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The funeral services of August Belmont called a
notable gathering of people to the church of the
Ascension, at Fifth avenue and Tenth street,
yesterday morning. It taxed the seating capacity of
the spacious edifice and included statesmen and
financiers, men eminent in the professions and in
affairs, and a collection of personal friends whose
names are familiar in the social world. Many who
reached the church at the hour for the service to
begin were unable to make their way within, and
until the services were over the walk in front was
filled with those who had come to pay the last
tribute to the dead banker.
It was an impressive sight when the vast gathering
rose as the solemn strains of the processional march
heralded the approach of the mourners. The morning
sun striking full upon the grand painting of the
Ascension at the head of the church suffused the
altar with a soft glow and threw into relief the
velvet-covered coffin as it was placed at the
charicel. A deep border of palms upon the coffin
framed an inner border of calla lilies and wreaths
of violets and pansies, hiding almost completely the
coffin's broad top, but revealing a plate of silver
which bore Mr. Belmont's name and the dates of his
birth and death.
The Rev. Winchester Donald and the Rev. Miles Hudson
Gates led the procession to the altar. Following
them were the pall bearers, Henry Parrish and J.
Pierpont Morgan, Grover Cleveland and David B. Hill,
D.D. Withers and A.C. Munson, Edwin A. Post and John
Hunter, William jay and James V. Buck, Sidney
Webster and Manton Marbie. Mrs. Belmont entered
leaning upon the arm of her son Perry. The others of
the family were August Belmont, Jr., and wife,
Oliver H.P. Belmont, and August Belmont third.
The immediate friends of the family who arrived at
the church in a body and were part of the procession
tot he altar were Admiral C. R.P. Rodgers, Gen.
Alexander Perry, Commander Frederick Rodgers and
wife, Lieut. Commander Minor R.S. Mackenzie, Lieut,
C.R.P. Rodgers and wife, John Holme and Mrs. Charles
King, John Holme, Jr., and wife, Charles Lewis and
wife, Louis Neilson, Oscar Merrill and Mrs. Merrill,
Belmont Tiffany, Walter Luttgen, E.O. Matthiessen,
Allan Cole, Edward Morgan and Mrs. Morgan, and
Edward Morgan, Jr., and Mrs. Morgan.
The ritual service had proceeded so far that by the
time all were seated the processional strains seemed
softly to transpose themselves into the hymn
"Nearer, My God, to Thee," which as sung by the
choir from an upper gallery seemed to descend upon
the assemblage with hallowing purity. The anthem "I
heard a voice from heaven" followed the lesson, sung
with sweet effect. After the committal there floated
from the organ in tones barely stirring the profound
hush of the edifice the opening chords of "Home,
Sweet Home," and as the pall bearers stepped into
their places the choir sang to this air "I would not
live always." The effect of distance in the singing
was beautifully maintained, the voices of the
choristers falling upon the retiring mourners
faintly as if they came from afar. The hymn and the
air to which it was sung were selected by the
family.
A long line of carriages followed the hearse to the
Grand Central Station, where a special train was
waiting, with the private car of John Hoey for the
family, to carry the funeral party to Newport. Final
services were held there in the chapel erected by
Mr.. Belmont as a memorial to his daughter, Julia
Ellis Belmont.
The gathering at the church and among those who
attended the body to the train included John Hoey,
Col. Richard Auchmuty, John B. Ireland, Walter H.
Lewis, Hamilton Fish, Vice President Levi P. Morton,
Major George W. McLean, Ex-Minister Edward J.
Phelps, Gen. Sickles, Oswald Ottendorfer, Pierre
Lorillard, Ward McAllister, William K. Vanderbilt,
John H. Starin, ex-Judge Daly, De Lancey A. Kane,
Joseph J. O'Donohue, Dr. Fordyce Barker, John Henry
Keene, Jr., ex-Judge William H. Arnoux, Mayor Grant,
Controller Myers, District Attorney Fellows, Orland
B. Potter, Clarence A. Seward, Jesse Seligman, Baron
von Hoffmann, Brockholst Cutting, and W.K. Lothrop.
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