Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/225

 pushed it into the vehicle and drove away. A little later Undertaker Main came out. He said the body had been carried down stairs and was in the parlor, where it would lie while the services were held. While he was talking two wagon loads of camp chairs arrived. One contained twelve and the other fifteen dozen. They were carried into the house. Even at this hour in the morning the people in the street showed a disposition to stop, and had it been permitted there would have been a crowd in front of the house that would have blocked the street from curb to curb.

When it was announced that the funeral would be public Capt. Reilly arranged to have one hundred policemen on the spot from early morning, but the later decision to admit only the intimate friends of the family made the captain change his plan. Until noon only four uniformed men were on duty. One of these was in Forty-seventh street. Two were on the east and one on the west side of Fifth avenue. They pushed along any one who stopped more than a moment. Some were indignant, and talked back at the officers. Their talk generally resulted in a gentle push and an order to "Come now, hurry up. You can't stand here." About noon, two policemen, Sergeant Kelly and Roundsman Bingham came, and a few minutes later a dozen men from the Central office in citizen's dress. Four of them were detailed to do service inside the house, and the others were to mix in the small crowd that was to be permitted to gather. They had orders to get together at the