A City Turns Out for Its Dead: Seattle's Memorial Day, 1895

The graves of the soldiers and sailors of the civil war were brought fresh to the memory of all patriotic persons yesterday — by the flags at half-mast, by the thinned and gray ranks of the veterans marching through the streets with the sons of themselves and their comrades, the citizen soldiers and the civic societies; by that great gathering of the people in the theater to hear tributes to the brave in oratory and song; and by the assembling of the veterans in the cemeteries to scatter flowers over the graves of the dead. The day was observed in a manner worthy of the purpose to which it is set apart, for, although the tendency among many was to make it a holiday devoted to enjoyment, the prevailing idea was one of reverence for the nation's dead. The sun shone fitfully between squalls of wind and rain, which hardly sufficed to drive the people off the streets and out of the parks.

FINE TURN-OUT ON PARADE.

"There is one thing I would like to have mentioned about the Decoration day parade of 1895," said Chief Marshal Amos Brown, "and that is that it was advertised to start at 10 o'clock and it started at the stroke." Much more can be said in favor of the parade, for the thousands who witnessed it were of one opinion, and that was to the effect that the procession, in point of numbers and fine carriage, surpassed those of previous Decoration days in this city, notwithstanding that the veterans are dropping from the ranks one by one. According to actual count made by one of the members of Marshal Brown's staff, there were 305 veterans in line. The majority were in uniform and were repeatedly cheered as they marched through the crowded streets. One crippled veteran, whose hair had long ago turned white, played a drum, and every now and then the people along the line would send up cheers in his honor, and he responded each time by touching his hat.

The militia in command of Col. Green made the finest appearance of any body of men in the parade. The three companies, B, D and E, were out, and D company, in charge of Capt. F. E. Adams, appeared with every man in line. The Ancient Order of United Workmen, in costumes, gave color to the parade, as did the High School cadets, who turned out in large numbers. An attraction of the parade was seven veterans who had suffered the horrors of being captured and thrown into Andersonville and other rebel prisons, only to live through it all and return to their Northern homes weaker in mind and body but strong in the knowledge that they had done their duty.

About 10 o'clock rain drops started to fall, but they did not interfere with the parade, and before the ranks were broken the sun was again shining. The line formed on Front street, the right resting on Marion street and the left of the line reaching to Yesler avenue. The procession moved up Front street behind a platoon of police commanded by Chief of Police Rogers on horseback, Chief Marshal Amos Brown and his aides, Col. Joseph Green and staff, Col. James Hamilton Lewis of the general brigade and staff, the three militia companies, the High School cadets, Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Mayor Leander Haller, Corporation Counsel Scott, City Controller Will H. Parry, Dr. J. F. Crichton and Aldermen Jamison, Anderson and Lovey, then the members of the Grand Army posts in civilian clothes, the Relief Corps, John F. Miller Post No. 31, Stevens Post No. 1 and the rest.

AT THE THEATER.

The interior of the Seattle theater was never more beautiful than yesterday, the decorations having been prepared by the floral and decorating committee of the several posts and relief corps. It was an elaborate display of hothouse flowers, gracefully arranged in front of the stage. A great floral monument stood in the center of the stage — a broken column twelve feet in the air, six feet of it a solid column of flowers, its pedestal and plinth covered with green moss, with the initials G. A. R. in two-foot letters, the first of red roses, the second of white roses and the third of blue pansies and iris. Near the top of the shaft the single word "Unknown," made of blue immortelles, called up many sad recollections in the minds of the veterans present. A wreath of laurel formed a fitting crown for this memento to the known and unknown dead.

Owing to the order from the board of health forbidding the assemblage of children, the singing during the exercises was done by the Perfection quartette — Messrs. M. M. Grout, G. A. Edmonds, E. E. Siegley and E. D. McAllister.

Adjutant H. S. Keene of Stevens Post read the orders from the Grand Army headquarters, and then, with the audience standing, read out the roll of the fourteen veterans who had died during the year, with company, regiment, grave and date of death; the salute to the dead and the dipping of the flags were given by the veterans on the stage.

Commander F. H. Hurd spoke: "This day is rich with a patriotism which did not speak only from the lips of men; it is filled with the almost visible presence of those who, out of prison pens and hospitals, from camps and battlefields, have joined that innumerable company of the dead who muster today upon the ramparts of heaven."

W. L. Jones, division commander of the Sons of Veterans, a bright speaker from North Yakima, said he would rather trace his descent back to one of these grand old heroes than to the greatest potentate on earth, and paid a tribute to Abraham Lincoln that brought an immense burst of applause. The women of America, he said, who did so much during the war to sustain the soldiers, were not receiving the attention to which they were entitled. The speaker also declared that the sight of the American flag should inspire every breast, and said that unfortunately today there was a tendency to put other flags ahead of the American flag on the part of certain classes. There should be no German-American, no Irish-American and other similar designations allowed in this country.

Rev. J. H. Acton, also a member of the Grand Army, said he had refused for thirty years to occupy this position, because whenever he attempted to speak of that time something dimmed his eyes. Though war was an evil, great reforms had come about through struggle and bloodshed. He did not believe in having one monument alone for the soldiers of the Union who fell in the war, but thought the monument should be erected to the memory of the blue and the gray — not one to perpetuate any one section of the country to the sacrifice of another, which can only tend to engender a feeling that should have been forever buried at Appomattox.

Miss Fannie Ferguson sang "Cover Them Over With Beautiful Flowers" and was encored, giving "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," in which the audience joined the last chorus. Miss Constance Hall recited "You Put No Flowers on Papa's Grave," and the exercises closed with the whole audience singing "America" and the sounding of "taps."

EXERCISES AT THE GRAVES.

The services at the G. A. R. lot in Lake View cemetery were ritual in character, and all the flowers used in the theater, together with several loads left at the various post headquarters, were scattered about the many graves in the plot. The Perfection quartette took the place of the children and the Sons of Veterans furnished the firing squads. The firing squad was a detail from Gen. George H. Thomas Camp No. 1, in command of J. E. Brown. After the services over the graves of the veterans, the Sons of Veterans went to the graves of two of their number, L. H. McLaughlin and Moritz Koch, which they decorated and over which they fired the regular salute to the dead.