A Funeral with Flowers, a Minister—and No Mourners

The unusual spectacle of a church filled with people, a casket before the altar covered with flowers, the minister and choir ready to proceed with the ceremony, but no mourners in attendance, occurred at the Market Street Presbyterian Church yesterday afternoon. This was the outcome of a peculiar combination of circumstances following the death of Vina Kelly, the 14-year-old girl spoken of in the Post-Intelligencer for the past two days. Last night the tangle was straightened out, and if something unexpected does not happen the funeral will take place at 9:30 o'clock this morning from the rooms of the Seattle Undertaking Company. Coroner Askam intended to hold an inquest over the remains yesterday morning, but a post mortem examination revealed that death was due to pneumonia. He then decided that there was no need of an inquest and signed the death certificate. The funeral services had been arranged for the Market Street Presbyterian Church at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, but were changed to 1:30. About 12 o'clock P. S. Kelly, the father of the girl, was at the undertaking rooms and had a talk with the undertaker about the funeral. He said he was not feeling well and might not be at the services. In the meantime the church had been prettily decorated by friends of the dead girl, and many beautiful flowers were sent to the undertaking rooms to be placed on the casket. At the appointed time the hearse with the remains arrived at the church and the casket was placed before the altar. People kept coming until there were about forty or fifty present. Rev. Samuel J. Kennedy, the pastor, arrived and took his place in the pulpit. Soon it was discovered that not a member of the mourning family was present, and no one was able to account for their absence. Minister and congregation waited and waited, but no one appeared. The undertaker could not offer any explanation, but felt that the time for the funeral was understood by all. Finally, after waiting until nearly 3 o'clock, Mr. Kennedy offered a prayer, the choir sang a selection, and owing to the peculiar condition of affairs it was decided best to take the remains back to the undertaker's and have a funeral some other day. Word was sent to Coroner Askam that the relatives had not appeared at the funeral services and that there seemed to be some talk about the cause of death. This caused the coroner to remark that it was disgraceful to have a family trouble cause so much publicity over the death of an innocent young girl. Suddenly the coroner grabbed his hat and remarked that he would settle the question once and for all regarding the death. Then he went to the undertaking rooms, where the body had been returned, and removed the lungs, stomach, uterus and heart. With the exception of the lungs, which were heavily congested, every organ of the body was in an absolutely perfect condition and utterly refuted the impression given by the father to Coroner Askam Thursday afternoon that his child was enceinte. Some time after the body was taken back to the undertaker's, one of the ladies who had been at the church met David Kelly, a brother of the girl, on the street, and he said there had been a mistake about the time for the funeral, as he understood it was to take place that afternoon, but his father wanted the time changed to this morning at the Seattle Undertaking rooms. Coroner Askam told the undertaker last night that he would hold himself responsible for the record of the cause of death and hoped the poor girl would be interred this morning without any further trouble. Rev. S. J. Kennedy finally consented to make another effort to conduct the services.