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"REQUIESCAT IN PACE."
THE LATE BISHOP WM. MERCER GREEN'S FUNERAL.
Distinguished Clergymen Follow the Remains to the Grave.
Special to Commercial Herald.
JACKSON, Feb. 17,- The last solemn rites over the remains of Bishop Wm. Mercer Green took place at 1 o'clock to-day at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. The funeral was the most imposing of its nature ever solemnized in this State. The body arrived here at 4 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, and was carried immediately to the church where it lay in state until the funeral hour. All that was mortal of the distinguished Divine was enclosed in a casket enveloped in the folds of a heavy pall. On the coffin, which was placed in the chiancel fronting the broad middle aisle, the insignia of the deceased's ecclesiastical rank rested. Caredfully chosen flowers adorned the burial case and the soft light through the stained windows gave te church a cheerfully solemn appearance.
Many of the admirers of the dead bishop came from a distance to attend the duneral. A special train from Vicksburg brought three coaches filled with people from tat city and the country along the road to Jackson. A number from Meridian were also here and attended the last services.
The funeral hour was 1 o'clock. At that time the church was filled with the visitors and citizens. The pallbearers and visiting and officiating clergymen marched solemnly into the church to the soft music of the choir. The Right Reverend Dr. Green announced the service as the procession moved into the church and the choir began to sing an anthem. Rev. Dr. Harris read the funeral sentence and was followed by the Rev. Mr. Short, who read the lesson. A prayer by Bishop Adams and a hymn by the choir preceeded the funeral march to the grave yard.
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The pall-bearers were: Dr. G. A. Howard, of Vicksburg and Marcellus Green, of Jackson, members of the standing committee of the diocese, G. D. Sidway, of Jackson, Treasurer of the diocese, Capt. James T.Mead, of Lexington, Capt. James Prestly, of Canton, Judge F. T. Cooper, of Jackson, Judge Frederic Speed, of Vicksburg, and Capt. L. M. Tucker, of Columbus, all vestrymen of their respective churches.
The deacons of the diocese led the funeral procession, followed by the cisiting clergy, the clergy of the diocese next, the standing committee, Bishop Gallaher and Adams, the pallbearers, Bishop Thompson, as chief mourner, the family of the deceased, the vestry of St. Andrew's Church and the visiting vestries following in the order named.
At the burial grounds the last services began. The sentence was delivered by Rev. Dr. Sansom. The official committal of the body was given by Rev. Nowell Legan, registrar of the Diocese as follows: "The body of the Right Reverend Father William Mercer Green, Docter in Divinity and Doctor of both laws, Chancellow of the University of the South and First Bishop of the Diocese of Mississippi, whose soul is now with the Lord, we here commit to the earth in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen.
The body was then placed in the grave and the Right Reverend Bishop Gallaher, of Louisiana, delivered the concluding prayer.
The pall-bearers filled the grave and closed the sunlight forever from the cast off shell of the noble and truly good man, the memory of whom had been the occasion of the solemn ceremonies. A last benediction was said by Bishop Hugh Miller Thompson after the earth of the grave was on a level with the soil about it, and the mourning multitude silently withdrew from the sacred spot.
Among the prominent visiting clergymen were the Right Reverend Dr. Patterson, Drs. Shoup and Sessoms, of Memphis, Tenn., Right Reverend Wm. N, Gallaher, of Louisiana, Dr. Douglas, Louisiana, Bishop Adams and Rev. Dr. Sansom, of Vicksburg, and Rev. Drs. Halstead, Harris, Logan, Short, Martin, Dehart, Turner, Hargrave, Brown, Starkweather, Derossett, Stevens, Stokes, and J. A. Harris. Among the prominent citizens of Vicksburg who were present were Messrs, Baum, Lehman, Walsh, Lee, Mocre, Speed, Judge Farrar and many others.