White Funeral Party Eluded the Curious

Started an Hour Before the Time Announced

200 ON THE SPECIAL TRAIN

Architect's Mother Unable to Attend the Burial at St. James — Servants Wept in Church.

On the western edge of the old churchyard of St. James’s Episcopal Church, St. James, L. I., in a plot the sod of which was broken for the first time in the morning, Stanford White was put to rest at noon yesterday.

The plot was purchased by Mr. White not many months ago. It is oblong and of sufficient dimensions to hold the families of at least four generations of his name. It is unshaded, as level as the top of a table, and is covered with a growth of closely trimmed grass. On the western side of the plot, near a young and not too luxuriant hedge, is the grave. Its sides were covered yesterday with branches of pine, while at the top the old grave digger of the cemetery had strewn branches of laurel.

The sun was not yet over the tops of the dignified old mansions of Gramercy Square when the friends of the dead architect began to arrive at his home in Twenty-first Street. The house was filled with these by 8 o’clock, many having called as early as 6 o’clock.

Arrangements had been made to avoid the crowd of morbidly curious people which was expected to gather in the square. The services at St. Bartholomew’s Church were dispensed with, and it was given out that the funeral would start a few minutes before 9 o’clock for the Thirty-fourth Street Ferry.

Before 8 o’clock the undertaker arrived. Mrs. White, the mother of the architect, took a last look at the face of her son. She was soon followed by Mr. White’s wife and his son, Lawrence G. White.

At 8 o’clock the coffin was taken to the hearse on the shoulders of six men employed by the undertaker, and an hour before the time given out for the start of the funeral party it was on its way to the ferry. The crowd did not begin to gather in front of the residence until half an hour after. Then it came in force, and two policemen were kept busy keeping men and women from the doorstep.

A special train of four cars was ready at Long Island City for the party at 8 o’clock. The first car was a combination car, half of it being set aside for the family. Lawrence G. White and other relatives of the architect occupied this section. The relatives in the party were James C. Smith, a brother-in-law of Mr. White; Charles S. Butler, a nephew; Mrs. Wetherill, a sister of Mrs. White; Mr. and Mrs. Connelly, cousins, and Mrs. Devereux Emmet, another sister of the widow. Mr. White’s mother was unable to go to Long Island.

Others in the funeral party were De Lancey Nicoll, Nikola Tesla, Stuyvesant Dudley, Mr. White’s old partners, Messrs. McKim and Mead; Mr. and Mrs. Barrett Lefferts, Mrs. Braman, Alexander Wetherill, Thomas B. Clarke, Peter Cooper Hewitt, William Astor Chanier, James L. Breese, some of the employees of McKim, Mead & White, and several family servants.

Nearly every possible vehicle that the families spending the Summer at St. James could get was given for the use of the funeral party, which numbered about 200.

St. James’s Church is a quaint, old worshipping place built of sandstone and with a high pitched roof. It is in a shady grove not many feet from a pleasant, wide, and winding country road. It seats hardly more than 300, and most of the pew space was reserved for the party from New York.

The altar was heavily banked with roses, lilies, and orchids. In the spaces between the six Gothic side windows were hung huge wreaths of flowers.

From St. Bartholomew’s Church was brought the vested choir. The Rev. William Holden, Archdeacon of the diocese and rector of St. James’s, conducted the services, the Rev. Leighton Parks, rector of St. Bartholomew’s, giving the responses.

The prayer offered by Mr. Holden was brief and asked for strength for the afflicted family. The choir sang “Asleep in Jesus” and then preceded the coffin to the churchyard, where, after simple services, the body was interred.

Mrs. White remained at her St. James Summer home, and the rest of the party boarded the train and were back in New York at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

After the funeral a story was widely circulated that a strange woman dressed all in white had fainted in the church and caused a scene. There was no such occurrence.