Bleak House

The Old Home of Former Gov. Shepherd.

by The Rambler (J. Harry Shannon)

ON the west side of Georgia avenue beyond the large group of buildings of the Walter Reed Hospital is a small stone house which one will have no trouble in identifying as a gatekeeper's lodge. Close to this little house are two sections of stone wall and between them winds an old drive bordered with spruce trees. This drive used to lead to a large frame house on high ground northwest of the gate and its keeper's lodge, but here and there a new street cuts across it, and along the street are new houses. The old drive disappears for a while and reappears farther on, only to be again displaced by new streets. Now and then one gets a view of the big frame house on the high ground. Close to it the spruce-bordered drive reappears and finishes its course at the entrance of the house. The acres around the house and there remain four of them are closely grown with trees and shrubbery, but at the east front there is a wide, deep lawn.

The name of the house is Bleak House. Never in its youth was it a bleak house, but there is some appropriateness in the name now. It may soon pass, and then another home associated with the history of Washington will have perished. Bleak House does not mean much to Washingtonians of the present generation, but to citizens of the District in the 70s it was a familar name and its mention todayw will probably stir the memories of thousands of men and women.

Bleak House was the summer home of Alexander R. Shepherd. He bought the land from the Carroll-Carbery-Lay tract of Norway about 1871 or '72 and erected the house at about that time. He was living at Bleak House at the time of the tearing down of the Northern Liberty Market, September, 1872. Mrs. Shepherd and other members of the family were living at Bleak House at the time of Gov. Shepherd's death in Mexico, in 1902. Six years ago Bleak House, with its broad fields and handsome groves, was bought by the Lynchburg Investment Company, and the lands were subdivided, but the mansion was allowed to stand, with four acres of its grounds about it. This part of the tract was recently sold and the fine lawns and gardens will be subdivided and the house will probably be torn down soon. Living there today are William E. Stephens, his wife and two daughters.

To make a visit to Bleak House the Rambler left Georgia avenue at Kalmia street, a street which strikes west from Georgia avenue a few yards south of the District line. At the Junction of Kalmia street and Georgia avenue a broad, new street. Alaska avenue, surfaced for easy automobile travel, leads southwest. It passes through fields where new houses are appearing. Rows of cedars mark old lanes and fence lines, and groves of trees alternate with green fields. Coming abreast the east front of Bleak House, a path lead across the lawn. The fine old porch at the main entrance is being overgrown with honeysuckle and the old carriage drive between the rows of spruce and cedar trees is green under a mat of honeysuckle. Cherry trees and lilacs were in bloom and birds were numerous and merry. Bleak House and its garden is bounded by four new streets. Alaska avenue on the east. Holly street on the north. Geranium street on the south and 14th street on the west. Samuel Gompers is preparing to build a fine home nearby, and Daniel E. Roper, first assistant postmaster general, has already established for himself one of the beautiful homes of Washington. Also, close to old Bleak House are the new cottages of Robert E. Heaton, Gordon W. Bonnet and Mr. Holmes of the patent office.

No man who knows his Washington can stray into the beautiful grounds of Bleak House and wander through the big rooms and halls of the house and not fall to thinking of Alexander Shepherd and his times.

In 1870 Mr. Shepherd was one of the many men in the District who had come to the conclusion that a single government for the District of Columbia would be more effective than two municipal governments, those of the cities of Washington and Georgetown. He was an active member of the citizens' committee of one hundred which formulated the bill passed by Congress in February, 1871, giving to the District of Columbia a territorial form of government. Because of the prominent part he had played in the movement and in the adoption of the measure resulting from that movement, and because of his experience in municipal affairs and his standing in business, Mr. Shepherd was indorsed for the post of first governor by a large body of citizens.

However. President Grant appointed Henry D. Cooke governor and Mr. Shepherd was made first member of the board of public works, the other members being A. B. Mullett, then supervising architect of the Treasury; John A. Magruder, who had been a mayor of Georgetown, and S. P. Brown, a Maine man, long resident in Washington, and active in all matters tending to the improvement of the city. Gov. Cooke was by virtue of his office president of the board of public works, but the board at its first meeting elected Mr. Shepherd vice president and executive officer. Dr. William Tindall, still an active man among us and who was private secretary to Gov. Shepherd, writing of the inception of the territorial form of government, has said:

One night during: the winter of 1870 a number of citizens, including, among others, Lewis C. Clephane. ex-Chief of Police A. C. Richards and George L. Sheriff, met at the brownstone-front house No. 905 on the north side of E street between 9th and 10th streets northwest, afterward the residence of Dr. James E. Morgan, and recently demolished, for the purpose of discussing their troubles and devising a new municipal status, at which the subject of a system of government embracing the entire District was tentatively considered. The prospects of the new movement appeared so favorable that other meetings were held, at which Alexander R. Shepherd was present. The outcome of these juntas, supplemented by a steamboat excursion down the Potomac, and other functions, where the gustatory proclivities of congressmen were gratified, accompanied by the alluring influenee of genial companionship, was the adoption of a plan of proceeding which culminated in the act of Congress, approved Febrtiary 21. 1871, creating the territorial form of government over the entire District of Columbia.

One of the principal objects of the new government was a plan of comprehensive public works which contemplated an expenditure far beyond the current resources of the community. The credit of the District was not up to the standard which the financial world required as a basis for the necessary loans to provide means for the works. This deficiency was met by the co-operation of Henry David Cooke of the firm of Jay Cooke & Co., and at that time president of the First National Bank of Washington City. In him an indorser whose credit was practically without limit was obtained for the District. Mr. Cooke was selected by President Grant February 28, 1871, as the first governor of the District of Columbia, and entered into the spirit of the project with an enthusiasm, energy and breadth of view not surpassed even by Mr. Shepherd, and through his big financial standing and business connections readily negotiated the sale of the bonds and other securities which gave the board of public works the principal and essential means to commence its task.

The board took up and formulated a comprehensive plan for the betterment of the District, and it was said that this plan “contemplated improvements in every portion of the District of Columbia, and comprised almost every street and avenue in the cities of Washington and Georgetown, as well as all the roads in the county.” It was said that “the plan of sewerage was also enlarged so as to cover the entire District, and this was done under the estimates of Gen. G. S. Greene.” Gen. G. S. Greene was a distinguished engineer officer and was the father of Gen. F. V. Green, Greene, who, under the present form of government, was at one time an assistant engineer of the District. Gen. G. S. Greene was made civil engineer of the District when A. B. Mullett determined that his duties as supervising architect of the Treasury left him too little time to perform the duties of chief engineer of the District.

The plans for the new Washington were widely discussed and generally approved. They were given full publicity in the Washington newspapers. They had been submitted to the legislature and had been approved by it. The people of the District voted affirmatively on the four-million-dollar loan, which sum it was estimated would he needed to carry out the plans. There was also opposition to the grand-capital-building project. Suits and injunctions were brought against the board of public works by citizens. Complaints were carried to Congress and there were investigations into the acts of the board. Shepherd, being vice president of the board and the moving spirit in the great reform, was attacked and abused. There was a congressional inquiry, lasting four months, into the conduct of the territorial government and the board of public works. There had been charges of favoritism in the letting of contracts and other forms of corruption, but the investigators found that there was no foundation of fact in the charges.

A memorial, signed by 1,000 citizens and taxpayers of Washington, was presented to the House of Representatives January 22, 1872, charging the board of public works with extravagance and mismanagement of public affairs. Being referred to the House committee on the District of Columbia, an exhaustive investigation was carried out, which resulted in a majority report sustaining the acts of the board. There was also a minority report. In the report of the majority was a recommendation that the District was entitled to appropriations from Congress corresponding to the valuation of the property owned by the United States.

Henry D. Cooke resigned as governor in 1873 and Mr. Shepherd was appointed to that office, Henry A. Willard succeeding him as vice president of the board of public works. Gov. Shepherd as ex-officio president of the board kept in close touch with all its work. It was that board, which, during its existence of three years, “lifted Washington out of the mud.” Its work in roads, paving: streets and avenues, laying sidewalks and building sewers was stupendous.

The congressional committee which investigated the operations of the territorial form of government, recommended the adoption of the commission form of government and a bill to that effect was passed by Congress June 20, 1874.

President Grant, who had absolute confidence in the integrity and ability of Gov. Shepherd, named him as a member of the first board of Commissioners, but, the Senate did not confirm the nomination.

Dr. Tindall, in a biographical sketch of Mr. Shepherd, read before the Columbia Historical Society April 10, 1910, said:

On September 13. 1873, Mr. Shepherd was appointed governor of the District of Columbia, vice Gov. Cooke, who on that date resigned as governor that he might devote his entire time to his private affairs. Mr. Henry A. Willard succeeded Gov. Shepherd as vice president of the board of public works. As governor. Mr. Shepherd made no material change in the policy or methods of administering the District government, but was principally occupied in avoiding embarrassments in the conduct of the District's official business due to the inadequacy of the revenue which had been entailed by the demands for funds to meet the cost of executing street improvements.

Congress early in his term as governor, in compliance with persistent efforts of many of the leadiug property owners of the District, who again charged the District government with extravagance and mismanagement, appointed a joint committee of the Senate and House to Investigate the conduct and efficiency of the board of public works and other features of the District government. While this investigation developed nothing dishonorable to Gov. Shepherd, it showed a complicated and apparently insolvent condition of affairs which seemed to call for a readjustment of the municipal situation by disinterested hands, and led to his practical retirement from public office. Congress accordingly abolished that board and other paraphernalia of the territorial form of government and established in its stead a government by three temporary Commissioners. Although President Grant manifested his undiminished confidence in the ability and probity of Gov. Shepherd by nominating him as one of the temporary Commissioners, the Senate deemed it advisable to start the new regime with new agents, and by a vote of thirty-six to six in the affirmative, June 23, 1874, refused to confirm him.

When the board of public works, under the inspiration of Shepherd, beggan its work nearly all the streets of Washington were dirt roadways. Some of them were covered with gravel. In summer they were very dusty and in winter usually deep in mud. Vehicles stalled in the mud in the streets were familiar sights. A few streets were paved in one way or another. Pennsylvania avenue was paved with wood blocks. Under the administration of Mayor Sayles J. Bowen. predecessor of Matthew Emery, the last of the Washington mayors, a coal-tar pavement had been laid down on Vermont avenue between H and I streets. All other street paving in the city was of cobblestones and rough, irregular blocks of bluestone.

Such sewers as there were drained into the canals and branches which ran through the city. Tiber creek was an open sewer. The Washington canal was an open sewer. Slash run ran through the northwest part of the city, and Slash Run marsh covered hundreds of acres of what is now the northwest section of the city. Hogs were kept and fed with garbage in practically all parts of the city. Cows, geese and chickens ran at large in the streets. The scavenger service was of the crudest and most offensive character.

Two of the episodes of the territorial regime in which Shepherd was the guiding star and leading influence, and which episodes stand out with dramatic emphasis in the history of that period, were the tearing up of the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio rail-road, which crossed the front of the Capitol grounds at the west base of the hill, and the tearing down of the Northern liberty market house, which stood on the public reservation between 7th and 9th streets. New York avenue and K street, now the site of the Washington Public Library. The railroad tracks were torn up from the bed of 1st street, where they had been laid during the civil war as a military necessity, but where they were allowed to remain and to be used without warrant of law. The line of track extended from the Long bridge, at the foot of Maryland avenue, along Maryland avenue to 1st street west, thence along 1st street to Indiana avenue, and “thence to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad station, at New Jersey avenue and O street. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad was a very important agent in the financial and political world, and its president, John W. Garrett, was a man of strong influence in public life. It required nerve on the part of the Shepherd Government to thus summarily deal with that potent corporation, even though its railroad tracks conflicted with the plan of municipal improvement mapped out by the board of public works.

The Northern Liberty market, at the moment before its destruction, was a large frame building, old and in a state approaching dilapidation. It occupied the public reservation, according to the board of public works, without warrant of law. Efforts had been made by the public authorities to have the market company abandon the site and erect its market building elsewhere, but without result. Acting under the orders of the territorial government, Thomas M. Plowman, then assistant inspector of buildings, went to the market about 7 o'clock in the evening of September 3, 1872. and with 200 laborers tore down the building. During the progress of the demolition of the building two dealers who went in to recover some property were accidentally killed. It was one of the sensational events of that stirring period and public feeling ran very high.

Gov. Shepherd was born January 31, 1835, and the work which he performed for the uplift of Washington was done from his thirty-sixth to his thirty-ninth year. He was born in a comfortable frame house that stood on the south side of G street between 9th and 10th streets southwest, the site being now occupied by No. 926 G street. It was a section of the city in which many prominent people lived and the homes of the neighborhood were among: the fine ones of Washington. Gov. Shepherd's father was Alexander Shepherd, who was long engaged in the wood and lumber business on the river front near the foot of G street southwest, and later his wood and lumber yard was on the south side of Maryland avenue between 12th and 13th streets. He was a man in good business standing and many acts of benevolence toward humble people have been recorded in his favor. Alexander Shepherd, the elder, owned a farm on the Rock Creek Church road and also owned several slaves, whom he freed before the civil war. Alexander R. Shepherd's mother was Susan Davidson Robey. and Gov. Shepherd's full name was Alexander Robey Shepherd. As a boy and youth Gov. Shepherd attended Nourse's School on Indiana avenue between 3d street and John Marshall place, and later he attended Columbia College, then on the west side of 14th street, or 14th Street road, north of Florida avenue.

On going to work, he entered the employ of John W. Thompson & Co., contractors for plumbing and gasfitting. Young Shepherd obtained employment as a clerk, then became head bookkeeper of the firm and became a member of the firm on the retirement from business of William Thompson. Subsequently he established a plumbing and gasfltting house of his own on the south side of Pennsyvania avenue between 9th and 10th streets.

On the outbreak of the civil war he enlisted. April 15. 1861. in the National Rifles. Capt. John R. Smead's Company, 3d Battalion, District of Columbia Volunteers, and served for three months. He came early to take an active interest in local politics and in June, 1861, was elected to the fifty-ninth common council of Washington and was reelected to the sixtieth and sixty-first councils in 1862 and 1863, being president of the sixtieth council. In 1867 he was appointed a member of the levy court of the county of Washington. In June, 1870. he was elected a member of the board of aldermen. January 30, 1862. he was married to Miss Mary Grice Young, a daughter of Col. William P. Young of Washington.

Douglass Wallach. who had been editor and owner of The Evening Star, sold the paper October 31, 1867, to Crosby S. Noyes, Samuel H. Kauffmann, Alexander R. Shepherd, George W. Adams and Clarence B. Baker. Mr. Shepherd held his connection with The Star until 1874.

At the end of the territorial form of government and the institution of the commission system Gov. Shepherd returned to his private business. In a biography of Gov Shepherd, published in The Star in 1902, the Rambler finds this:

On his return to his private business, which had greatly suffered during his public career, he began to gather up again the threads which had slipped from his personal grasp. The panic of 1873 was severely felt in Washington and all classes of business suffered. Mr. Shepherd's among the rest. He soon found that his business, which, as has stated, at the time he entered public life netted an income of from $25,000 to $50,000 a year, was practically ruined. And although he had property estimated at a fair valuation at $1,900,000, there was an indebtedness amounting to 1,300,000, and owing to the shrinkage in the value of real estate the property could not cancel the indebtedness.

Just at that time he had an offer to go to Batopolis, in Mexico, to superintend some mines in which he had made a comparatively small investment during his days of prosperity, and he resolved to accept this position and to expatriate himself from his home and country until lie should build up for himself and his family another fortune. He went to Mexico in 1879 and has been there with the exception of two visits to this country ever since.

The first of Gov. Shepherd's two visits to Washington was in 1893, and on both occasions he was accorded a magnificent reception by old enemies and friends and all the people of the District paid him honor.

The Star of Friday. September 12, 1902, in its regular edition, published on the first page the news that “the condition of ex-Gov. Alexander R. Shepherd does not seem to improve, as is apparent from a dispatch forwarded to Grant Shepherd by Dr. Frank Merchant this morning. The dispatch reads: ‘Latest news from Wagner: Governor's condition more serious. Gradually losing ground.’”

The Wagner referred to in the dispatch was Dr. Wagner, Gov. Shepherd's son-in-law, and one of the physicians in attendance upon him.

At 4 o'clock that afternoon The Star “made over” with a “postscript” telling of the death of Gov. Shepherd. That dispatch was:

Batopolis, Chihuahua. Mexico. September 12.

Crosby Noyes, Washington. D. C.:
 Father died of peritonitis, brought on by appendicitis, at 7:45 this morning.

A. R. SHEPHERD.  

The first information of the governor's illness was received in Washington Wednesday, September 10, 1902. The first news was that he was sick with fever at his hacienda at Batopolis, and the next day news came that he was suffering from appendicitis. Mrs. Shepherd, who was at Bleak House, left for Mexico within a few hours after the news came, being accompanied by Dr. and Mrs. Frank D. Merchant. Grant Shepherd, who was also at Bleak House, left soon afterward.

The reception of the remains of Gov. Shepherd in Washington was one of the most solemn and impressive ceremonies that have taken place in the capital. The funeral train steamed into the old Pennsylvania station at 8 o'clock the morning of Monday, May 4, 1903, and from the station the remains were borne, attended by a remarkable escort, to the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. On that day The Star in its report of the obsequies said:

The funeral profession moved promptly from the depot at 9:30 o'clock. The pageant was one of unusual simplicity, as was the desire of the family, and yet it was a representative party such as is seldom gathered together in the District. From the time of the arrival until the funeral escort was formed the flower-laden casket remained in the room prepared for its reception at the station. The floral offerings placed upon it were magnificent. One was a beautiful wreath from the Batopolis Mining Company of Chihuahua. A cluster of rare blossoms came front Enrique N. Creel of Mexico, who was a bosom friend of the late governor. A cluster of lilies from Mrs. Shepherd and an offering of paints from the officials and employees of the District government completed the collection of flowers on the casket. The offering from the District building was especially handsome and reflected the sentimental regard in which the former governor of the District is still held at the municipal offices.

Most of the people of Washington recall the solemn procession, but the Rambler would like to recall it to those fn whose memories it has grown dim,

and also to recall the names of those who composed the memorable escort. At the head of the procession was a detachment of mounted police, and there followed in the order named the National Guard Band, the 1st Regiment National Guard of the District of Columbia, and the High School Cadet Regiment. Following the troops marched the honorary pallbearers. Dr. William Tindall. Samuel Gross, James H. Breslin. James K. Fitch, T. K. Roessle, William F. Mattingly, Theodore W. Noyes. B. H. Warner. Berial Wilkins, Crosby S. Noyes, S. H. Kauffmann, W. V. Cox, M. G. Seckendorff, Thomas W. Smith. W. F. Gude, Henry W. Willard, William R. Smith and S. Thomas Brown. Behind these walked the active pallbearers, named by, the District Commissioners from the official force of the District: Thomas Francis, Sidney Bieber, Charles Hume, C. G. Harris, W. F. Meyers, L. P. Bradshaw, C. F. Proctor, William Woodville, jr., K. E. Helm, E. E. Jones and Hugh Kelly. The following members of the National Rifles of 1861 walked beside the hoarse: J. Thomas Clements, W. K. Mendenhall, John B. Randolph, Thomas M. Shepherd, G. B Towles, Col. William E. Waters, G. V. AtLee, T. W. Steuart and Thomas Foster.

In carriages were the following members of Gov. Shepherd's family: Mrs. Shepherd, Alexander R. Shepherd, jr., Mrs. Brodie. a daughter of the governor; Miss Brodie, a grandchild; Mrs. Francis D. Merchant, a daughter; Grain Shepherd, Mr. and Mrs. J. Conness Shepherd, Mrs. A. Bradley, a sister of Mrs. Shepherd; Miss Julia Grice, acousin of Mrs. Shepherd; three children of A. E. Quintard, a son-in-law of Gov. Shepherd; Charles H. Bradley and Andrew V. Bradley.

The District Commissioners. Macfarland, West and Biddle, and the following venerable members of the Oldest Inhabitants' Association, were in carriages; William W. Birth, ninety-six years old: James Johnson, formerly police lieutenant, eighty-eight years old; William Beron, eighty-five years old, and James A. Wineberger. eighty-two years old. Other members of the Oldest Inhabitants' Association were on foot.

In the procession was one division formed of the former associates of Gov. Shepherd, and among them were Dr. A. P. Fardon, Dr. Franklin T. Howe, Donald McCathran, Appleton P. Clark, Thomas H. Donohue, Joseph Williams. A. F. Moulden, George Burgess, Matthew Trimble. William O. Drew, Joseph Parris, M. E. Urell, A. S. Taylor, Alexander McKenzie, W. D. Colt. Warren Choate, J. F. Murray, J. F. Alexander, Perry Carson, John Gray, J. C. Nalle, Thomas W. Chase, E. W. W. Griffin, George T. Bassett, Owen O'Hare, Benjamin F. Lloyd, A. Hart, J. H. Forsyth, George H. Bailey, Dr. A. J. Faust, Col. W. H. Crook, A. T. Stuart, J. O. Wilson, M. P. Gage, D. L. Selke, E. B. Townsend, R. M. McKee, Joseph R. Keene, J. T. Petty, John A. Perkins, David Warner, W. R. Wilcox, John F. Cox, A. Y. Lakenan, S. Merchant and Joseph I. Keefer.

Five representatives of the District militia of the time of Gov. Shepherd were in line. These were Col. R. I Fleming, Capt. J. Tyler Powell, W. F. O'Meara, L. A. Bailey and Maj. F. S. Hodgson. The following heads of the various departments of the District government were in line: A. B Duvall, H. H. Darneille, E. G. Pavis, Dr W. C. Woodward, Thomas S. Drake, Francis Nye, Douglass Simms, Walter C. Allen, C. C. Rogers, Morris Hacker, Snowden Ashford, W. P. Richards, George S. Wilson, H. B. Looker, W. C. Haskell, C. B. Hunt, A. N. Moss and W. H. Stoutenburgh.

The Washington Board of Trade was represented by Gen John M. Wilson, Frank Hume, James B. Lambie. F. L. Moore, J. H. Small, jr., W. J. Newton, Cuno H. Rudolph, W. A. Meloy, William M. Shuster and S. W. Woodward, and the Business Men's Association was represented by F. K. Raymond, James F. Oyster, C. H. Syme, H. F. Woodard, O. G. Staples, Barry Bulkley, R. P. Andrews, Chapin Brown, John Doyle Carmody, J. H. Cranford, W. W. Danenhower, E. H. Droop, William Hahn, Thomas G. Hensey, V. Baldwin Johnson, Charles Jacobson, W. S. Knox, Wilton J. Lambert, Allison Nailor, S. C. Palmer, E. V. Schafer, L. P. Shoemaker, B. F. Saul, L. M. Saunders and Thomas F. Walsh.

The citizens' associations of the District were prominent in the remarkable cortege. They were led by William G. Henderson, president of the North Capitol and Eckington Association; James F. Scaggs, president of the South Washington Association, and F. A. M. Lawson of the Northeast Suburban Association. The delegations were:

East Washington Association—A. F. Sperry, R. W. Clark, J. W. Babson, W. Moseby Williams, A. P. Clark, jr., and Gen. S. S. Yoder.

Northeast Washington Association—Evan H. Tucker, Jerome B.. Burke, Samuel Sowerbutts, H. H. Holsten, William G. Lang, Dr. Starr Parsons and Dr. L. D. Walter.

North Capitol and Eckington—James A. Connor, Solon C. Kemon, K. S. Thomson, W. W. Parker, A. R. Serven, Irwin B. Linton and Edward Foulke.

Columbia Heights—Alphonso Hart, W. B. Todd. Charles S. Bundy, Eugene Jeffreys, Leo Simmons, J. Preston Miller, B. F. Gibbs, John S. McCalmont, Lewis H. Stabler and Charles M. C. Campbell.

East End Suburban—William H. Ernest, J. M. Burns, Charles R. Talbert, Robert Bowdier, John H. Kuppert and J. M. Wood.

Georgetown Association—B. T. Janney, William M. Dougal, George J. Easterday, J. W. Bagley, H. P. Gilbert, John Leetch, F. P. Leetch, J. H. Doyle and Dr. Wood.

Anacostia Association—George T. Pyles, J. E. Minnix, J. W. Tolson, H. L. Osterman, A. Gude and A. C. Richardson.

Northeast Suburban—E. A. M. Lawson, H. L. Patterson, I. J. Baker, D. J. Roberts and Willton Harvey.

South Washington Association—Dr. Millard P. Thompson, Maurice Fitzgerald, W. X. Stevens, John Quinn, Theodore A. T. Judd, Thomas P. P Stephenson, W. H. Church and Dr. R. A. M. Fenwick.

Brookland Association—A. F. Kinnear, J. B. Ord, Charles Lynch, Judge Pennybacker, J. D. Boss and T. Y. Hull.

The funeral procession moved slowly along Pennsylvania avenue to 15th street to New York avenue and to the church, where a committee of the church trustees, John B. Larner, W. P. Van Wickle, Walter C. Clephane and Dr. Wallace Radcliffe, received the funeral party. Within the church was a display of flowers which told eloquently of the love in which the man had been held and the sorrow that was felt for his death.

It was late in the afternoon that the formal funeral obsequies were held in the church. The sermon was pronounced by the Rev. Dr. S. S. Mitchell of Buffalo, N. Y., who was pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church when Gov. Shepherd was a member of the congregation. The prayer at the close of the services was offered by the Rev. Dr. Wallace Radcliffe, and the music was by John Porter Lawrence, Mrs. Nellie Wilson Shircliff, Miss Whittaker, Harry Stevens and John J. Nolan.