and each with feelings all his own,
viewed the flame-lashed casket.
-Ralph Chaplin
Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 29, 1915
Chicago, Illinois-
The Body of Fellow Worker Joe Hill Reduced to Ashes
In his Last Will, FW Joe Hill wrote:
My body? Oh! If I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow.
In accordance with the wishes of our Rebel Songwriter, Hill’s body was taken to the crematory at Graceland Cemetery on Friday, November 26th, and cremated. Ralph Chaplin has provided a moving description of the cremation procedure:
The coffin lid was raised for the last time to permit final identification. The attendants looked to me as committee spokesman for word to proceed. I bowed my head. The casket was wheeled to the doors of the blast chamber, which creaked open to receive it. The steel doors creaked together, and the tiny room was all white again. Only the roar of the fire blast could be heard, growing louder and louder. We could hardly bear it.