Laramie, Wyo., Aug. 5—The funeral train bearing the body of the late President Harding passed thru Laramie on its way to Washington shortly before noon today. The track was lined for three blocks by a silent crowd gathered to honor the dead. Boy Scouts, American Legion delegations and servicemen of former wars lined the track at the Fremont street crossing where the car containing the body stopped.
The mayor of Laramie, members of the city council, the president of the University of Wyoming and representatives of many other civic and public organizations were in the crowd which met the train. Bells of the city tolled for five minutes and a hush fell over the big crowd at the Union Pacific station, as dean D.M. Thornberry of St. Matthews Episcopal church began prayers.
The pilot train preceding the funeral train arrived in Laramie at 11:37 a.m. The funeral train, due in Laramie at 11 o’clock, arrived at 11:50 and departed at 11:57.
It departed so silently that persons standing within a few feet of the engine were unaware at first of the initial movement in departure. The funeral train locomotive was draped in crepe.
There was none in evidence on the train except the military and naval attaches and members of the train crew. Floral tributes were presented by the boy scouts and girls of the University of Wyoming summer school.
The scene at the station was in marked contrast to that marking the passage of the President through the same place in June. The crowd was larger but was more scattered and the dominant note was the awed, reverent silence throughout the time the train stood here.
From the front page of The Durham Morning Herald, Monday, Aug. 6, 1923
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