The Harrisville Iron
& Steel Co. sent their check for $5000 to the committee and many others
contributed money. The time fixed for the public services was Sunday at 2
o'clock. Ten separate platforms for the clergy and church choirs of the
city had been erected on the same open fields where the great strike
meetings had so often been held. By 1 o'clock people began to assemble.
Workmen came from all parts of the city, till over fifty thousand
laborers with their wives were on the ground. Most wore black crepe on
their arm.
Fifteen minutes before 2 o'clock solemn band music gave notice to the
crowd of the approach of an imposing procession. Platoons of police led
the column who were followed in carriages by the mayor, his cabinet, and
the city council; then another platoon of police, followed by a long line
of hearses, the black plumes of which seemed to wave in unison with the
solemn tread of over a thousand workmen, acting as pall-bearers, walking
in double file on either side of their dead comrades.
It was some moments before the speaking could begin. By concerted action
all the clergy preached on the "Brotherhood of Mankind," the text used
being, John XV.-12. "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as
I have loved you.
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