MESSAGES OF SYMPATHY
The sorrow which the great tragedy had aroused throughout the entire Army world was made public by Commissioner McKie, who read numerous telegrams from Army officers in the furthermost corners of the world, from Japan and India, from Australasia and Africa, and from Northern and Southern Europe.
In an eloquent address the Commissioner paid a tribute to his dead comrades on behalf of the General and of the British corps. “At this moment I stand before you as the representative of General Booth and Mrs. Booth,” he said, “to express for them and for all our comrades their deepest sympathy for you in this your great hour of sorrow.
“I should also like to say a few passing words about those whose remains lie in our midst, and to assure the bereaved relatives and friends that the sorrow is international. In the death of Mrs. Commissioner Rees we have lost a good worker, and the loss is a heavy one. Mrs. Rees was a good mother and helpmeet to her husband. I cannot speak of her without making a reference to the Commissioner. Great as is our sorrow at his being called home, and heavy as we will feel his loss, it would be a source of great consolation to us if we but had his remains with us to lay beside those of his brave wife.”
Photo by Bain News Service.
PROMINENT ACTOR WHO WENT DOWN
Lawrence Irving was the second son of the late Sir Henry Irving, the famous English actor, and was himself well known on the stage.
Photo by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
MABEL HACKNEY
The young and charming wife of Lawrence Irving, who also went down with the ship.
With the conclusion of the service the massed militia bands, under the conductorship of Lieutenant Slatter, of the Forty-eighth Highlanders, began to play Chopin’s “Funeral March,” and the sad duty of removing the caskets to the funeral vans commenced. Between the long rows of mourners the pallbearers silently passed with their mournful burdens, while the drawn faces and dimmed eyes spoke eloquently of the pangs suffered as the remains of their loved ones passed from their sight forever. It was a moment filled with the tense current of emotion—a moment as impressive as any that has followed the tragic Empress disaster.