conception of his character as voiced by Mr. Henry Watterson, the celebrated editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

    "Born as lowly as the son of God, in a hovel; of what ancestry we know not and care not; reared in penury and squalor, with no gleam of light or fair surroundings; without external graces, actual or acquired; without name or fame or official training, it was reserved for this strange being, late in life, to be snatched from obscurity, raised to supreme command at a supreme moment and entrusted with the destiny of a nation.

    "Where did Shakespeare get his genius? Where did Mozart get his music? Whose hand smote the lyre of the Scottish plowman and stayed the life of the German priest? God! God and God alone! And so surely as these were raised up by God, inspired by God, was Abraham Lincoln, and 1,000 years hence no story, no tragedy, no epic poem will be filled with greater wonder, to be followed by mankind with deeper feeling than that which tells of his life and death."

JAMES GARFIELD

    Our country was at rest after a spirited political campaign. The heart burning and the strife engendered by the contending parties had in a great measure subsided. The verdict of the

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popular will was accepted in the spirit of our institutions, and James A. Garfield became President of the United States. Suddenly a dark shadow fell over the land. A cruel, premeditated, unprovoked, cowardly assault was made upon him, culminating in his death and leaving our country in mourning. For eighty weary days the people lived in the hope of his recovery. There was tender solicitude and prayerful interest from every hamlet in the land. Our countrymen ceased to think of Mr. Garfield in his official position. The man, the friend and brother, rather than the office, was directly before them.

    Memorial services in his honor were held in different towns in the county. At Red Oak, great preparations had been made in the spacious new opera house of Bishop & Houghton—since destroyed by fire—located on the northeast corner of the public square, and a very large audience assembled, notwithstanding the fact that many did not care to be present at the first test of strength of the structure. The stage decorations were elaborate, representing a law studded with flowers, and showing flags draped in mourning. Addresses were made by Hon. Smith McPherson, Rev. O'Neal and W. W. Merritt.

    Structures erected by human hands fall into decay and ruin, but great characters abide through all time. James A. Garfield is a silent monument standing in the midst of this great people, immovable and imperishable.

ULYSSES S. GRANT

    The brief paragraph telegraphed from Mt. McGregor, New York, that Gen. Grant was dead, reached every center of population in this great republic in a few hours and, ere the setting of the sun on that day, the news had spread to every capital of the civilized world.

    There is a pathetic interest in all that relates to that sad event. Months before, it was believed that death had marked him for a victim, and there was little hope of his recovery. He

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was not old, and he had much to live for. HIs laurels were many; his reputation world-wide. The gratitude of a great and free people was unfeigned. But, while kings' palaces were open to him, the narrow house, appointed for all, awaited him. Medical skill and the invigorating mountain air were of no avail, and, with characteristic imperturbility of spirit, he calmly and heroically submitted to the inevitable.

    From obscurity to the command of armies larger than Napoleon ever saw; for eight years the chief magistrate of the greatest republic on earth or known to history, and, subsequently, on Mt. McGregor, an incurable invalid, the object of millions of prayers, is in briefest outline the career of one of the most remarkable men of modern times. What wonder that the people should meet to do honor to such a man. Several towns in the county held services to his memory, the one in Red Oak being unusually impressive—an occasion long to be remembered by the vast audience there assembled. It was a beautiful day, and from the pagoda in the public square, addresses were delivered, setting forth the military and civil history of Gen. Grant. The G. A. R. attended in body. Patriotic songs were rendered and addresses were made by Smith McPherson, Dr. J. P. Hatton, W. W. Merritt and others.

    Gen. Grant's body lies quietly sleeping beside that of his wife in a tomb overlooking the Hudson River in New York City.

WILLIAM McKINLEY

    It is impossible to portray the sincere sorrow as exhibited on the occasion of the memorial services of William McKinley. The people assembled at designated places throughout the county in honor of this illustrious American citizen, loved and honored by all. At Red Oak, responding to the proclamation of the Mayor, a meeting was held at the armory, where the audience feelingly participated in a service previously arranged by a committee of citizens. The armory could not hold all

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who came. Suspended in front and above the stage was a portrait of President McKinley, draped in mourning, with a large flag on either side, also draped in mourning. The speakers' stand, built out from the platform, was covered with black cloth. The G. A. R. and the Women's Relief Corps had seats in front. On the stage beside the chairman, the speakers and resident ministers, was a choir of twenty voices. Mr. John Hayes was made chairman of the meeting. The exercises began with the hymn, "Nearer My God To Thee;" followed by Scripture reading by Rev. John Shaw of the Baptist Church; Prayer by Rev. S. E. DuBois of the United Presbyterian Church; Quartet, "Lead Kindly LIght," by Mrs. E. M. Woodard, Miss Nanna Ingersoll, Mrs. F. J. Brodby and Mrs. J. J. Shuey; Addresses by Dr. Cook of the Presbyterian Church, Judge S. McPherson, Judge H. E. Deemer, Senator J. M. Junkin and W. W. Merritt; Hymn, "America;" Benediction by Rev. J. W. Walters of the Christian Church. The entire service was subdued and impressive in character. The attention given the speakers was intense; the occasion too solemn for applause.

    The Sunday previous, memorial services were held in nearly all of the churches. Bruce Commandery Knights Templar held a special conclave and took suitable action relative to the death of President McKinley. The Knights of Pythias also as a lodge passed resolutions of respect and tribute to the dead president. Services were held at the High School, and all business, including the County Fair, was suspended.

    Notwithstanding many eloquent and feeling tributes from editorials in metropolitan and country newspapers, from the clergy, members of the bar and associations of various kinds in this and other countries, our people participated in these services because of a love for him which came from the depths of their hearts. All though of partisanship sank out of sight in the presence of such profound grief.

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    William McKinley ranked among the very foremost of our presidents. Questions intricate and difficult of solution were met with courage and wisdom. His entire life's record, public and private, was free from stain; all men acknowledged the purity of his life. He died at the zenith of his popularity and his fame is secure. As a citizen, he was not better than many another who still lives and labors for the welfare of society, but as a chief executive of this great nation of freemen, there is not to be found a nobler or a more considerate man in the list of past or present rulers of this world.

    Abraham Lincoln died at Washington, D. C., April 15, 1865; James Abraham Garfield died at Elberon, N. J., Sept. 19, 1881; Gen. U. S. Grant died at Mt. McGregor, near Saratoga, N.Y., July 23, 1885; William McKinley, Jr. died at Buffalo, N. Y., Sept. 14, 1901.