An Eccentric's Funeral.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7765, 17 March 1905, Page 4

An Eccentric's Funeral.

j Notorious during his lei'etime for his eccentricities, Atr Joseph Wheatliey, oi Etloc House, Ulakeney (Eng.). on the eve of his death, gave very positive directions as to how his obsequies should be conducted. Deceased, who was a retired banker and a comparatively wealthy bachelor. had farmed his own estate, which lay between the rolling Cotswold Hills alKl Dean Forest. To strangers he was never accessible. He had a solitary male friend, he asked for no more. His last requests .were :

To be burred in a deeply-dug grave in a lield on the estate.

• The grave to be immediately in front of Etloe House. and 500 yards from the highway. [ Tito collin to be of the plainest description and the sides perforated. I Xo teligious rites to be used. I l'lie inhabitants of the district did

ot take kindly to the tirst of these requests, and the local sanitary inspector, accompanied by a member of | the urban authority, visited th grave, only to be warned, oft Many persons, acting upon an idle rumor that midnight on January 21 was to be the funeral hour, kept up a weary vigil until long after that time. When they ventured to the burying place th-jy were driven away. 'Early next morning, however, a big 'crowd gathered in the vicinity, and at one o'clock a signaJ was given by i "outlooks" perched in the branches ]of a giant oak tree that the cortege r was approaching. There were fifteen mourners, and when the gra-ne was reached and the black pail retnovtM the watchers beyond saw n black--1 painted cofßn without name-plate and without any ornamentation. The mourners leverently bowed their heads as the solitary friend of th.> dead eccentric raised his voice. He ,was sure, he said, that it would not be the wish of the late -Mr \\h"atley "that a speech should be mad- at his graveside, but it was necessary to say that the wishes of the dead in other respects had been ctuuicd out.