GENERAL BOOTH S BURIAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1013, 22 October 1912, Page 4

GENERAL BOOTH S BURIAL.

DRAMATIC SCENES THEREAT.

The mortal remains of the founder of the Salvation Army were buried on August 29th beside those of bis wife in the old cemetery of Adney Park —in the heart of the East End of London —where the great evangelist began the work that spread over the entire world. No such gathering of the populace at a funeral procession has been witnessed except those at the time of the death of Queen Victoria and King Edward. Several thousand Salvationists, the men and women composing the 48 divisions of the Army from the London provinces, carrying their banners of “Blood and Fire,' 1 and keeping in step with well-known Salvationist tunes, played by 40 bands, marched over the five miles from the Army headquarters in Queen Victoria street to the burial ground, through muddy streets, after being drenched by a downpour of rain. It was more in the nature of a triumphal progress than a procession of mourning, over the same streets where, only a few years ago, not a few of those who joined in the march had been mobbed and jeered at. THOUSANDS GATHERED EVERYWHERE.

No one could estimate the numbers who had assembled everywhere, gathered to witness the passing of the funeral of the late commander-in-chief. All the streets and the windows along the march were crowded, and even the house-tops were jambed. All along the route dropped rainsoaked flags at half-mast, and many business houses were closed. The multitude in and about the cemetery numbered not less than 50,000. The new commander (Mr Bramwell Booth) bimseli pronounced a long eulogy and read the committal service when his father’s body was lowered into the grave. As Mr Bramwell Booth was approaching the grave, his brother Herbert, dressed in civilian clothes, stepped forward and kissed the new general on the cheek. The Mayor of Stoke-New-ingtou and the Mayor of Hackney, in their robes of office, were seated on the platform with the Booth family. Mrs Catherine Booth Clibborn, the late general’s eldest daughter, who for years had been estranged from the Army, with her husband and their twelve children, sat among the mourners.

MISS BOOTH BRKAKS DOWN. Miss Kva Booth, commander of the Array in the. United States, who arrived in London just in time to walk behind her lather’s coffin, broke down with grief and fatigue. Mrs Booth-Helborg begged the audience to excuse her sister from speaking, but the Army were anxious to hear the American leader, and she came forward, Bramwell Booth and Mrs Helborg supporting her. Miss Booth said ;

I atn worn out with travel and with grief, but I must deliver my message from the Army across the water. My beloved father never lost the hold which he established there so long ago, and we feel his loss as keenly as the English corps. He looked forward with so much joy to the visit which he had planned to make to America this year. But God is with us, and the work will go on. With the exclamation, “Oh, my beloved father !” Miss Booth broke down, and was assisted to her seat.

MANY FAINT IN THE CEMETERY. Worn out by the march, many Salvationists were ready to drop when they reached the cemetery. While the ceremonies were going on, the space in front of the platform began to resemble r. battlefield with the fainting soldiers dropping on all sides, while uniformed nurses of the Army ambulance corps treated more than ioo cases, some of the sufferers were in a serious condition, and one was removed from among the crowd on a funeral car. Though oue-third of the programme was omitted, me. service consumed two hours. Then it was discovered that a special permit was necessary lor a continuance of the ceremony, as burials atrer 4 o’clock are prohibited. The presence of the Mayor of Stoke-Newington, who granted the permit, solved the difficulty.